Nature Walks, Excursions, and Rambles – part 1

In The Parents’ Review and the L’Umile Pianta, we read many accounts of nature walks, excursions, and rambles. Some were descriptions of small groups going out, and a surprising number of them included over 50 people! A few of them recounted holidays in far off lands, and some took place in a nearby neighborhood. Many of the accounts were from organized Natural History Clubs, with outings scheduled well in advance, followed by a lecture and tea at a local home, and others were just a family taking a walk after school. There is a lot of flexibility and creativity allowed in organizing this activity — even where the name is concerned!

You might find that you need the accountability of another family or that you and your children enjoy an excuse for a little social time. On the contrary, your kids may prefer to go on their nature walks with just your family, so they are not distracted. Certainly, it’s all right to schedule a little of both too. Maybe you’ll settle on a once a month group excursion to someplace a little further than usual and a weekly walk closer to home for your family.

Either way, you need to commit to a nature walk at least once a week. Student-teachers at the House of Education were allowed two half-holidays per week which they often used for extended nature walks. In The Story of Charlotte Mason, Essex Cholmondeley said, “Even in the Lake District it was rare for both days to be rainy, so that at least once a week it was usually possible to explore the mountain tracks and hillsides with their numerous birds and flowers.” (p. 155)

Much of your children’s out-of-door time will simply be spent in your backyard or in your neighborhood, but to be clear, in this article and the next we are talking about covering some ground. Charlotte Mason and the residents of Ambleside lived in a beautiful country setting, which allowed them to choose from a variety of walks on any given day. I recently stumbled across a book at a local thrift store entitled Great Walks: Lake District by Colin Shelbourn. The author describes 28 hikes in the region and Ambleside is right in the middle of them.

Source: Great Walks: Lake District by Colin Shelbourn, p. 10

Unfortunately, many of us don’t live in a setting like that today. I consider the place where I live to be very rural, and yet because of the narrow roads and fast-moving vehicles, it would be unsafe for me to set out on foot past the end of my driveway. Thankfully, I only have to drive half a mile to my favorite trailhead. I realize that many of you have to drive much further, but bear in mind Charlotte Mason’s advice, given even before most people had access to their own car. “A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?” (vol. 1, p. 44)

We spend a lot of time in the car in our culture, going to practice or running errands, but do we think a 20-minute trip to a country setting is as important? With a little forethought, we may be able to build in an hour walk on the way home from a dentist appointment or before a standing music lesson. A bottle of water, sensible seasonal clothing, and possibly a snack will allow you to pull into the parking lot of a trailhead and take some time to wander.

Once you park the car, take note of the time and make a decision about when you will need to turn around and head back. Set a timer in your phone if you think you might get distracted. Sometimes when I pull into the trailhead parking lot, I only have 20-30 minutes to spare. I often question whether I should even bother, but it’s always worth it. Some of my more interesting finds have happened during one of those short walks, and it’s an excellent motivator to get back to the trail in the next couple days, to take my time to look more closely.

The first few times you walk a trail, both you and your kids will just need to get your bearings. Where does this trail go? What is there to see out here? You may not know the names of any of the flowers or trees, and you might feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of new things you see, but just try to enjoy your surroundings. In a short time, the trail will be well known to you and your children, and then you can start using it for more involved nature study. In the article “Nature Study in the Home,” written over a century ago, Alfred Thornley noted a difficulty parents bear in this endeavor:

I know that many parents feel handicapped at present by their own defective education in Nature knowledge. It is such as these whom I am anxious to help in this paper. But before I can do this, they must dismiss from their minds any idea that it is the quantity of knowledge acquired that makes a Nature student. It is rather the particular habit of mind induced in the act of acquiring such knowledge which is of the most value to us and our children. For this reason it is that the mere reading about Nature is of but little value ; but to watch an insect pollinating a flower ; to study the arrangement of the buds on the common trees ; to rear caterpillars into butterflies ; to watch the little seed growing into the perfect plant ; such studies as these have a real educational value, they teach to SEE ; and seeing is a faculty which this generation has shamefully neglected. (PR 19, p. 722, emphasis mine)

Let nature and your children direct you at first. Most often the children ‘see’ better than us adults anyways — with our glasses and years of wearing blinders as if we were a horse hitched to a carriage. Furthermore, it establishes our interest in being a learner with our children, which creates a positive atmosphere. In the article “Children and Nature Study,” M. G. Walton said, “It is our personal attitude to the wonders of Nature that both in theory and practice will be of more value to the child than many words.” (PR 65, p. 70)

Once you return to the car or to your home, take a few minutes for the children to tell about their ramble. It’s likely this will happen quite naturally, but if it doesn’t, then prompt it. Thornley said, “When children come in from their walk they should be asked what they have seen, what has excited their interest and curiosity.” (PR 19, p. 722) One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received relating to my children’s education was for them to narrate everything — the piano lesson, the dance class, the nature walk, everything. In the article, “The Teaching of Nature Study,” V. C. Curry said, “What place does narration take in these lessons? Miss Mason says that a lesson without narration is a lesson wasted.” (PR 36 p. 531) This does not have to feel forced. With practice, you will become adept at sparking the children to narrate without it sounding like a test.

Later, take a few minutes by yourself to research something you noticed on your walk. Did you snap a photo of a flower you particularly liked? Do you want to know the name of the creek you crossed? Do you wonder what type of fern it was that you saw? Would you like to identify the butterfly that landed in the trail? If your kids join you in this research of their own volition, it’s not a problem, but this recommendation is for you. The kids will likely be left with many unanswered questions, and that is absolutely fine. More than fine even. Agnes Drury, a long-standing Natural History teacher at the House of Education, made a valuable point about unanswered questions in her article “Nature Study”:

To notice and wonder and assure ourselves of facts from our own observations is our chief necessity in the study of Nature. It does not much matter how long our questions remain unanswered, if the answers come to us at last at first hand ; because the joy of discovery is greater than the mere satisfaction of knowing how to explain anything and everything. (PR 24, p. 190, emphasis mine.)

You, on the other hand, need to try to stay a step ahead of your children, because nature study requires us to guide our children at times by helping them question things further or look more closely. We will not know how to direct that kind of study if we do not take steps to prepare ourselves. In the article “Nature Study; and How to Encourage It In Children,” E. E. Hart said:

Nature study taught on almost any plan will interest children and increase their sources of happiness, but satisfactory intellectual results by no means so invariably follow, and we may perhaps next consider how to encourage nature study in children so as to get the maximum intellectual benefit. (PR 15, p. 936)

This series is, after all, about science education, and though some of the benefits of nature study are not science related, some are. Consequently, there will be times when we need to lead the way. In the article “How to Interest Children in the Outdoor World,” C. A. Rooper explained:

…the first thing is to create in the children a real interest in the subject. In order to do this (for children will not do so spontaneously) the parent must lead the way. The parent must first take a lively interest in the subject, and make it, if possible, a kind of “hobby,” and then the children will easily be induced to follow. … and for that purpose nothing answers so well as a walk, the too often despised walk. And yet a walk can be made most attractive as well as useful. It should be arranged with a definite object, and the route chosen with a special end in view. … This method will not permit of a hurried rush after a quantity of specimens nor of a record number of them found, but it will give, which is far more interesting, a thorough knowledge and real acquaintance with a few, and the children will learn from it the beauties, charms, curious adaptations and peculiar habits of certain objects in nature from which knowledge and interest in all will be developed. (PR 13, p. 733)

There is not a right way or a wrong way to lead, (though there are some boundaries, which we’ll talk about in the next article.) More importantly, there is not a particular set of information that you must learn or a scope and sequence for what your children should discover. It’s only that as you know more about a subject, you will be able to lead your children to discover more about it. You will have questions to ask them that you wouldn’t have thought to ask previously. You will be able to direct their attention to nuances that were beyond your notice before.

By way of explanation let me propose a scenario. Suppose a butterfly landed in the path during your last nature walk. You and the kids gathered around it to admire its beautiful colors. Questions might have been asked, with no answers given, but again, this is okay. Eventually, it flew away, and your family moved on down the trail. It was a delight to have seen the butterfly, and when the walk was over, your children shared a clear account of what they saw.

That experience would have been wonderful by itself, but later you took a moment to get out your field guide and discovered that you had seen a Painted Lady. You read a little in the field guide, a butterfly book, or on the internet, and you learned that Painted Ladies migrate long-distances and that they mostly feed on nettles or thistles. You also learn that butterflies only use their two hind pairs of legs to walk and that they taste with their hind feet.

The next time you and your children see a butterfly, you will be prepared with a little more background information. You won’t know everything, by far, but you will know enough to direct their attention to the butterfly’s legs: how many legs does it have, where on the body are they attached, are all of the feet touching the ground, if not, how are they positioned? You will know to direct their attention to the kind of plant it is on and to ask the kids if they think it is the butterfly’s preferred food. If it is a Painted Lady, you may mention its name and ask the kids why they think it is called by that name. When it flies off, you could tell them that some butterflies migrate and you wonder where this butterfly is going, and from whence it came. No answers need to be given, but the children’s minds will be swirling with ideas, questions, and imagination! All over one butterfly.

There are hundreds of scenarios like this. You cannot possibly prepare for all of them, nor should you try. Just try to learn a little more about one thing after each walk and you will be surprised at how much knowledge you accumulate over time. Of course, the things your family learns will not be the exact same things someone else’s family learns, but the overlap of common knowledge is amazing. Most importantly your children are learning to look more closely, ask questions, and use their imaginations.

This week I challenge you to identify a trail or two where you and your children can take a nature walk. Hopefully, you’ll find one that is near your home or near another regularly scheduled activity, such as a music lesson or a dance class. Consider your schedule and commit a certain afternoon as your regular nature walk day. Do you think you are going to need some accountability or would you like to try to take a walk with a friend? Organize a date as a test run. Then take some time after your walk to learn a little more about one thing. Lastly, ask your children some questions to direct their attention to something they haven’t thought to look at. I would love for you to comment below to tell me how it went!

References:

Cholmondeley, Essex. The Story of Charlotte Mason. Child Light Ltd, 2000.
Curry, V. C. “The Teaching of Nature Study.” Parents’ Review, vol. 36, 1925, pp. 529-537.
Drury, Agnes C. “Nature Study.” Parents’ Review, vol. 24, 1913, pp. 187-190.
Hart, E. E.. “Nature Study; and How to Encourage It In Children.” Parents’ Review, vol. 15, 1904, p. 934-940.
Mason, Charlotte M. Home Education, Vol. 1, 1886.
Rooper, C. A. “How to Interest Children in the Outdoor World.” Parents’ Review, vol. 13, 1902, p. 732-735
Shelbourn, Colin. Lake District. Brockhampton, 1999.
Thornley, Alfred. “Nature Study in the Home.” Parents’ Review, vol. 19, 1908, pp. 721-729
Walton, M. G. “Children and Nature Study.” Parents’ Review, vol. 65, 1954, pp. 68-73.

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