If you have pored over my website in the past, you may have read an article called “Nature Journals.” I have removed that post because it was misleading and contained incorrect information. So often as we learn about something, we take information from others, teachers, writers, or friends, and we accept that information as fact. We can then even read the actual facts, and still, twist them to comply with our understanding. Thankfully, if we are faithful to continue learning, the Holy Spirit can open our eyes.

I recently wrote an article for Charlotte Mason Institute called “The Evolution of my Nature Notebook” where I chronicle this change in my understanding. It begins:

My children have each worked their way through several nature notebooks throughout their school education, but I am still working on my original one. My first entry was on June 11, 2009. It’s interesting to see the evolution that has taken place in my style over the years. I attribute the change to, 1) my growing need to express myself more thoroughly, and 2) my understanding of the way the nature notebook should be used.

I hope you will take a few minutes to go over to CMI’s Website to read how my erroneous thinking regarding the purpose of a nature notebook and therefore the practice of its use, has been corrected since my first years of keeping a notebook. Maybe take a moment to compare it to your own understanding of the principles and therefore your practices. And then, enjoy my replacement post below.

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Keeping a Nature Notebook

Charlotte Mason is praised as the creator of the nature notebook. In her first volume, Home Education, published in 1886, you can hear her heart for this notebook and how she meant for it to be used. But they really came into their own in 1893, when Miss Hodgson, the natural history teacher for the House of Education (Charlotte Mason’s teaching college,) suggested a method of keeping a nature notebook based on Miss Mason’s urging that ended up being the standard for years to come. Mr. Geldart gives us a clear description of this method in his Parents Review article “Nature Work at the House of Education,” and he would be a good one to learn from because each student in the House of Education’s graduating class chose their best notebook to send to him for review.

Mr. Geldart tells us that these notebooks “consist of three parts, which we will take in order of importance.” (Geldart/488) However, do not think of these as divided notebooks. The three parts, which I will describe below, are intermingled throughout the book.

A Diary of Observations

First, a Diary of Observations, some original, others derived from what Miss Hodgson has brought to the students’ notice, very often during their walks together. These Diaries contain descriptions of the plants, insects, birds and other animals seen, and records of their habits (Geldart/488)

People often ask me whether they should take their nature notebook into the field or on a nature walk with the child, but I do not see any precedence in Charlotte Mason’s writings that lead me to believe this is necessary. In fact, I think there is much to indicate the opposite.

Charlotte Mason explained:

Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasps, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragonfly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way. … Let all he finds out about it be entered in his diary––by his mother, if writing be a labour to him,––where he finds it, what it is doing, or seems to him to be doing; its colour, shape, legs… (1/57-58)

I think the instruction that the child should sit quietly and patiently to observe nature presupposes that they would be watching and not drawing or writing. Further, her comments about what should be included once he has spent ample time watching lead me to believe that the act of narrating by journaling and adding illustrations, would be done later — possibly after the child returns indoors or even just when he settles at a picnic table. Also, note G. Dowton’s suggestion in the Parents’ Review article “The Charm of Nature Study”:

Notes, perhaps, present even a larger field of study than paintings, but they must always be the result of personal observation and knowledge. It is very helpful sometimes to read up the facts about a certain subject before a special expedition, in order to have a guide as to what to look for or to know what may be expected. Then personal observations may be written up afterwards. This is far more instructive than reading up the subject afterwards and trying to fit personal observation to known facts, or what one feels one ought to have seen. (PR 41/190, emphasis mine)

In my article “The Evolution of my Nature Notebook,” I pointed out that we do not encourage note taking in a Charlotte Mason education. Instead, we want the child to narrate all he can after a single reading. Therefore, the idea of using our nature notebooks to narrate, or to “keep a dated record of what they see” (3/236) after taking a walk, participating in an object lesson, or just exploring and making observations, makes sense.

What Should These Narrations Look Like

We also must note that these narrations would often be written rather than merely including a drawing on a page. Mr. Geldart informs us that the House of Education students ordinarily took one year to fill a 192-page notebook. When he received them, he read through each notebook from cover to cover, which took five to seven hours — for each notebook! I’m embarrassed to say that my notebook, which I’ve been adding to for nine years, would not take 30-minutes to read through. Can you imagine the quantity of written material that was included that it took so long to read?

Charlotte Mason said, “These note-books are a source of pride and joy, and are freely illustrated by drawings (brushwork) of twig, flower, insect, etc.” (3/236) Sometimes we only see what we want to see. She only mentions illustrations in this section, but it is because the written narration is assumed. Listen to what she said next:

The knowledge necessary for these records is not given in the way of teaching. On one afternoon in the week, the children (of the Practising School) go for a ‘nature walk’ with their teachers. They notice for themselves, and the teacher gives a name or other information as it is asked for, and it is surprising what a range of knowledge a child of nine or ten acquires. (3/237-38, emphasis mine)

Mr. Geldart gives a fun description of the narrations of these walks: “All these are fully described, often with racy notes of the various things seen and found, and accounts of the very good time which the students have had of it.” (Geldart/489) These are indeed some of my favorite entries to read when I peruse the nature notebooks included in the Redeemer Digital Collection.

Lastly, in my research, I stumbled across the Parents’ Review article “From a Nature Notebook,” which is simply a typed reproduction of a student notebook:

November 3. A very wet and wretched half-term holiday. Nevertheless we got sixty flowers for our new month’s list and were much surprised to find the greater stitchwort out. Some foxgloves are still very fine with numbers of brilliant flowers.

November 5. It is quite a wintry day. Very few leaves left on the trees, a cold wind gently blowing and bringing blinding rain. We saw a dipper at Pelter bridge. First he stood very quietly on a stone, then flew a little way downstream and bobbed up and down. Afterwards he picked up leaves on the bank and threw them right and left, looking for something under them. He chirped a little in a spiritless sort of way as if he were lonely and calling for a friend.

November 6. One could not have imagined there was so much to look for on a winter’s walk…

The note at the bottom of the page reads: “

It is unfortunate that it is not possible to reproduce the beautiful illustrations that accompany these notes, but it is hoped that the notes themselves will indicate an answer to a constantly recurring question: “What shall I write in my Nature Note Book?”-ED. (PR 42/188)

Lecture Notes

Let us return to Mr. Geldart’s explanation of the three components of the nature notebook: “Second in importance to the Diaries come Lecture Notes. These are notes of the lectures given by Miss Hodgson on many subjects.” (Geldart/489)

Students at the House of Education were required to learn so much nature knowledge in the short time they attended the school that lectures were necessary as they could not read the student books in the allotted time. Please remember, however, that these students were usually 18 years old or more, and that when teaching our children, Charlotte Mason did not condone lecturing.

Still, once in awhile, we have an opportunity to walk with a naturalist or hear someone lecture on a nature topic that they are passionate about. I think it would be worthwhile for our children to follow these opportunities with a narration in their nature notebooks.

Mr. Geldard also added that “There are sometimes, but not often, capital little essays apart from the lectures, on subjects which seem to have caught the fancy of a student.” (Geldart/490) Does your child ever read a book on a nature topic he has taken an interest in? I hope so. Maybe after reading a book of this sort, he could write a composition in his nature notebook telling what he has learned.

Illustrations

We now come to the third and last part of the Books, and I am not quite sure that I am right in putting it last, and that is the Drawings with which they are illustrated. These fall into two divisions—original drawings illustrating the Diaries, and copies or diagrams illustrating the Lectures. (Geldart/490)

Original Drawings Illustrating the Diaries

Mr. Geldart points out some striking things regarding these illustrations. First, that they are “almost invariably brush-paintings in water-colours without outline, a method which catches the ‘gesture,’ as Mr. Ruskin calls it, and general character of a plant better than drawing with a point or with a hard outline.” (Geldart/490)

Second, that they are not beautifully composed pieces of artwork, but rather “sketches.” He noted, “Of course these drawings can only be considered as sketches, there is no time for really finished work; finish comes afterwards, when the student has left Ambleside, and presumably is able to give more time to each drawing”. (Geldart/490).

Last, and most interesting to me, he noted that the best drawings give “a thoroughly good idea of the whole plant.” (Geldart/490) When Mr. Geldart reviewed the House of Education students’ notebooks, he noted on a piece of paper:

Every drawing which rises to the point which I call ‘good’. To do this a drawing must be a fair representation of the thing drawn. Nothing whatever is given for mere scraps, however well executed. For example: I had two drawings of the cranberry; one, beautifully painted, of a scrap, with perhaps a dozen leaves, and one flower stuck upright, in a position in which no cranberry ever grew. Of this I took no notice, it meant nothing and was only misleading. The other, nothing like so well painted, was a fair sketch of the plant as it trails on the ground, throwing up its flowers on small stalks, with its little rootlets at intervals, giving a good idea of both gesture and habit. This I at once marked “very good,” though not nearly so attractive looking as the other. (Geldart/491)

I think a student would likely be less intimidated by the idea of painting in his nature notebook if his goal were to make a fair sketch of the plant that gives an idea of its gesture and habit, rather than to make a well-executed painting. Mr. Geldart said:

Some of the students when they first begin their Note-Books, are evidently quite unaccustomed to painting, but their work improves rapidly, just as it does in the Lecture Notes, and the improvement is very interesting to watch. Others are practised and well instructed in painting. (Geldart/491)

Copies of Diagrams

The second kind of illustrations, those to the Lecture Notes, are either diagrams or copies from books. There have been among them many beautifully executed pen-and-ink copies of engravings. (Geldart/491)

That is a different kind of drawing. If a student is learning about the parts of a flower in their nature lore book or has learned about the parts of a caterpillar during an object lesson, they can recreate a diagram in their book.

When to Begin Keeping a Nature Notebook

Charlotte Mason said that students should begin keeping a nature notebook as soon as they can keep it themselves by drawing pictures. She allowed that a mother can take dictation for the child, but she noted that a five or six-year-old child could begin to keep a nature notebook. That means it can be started before formal lessons begin at six years old.

Her students at the House of Education kept a new notebook each year. Some students even filled three over their two-year tenure. I like this idea because each year a child can begin anew. Presumably, their skill at brush drawing will have improved through their art lessons, and maybe their desire to fill their new book before the year ends will act as an impetus.

Remember as well, that keeping a nature notebook can be continued throughout life. Charlotte Mason said, “These note-books are a source of pride and joy,” (3/236) Therefore, I encourage you to keep a notebook of your own. Not only because the best way for your children to see its purpose and its practice is to observe you doing it, but also, and possibly more importantly, most of us do not know enough about the wondrous world we live in. We must continue learning and observing and therefore narrating in a nature notebook.

 

I hope your minds are filled with an image of what these notebooks can and should be, and that you will redirect your efforts as you go forward.

Further Resources:
Also, you might enjoy listening to A Delectable Education Podcast, episode 111, Notebooks & Paperwork, Part I, where we talk about this subject.

References:
Geldart, H. (1897) “Nature Work at the House of Education.” Parents’ Review, vol. 9, p. 487.
Dowton, G. “The Charm of Nature Study.” Parents’ Review, vol. 42, 1931, p. 190.
Mason, C. M. “From a Nature Notebook.” Parents’ Review, vol. 42, 1931, p. 188.
Mason, Charlotte M. Home Education,1886, p. 57-58
Mason, Charlotte M. School Education, 1904, p. 236-238