The Golden Hours

We are starting this series with the youngest of the children, so let’s consider what nature study looks like before formal school lessons begin. Don’t stop reading if you only have school-age children though. Remember that everything once begun in the subjects of nature study and science continues throughout school and hopefully throughout life. It may no longer be the whole of their education or even appear on their morning school schedule, but it should still be part of the feast.

Charlotte Mason recommended that you spend as many hours as possible outside with your children before they begin school: “four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day.” This will take some organization of your time and home chores, but she admonished, “Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them.” (vol. 1, p. 44)

“Supposing we have got them, what is to be done with these golden hours, so that every one shall be delightful?” (vol. 1, p. 44) Of course, most of the time will be spent playing, and there may even be a little French lesson. The baby can kick on a blanket, looking at the trees and the clouds as they pass by, and most of a mom’s time will be spent reading her book or knitting. Of course, knitting is not actually required, as long as you understand that you must keep to yourself as much as possible, letting the children commune with nature on her own terms.

Still, there comes a time in the day when you can do a few little things to increase their love of nature and begin forming habits of attention.

Sight-Seeing

The first is sight-seeing. It is described as an exploring expedition, which challenges the children to observe every little thing they can about a location and then return to mother to tell all they can remember. A mom might say: “Who can see the most, and tell the most, about yonder hillock or brook, hedge, or copse?” or “Find out all you can about that cottage at the foot of the hill; but do not pry about too much.” (vol. 1, p. 46) And the child must look and remember so he can share all he found. Charlotte Mason reminds us:

This is all play to the children, but the mother is doing invaluable work; she is training their powers of observation and expression, increasing their vocabulary and their range of ideas by giving them the name and the uses of an object at the right moment,––when they ask, ‘What is it?’ and ‘What is it for?’ And she is training her children in truthful habits, by making them careful to see the fact and to state it exactly, without omission or exaggeration. (vol. 1, p. 47)

This ten to fifteen-minute activity can be done each time you go out, and every time your child will be forming a more complete and accurate picture in his mind of his surroundings.

Picture Painting

Another activity that can be employed now and then is picture-painting. It is a bit like a picture study, except that the child is looking at a broad view and making a mental picture. In the article “Nature Study,” Christine Cooper described picture-painting as making “exact images of the beauties of nature.” She explained how it is done: “We get the children to look well at some patch of landscape and then to shut their eyes, and to call up the picture before them, and then let them say what they see. … at first a little guidance must be given that they may see distant features, and notice any reflections.” (p. 340)

Charlotte Mason noted that children more easily see what is close to them, and find it difficult to take in a wide open space some distance away. She suggested therefore that we help them at first in ‘the art of seeing,’ by pointing out nuances in the landscape such as the reflection of trees or clouds on a pond. She also recommended that sometimes we challenge ourselves by closing our own eyes and describing the scene to our children. It puts us in sympathy with them and motivates them to do it themselves.

It’s important to regard her warning, however, that this involves some strain on the attention and is fatiguing, so it should only be employed now and then. Still, she said it is, “well worth while to give children the habit of getting a bit of landscape by heart in this way”. (vol. 1, p. 49)

This activity is one that would be very useful for older children also. Charlotte Mason said that having mental images of the beauties of a landscape can be a wonderful refreshment during a busy or stressful season in life. Further, she suggested parents describe to the children a scene of someplace they have had the opportunity to travel, so getting in the habit of storing such images will be very useful to both the children and adults.

Bird Stalking

Another nature activity we can do with our children during a day in the fields is bird-stalking. I used to teasingly say that we should get more adept at doing a nature-sit, rather than a nature walk. There is much to be seen that cannot be observed when we are in motion, thereby scaring off any creature with legs or wings! Birds, in particular, are fascinating to watch when we hold still long enough for them to go about their regular activities:

A pair of field-glasses are of great use in bird-stalking, and bird walks, because it is so difficult to get a clear idea of a bird’s colouring unless one is quite close to it. A good deal of time should be given to watching birds, in order to learn their habits, and if possible to know their chief food, whether it be land or water plants, or insects, or small fish. The nesting season is the best time for such observations. (Cooper, p. 341)

If you have just started watching birds, you might have found the variety overwhelming, so Miss Mason recommended that we begin in the winter months when there are fewer birds and fewer leaves on the trees. Then, when the children have become familiar with the notes and appearances of the winter birds, they will have a better chance of keeping up with the influx of birds as spring advances.

Once the leaves on the trees hide the birds, you can begin bird-stalking. The children single out some unknown note or song and determine to find the bird responsible for it. Cooper explains: “They must creep along, as silently as possible, hardly daring to breathe, and having tracked a note to its source they have the joy of a find, and may silently watch a nuthatch, a tree-creeper, or shy little willow-wren, which until now have only been names to them.” (p. 342) If the children have begun their outside time with play, then they will have gotten their wiggles out and should be up for the challenge of quietly stalking a bird. And when they are successful, Charlotte Mason ensures us that, “The joy of tracking a song or note to its source is the joy of a ‘find,’ a possession for life.” (1886, p. 89-90)

Out-Of-Door Geography

Charlotte Mason taught that all small children should learn the basic principles of physical geography on their nature walks or even while exploring their backyards. Cooper illustrated, “A duck-pond is a lake, a stream is a river, a hillock grows into a mountain, a small wood may suggest some large forest, in fact, all the natural features may be learnt in this way.” (p. 343) Beyond geography, they also learn some geology as Cooper explained: “by careful observation we can watch, on a small scale, some of the forces which have gone to the building up of our present landscape.” (p. 343)

Also, Charlotte Mason suggested that “the course of the sun, the behaviour of the clouds, weather signs, all that the ‘open’ has to offer, are made use of in these walks; but all is incidental, easy, and things are noticed as they occur.” (vol. 3, p. 237)

A key aspect of physical geography taught in this way is that one topic naturally leads to another. For instance, once they are made to notice that when the sun is high in the sky on a summer day, it is much warmer than when the sun is low in the sky in the middle of a winter afternoon, then they can learn basic information about the weather. And once they understand the concept of distance they can learn the time it takes to cover a certain range, and they can calculate the distance of a walk based on the time it took. And once they are aware of both the progress of the sun and a little about distance, the concept of direction－north, south, east and west－can be introduced.

Even Charlotte Mason’s student-teachers at the House of Education took geography walks, and therefore we shouldn’t think of them as useful only for our youngest children. There is much to be learned in this category for all of our children.

Calendars or Family Diaries

As a family, you may also wish to keep a calendar or a family diary. In my opinion, this is not the same thing as a personal nature diary (what is often called a nature notebook), as Charlotte Mason wrote about the two as separate topics. She also included study questions about “calendars and notebooks” at the end of Home Education, again mentioning them together, but not as the same thing. A family diary or a calendar is also not the same thing as ‘The Lists’ which are first assigned in Form 3. I have several articles prepared about nature notebooks and lists, but here, I simply want to mention the idea of keeping a family journal or calendar when your children are young.

Charlotte Mason said, “All that has been said about ‘sight-seeing’ and ‘picture painting,’ the little French talk, and observations to be noted in the family diary, belongs just as much to winter weather as to summer; and there is no end to the things to be seen and noted.” (vol. 1, p. 86, emphasis mine) About calendars, she specifically noted that:

It is a capital plan for the children to keep a calendar––the first oak-leaf, the first tadpole, the first cowslip, the first catkin, the first ripe blackberries, where seen, and when. The next year they will know when and where to look out for their favourites, and will, every year, be in a condition to add new observations. Think of the zest and interest, the object, which such a practice will give to daily walks and little excursions. (vol. 1, p. 54)

We have no more information than this to reference in Charlotte Mason’s writings or the Parents’ Review, so I think if you decide to keep a calendar or family diary you can organize it however you wish. I have recently learned about perpetual journals from Lara Gastinger (on Instagram laragastinger or #lgperpetualjournal), and I think this idea could be modified to create a nice family journal or calendar. Also, Juniper Grove has created a ‘Calendar of Firsts’ insert for their journals.

The thing to keep in mind is that a family journal or calendar should not replace a personal notebook. Charlotte Mason specified that as soon as a child could begin keeping a nature diary himself, he should. But if you have a gaggle of young children in your home, as I know many of you do, this could be a fun way to allow even the youngest of the group to contribute to a record of the seasons.

Pointing out Beauty

In my article “Embracing the Method,” I mentioned that the beauty sense is gained through nature study and also reverence and appreciation for God. Toward those ends, there are two particular things you can do to bring to light some aspect of beauty that God has created.

There is one thing the mother will allow herself to do as interpreter between Nature and the child, but that not oftener than once a week or once a month, and with look and gesture of delight rather than with flow of improving words—she will point out to the child some touch of especial loveliness in colouring or grouping in the landscape or in the heavens. One other thing she will do, but very rarely, and with tender filial reverence [preferably as a prayer] : she will point to some lovely flower or gracious tree, not only as a beautiful work, but a beautiful thought of God, in which we may believe He finds continual pleasure, and which He is pleased to see his human children rejoice in. Such a seed of sympathy with the Divine thought sown in the heart of the child is worth many of the sermons the man may listen to hereafter, much of the ‘divinity’ he may read. (vol. 1, p. 79-80).

The night sky is what prompts this response in me. It doesn’t even require a sky full of stars. Venus alone can be hovering over the horizon as we drive home at dusk and I want to gush about God’s power and majesty every time. However, can you think of why Charlotte Mason would warn us to do this very rarely? I believe it is because your children need to and have a right to, come to God and appreciate His glory by themselves. It won’t be the same if you hold their hand every time.

Charlotte Mason said:

Nature Knowledge the most important for Young Children — It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get in touch with nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things. (1886, p. 61)

I hope you will make a commitment to implement some or all of these ideas with your kids. In fact, I challenge you to start this week. Charlotte Mason talks a lot about the formation of habits in our children. But we must recognize that those habits cannot be formed if we do not do our part. We must form some habits of our own.

Further Resources:

Out-of-Door Life – an outline
Summer is a Good Time to Practice
Home Education, Charlotte Mason, pp. 42-95
Episode 146: Physical Geography, particularly the “links” in the show notes.

References:

Cooper, C. “Nature Study.” Parents’ Review, vol. 20, 1909, p. 340-343.
Mason, Charlotte M. Home Education, Vol. 1, 1886.
Mason, Charlotte M. School Education, Vol. 3, 1904.

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