Toward the Sciences: Considering the Lilies and Setting Their Feet In a Very Large Room

“The child who sees his mother with reverent touch lift an early snowdrop to her lips, learns a higher lesson than the ‘print-books’ can teach.  Years hence, when the children are old enough to understand that science itself is in a sense sacred and demands some sacrifices, all the ‘common information’ they have been gathering until then, and the habits of observation they have acquired, will form a capital groundwork for a scientific education.  In the meantime, let them consider the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air.”  (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol 1, p. 63)

• Hours in the Out-of-Doors by Charlotte Mason, compiled by Simply Charlotte Mason – This book is really just a collection of quotes that are applicable to Nature Study, but what Simply Charlotte Mason has done is spare you the difficulty of looking all of these up in her 6 volumes.  The quotes are grouped according to topic, and really are an excellent vision of nature study, and its importance in undergirding the sciences.  
• Science Scope by Kathryn Stout – While I wouldn’t say this resource is necessary, it certainly is a great help for the homeschooling mom that would like help in recording science topics covered, and science topics that need to be covered.  The book is easy to understand, simple and straightforward, and covers all the topics of the branches of science, noting the appropriate age/grade for covering a particular topic.  It’s one of those books that I really like because you can put it to use the minute you open the cover – you won’t have to read for two hours to get a sense of the book!  What I like about the book is that it assumes that topics will be covered again and again, much as one does in a home education setting, with each recurring introduction of a topic going a little deeper than before.  Provided in the back of the book is a very easy-to-use checklist chart for keeping track of subjects that have been introduced.  I make a copy of the chart for each of my children and keep it in my home education notebook under each of their tabs.  Then, every few weeks, I go through the chart and check the topics the child has read about.  It’s a really good way to record topic coverage for each child in science. 

• Eve Anderson’s Teacher Training Tools {Nature Study edition} – This is a DVD which can be purchased alone or as part of a 3 volume set.  {The 3 volume set also includes Picture Study and Narration.}  These DVD’s, which offer Eve Anderson’s insight, are immensely helpful if you are implementing a Charlotte Mason education in your home.  
• Reader’s Digest: North American Wildlife (pictured below in this post) – If I needed a field guide and had limited space and just needed one, basic, good book to get started, this would be it.  It covers animals, plants, insects, wildflowers, trees.  The images are wonderful, quality detailed illustrations, and there is just enough information to learn a little about the object you may be looking up.  {Note: there is an updated version of this book, but the updated version is the same as the edition I linked to, save a different dustcover.  Save yourself a little money and purchase the older edition, used!}
• Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock – This is a standard in Charlotte Mason homes, and it’s easy to see why.  It just contains so much information about the natural world!  Different homes probably use this in different ways, and there may be some of you that really wouldn’t find this useful in your home so consider it carefully.  {Images are black and white} I’m mentioning it because it has been on our shelf from the beginning and we often look things up in it.  We use it as a reference book mostly, and really enjoy the poetry that is often included with objects.  Be sure to check out the Handbook of Nature Study blog – what a treasure of ideas and helps for approaching nature study.
• Nature Friend Magazine – We’ve had a subscription to this magazine for 9 years.  That about says it all, doesn’t it?  Whether you homeschool or not, do consider this magazine.  You and your children will delight in reading it together, sans advertisements.  If you have older children (10+), consider the optional study guides that come with the magazine.  I don’t think the study guides are useful for littler ones, who do enjoy the articles and reading from Nature Friend, but they’re fantastic for older children!

Pictured under our butterfly {above} is the Readers Digest North American Wildlife book I mentioned to you above in the resource suggestions.  I wanted you to be able to see an example of the detailed illustrations.  This is the book we used to identify our butterfly.

Taking a Nature Walk:

Really, my friends….you do not have to be a botanist or a trained naturalist to enjoy a nature walk.  {But you will become a naturalist if you walk in the out-of-doors enough!}  Don’t overthink this!  Just let yourself be a child again, look at nature as a child – with wonder!  Walk outside….in your own yard, around your own gardens.  Enjoy the delights of God’s awesome creation.  Ask questions and let them linger without answers if necessary (this really is ok!).  Observe…really look at that little creature, or the way that plant twists up from the ground.  Learn to look for answers in a few good resources on your shelves.  Here are a few simple ideas to get started:{and just to show you that you don’t need a professional camera….I give you the ever-portable option….the phone.  All of the following pictures were taken with my iphone4!}

• Try to walk once a week

• Walk primarily in your yard, neighborhood, gardens, or woods.  Many people think they need to go on a full fledged hike to call it a “nature walk”.  Not so!  Your humble flower beds will provide an abundance for you to study!  Take occasional hikes to special places, but enjoy the ordinary spaces around your home!
• Get to know the seasons!  Adopt a tree or even a bush, and make seasonal visits to it.  Sketch it.  Observe the seasonal changes.

• Create an inviting yard and garden that wildlife will want to visit.  A wonderful book for learning more about this is Bill Merilees’ Attracting Backyard Wildlife: A Guide For Nature Lovers.
• Don’t become encumbered in deciding what to bring, or how to carry it all….just bring water, and your camera, and enjoy.

• Give yourself permission to walk without an agenda!  You don’t need a lesson plan or outline for this.  Just go outside!  Challenge yourself to see something unusual, something new.  A treasure!
• Get to know your birds!

In considering the lilies, we model the skills needed to observe, ask questions, experiment, understand, and explore in more formal ways in the sciences.  We set their feet in a very large room….