Take School Outside

Spring is a beautiful time: everything seems fresh and new, the greens appear more vibrant than at other times, and there is so much to observe.

At the same time, spring is a difficult time to concentrate on school: the outdoors are calling, the mind has already shifted to next year's books, and fatigue after a long year (and winter) of school has set in.

Why not take these two situations and combine them into one beautiful solution: 

Take school outside

Now, I'm not talking about bringing your books and doing Math at the picnic table, or Dictation under the budding maple tree. No. What I'm suggesting is to take advantage of this fabulous season and spend time on Nature Study.  

In my home, this is one area that gets sadly neglected during the winter months. But come spring, even my reclusive, hibernating self is antsy to get outdoors! So now is when I turn to the Handbook of Nature Study blog and get some fresh ideas for incorporating Nature Study and Anna Botsford Comstock's fantastic book Handbook of Nature Study(which is also available free online) into our days.

Barb has redesigned her blog to make it more user friendly, and has recently begun a series of spring Outdoor Hour Challenges. Why not take a look and see if there's something there that piques your interest?

Winter Nature Study

It's not too late to ramp up your winter nature study time!

Barb (Harmony Art Mom) has a series of winter outdoor hour challenges that are easy to use, easy to do. Don't let the snow and cold keep you from nature study (say I while I'm tucked nicely inside a cozy home)! It only takes a few minutes a week to open your eyes and heart to the Creator's wonderful details. Barb makes it easy to incorporate Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study, and to make these times more than simple observation.

Check out her winter series! Barb only started this series in early January, so you won't even feel behind if you start now. The first one is Cattails in Winter. Then comes Winter Tree Study. And the last one to date is today's: Winter Sky and Stars. (I think my family will start with the trees, then we'll do the sky and stars. I'd enjoy talking to you at the next meeting if you tried one of them, too.)

Let the Child Choose the Material

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study has a new post with a thought provoking quotation from Liberty H. Bailey's book The Nature-Study Idea.

I hope you'll give some thought to how this looks in your CM home school, and would love to see your comments either here or at Barb's blog.

Using the Handbook of Nature Study

Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study blog, has just posted an excellent piece on Nature Study in Home Education and making use of Anna Botsford Comstock's wonderful resource, Handbook of Nature Study.

Fall is a great time of year to give nature study a try if you haven't already been doing it, and a wonderful season to explore more deeply if nature study is part of your family's identity already.

Comstock's book is full of narrative descriptions of plants, animals, and insects, but did you know that she even has chapters on soil, minerals, and climate?

You can find Handbook of Nature Study through most home education retailers, on Amazon, and, for those of you who want to take a look but aren't ready to buy, you can get a free download of entire book from Internet Archive, including the diagrams and illustrations!

Last year my family participated in this Monarch Rearing program and it was a fantastic Nature Study experience for us. We're doing it again this fall, and heard from Wings of Paradise that they still are able to accept orders for the kit.

(If you want to see some of our fun with the caterpillars and butterflies, click on the link to PeaceLedge in the sidebar, and then in PeaceLedge's topics list, choose butterflies.)

I couldn't upload the pictures from the email they sent me, but if you go to the Wings of Paradise website, you can find lots of info about the Monarch Rearing Program.

Monarch Butterfly Rearing Kits are still available!

Order yours today!

• Last order date is September 11, 2009
• Monarch Butterfly Rearing Kits are available while supplies last.
• A limited number of kits are available

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Once again we are taking orders for Monarch Butterfly Rearing Kits - everything you need to Raise, Tag & Release your very own Monarch Butterflies!

Be amazed as your caterpillars miraculously develop into beautiful Monarch butterflies! Plus, this kit provides everything you need to RAISE, TAG & RELEASE your butterflies and track their migration to Mexico as part of the MonarchWatch international research project.

• AVAILABLE BY PRE-ORDER ONLY
• PRE-ORDERED MONARCH KITS MUST BE PICKED UP AT WINGS OF PARADISE ON SEPTEMBER 12th, 2009 between 10am and 4pm
• RECEIVE FREE ADMISSION FOR YOU & up to 3 GUESTS WHEN YOU PICK-UP YOUR KIT ON SEPTEMBER 12th, 2009 between 10am and 4pm

EACH KIT INCLUDES everything you need to RAISE, TAG & RELEASE five Monarch Butterflies: 5+ Monarch Caterpillars 1 Potted Milkweed Plant 1 Deluxe Collapsible Cage Caterpillar-Care Manual Lifecycle Poster 1 Pack of Milkweed Seeds 5 MonarchWatch Tags Monarch Watch Datasheet & Info

Combining High School Biology and Nature Study

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study has a new post offering suggestions for working both Nature Study and Biology into a High School year. She shows one option of using Nature Study as the core, the other using a HS Biology curriculum as the core (in this case, Apologia).

Posters

And this note came from Sara:

I recently received about 10 posters (birds, reptiles, caterpillars/moths, mammals, flowers) from the Canadian Wildlife Federation for free - you can donate but there was no talk of it on the phone - just in the pre-message part.  

Just call 1-800-563-WILD and ask for whatever complimentary posters they have available and give them your address.  They're very nice!

Spring Outdoor Hour Challenges: Birds

Handbook of Nature Study has two new posts that you might be interested in checking. Both are related to the Outdoor Hour Challenge, a guided nature study time that Barb offers on her blog. With spring in the air, one of the first things that is noticed around our yard is an increase in bird activity. (Has everyone spotted the robins yet?) Well, Barb has begun a bird focus for this next set of Outdoor Hour Challenges, and the first challenge involves three birds that I see every year: the robin, the cardinal, and the house finch. While we haven't seen the cardinals yet this spring, I know they'll come because they nest in the neighbour's cedar. The other post that she's published this week is links to audio files of the bird calls from this week's focus.

All Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges include a reading from Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study, and outdoor challenge, and a follow up indoor activity, usually relating to entries in a nature journal.

This is a great challenge to participate in to ramp up your Nature Study times with your children now that the weather shows potential for cooperation. Even if we do get more cold weather, these challenges don't usually involve a great deal of outdoor time, making them very accessible for all kinds of families.

Enjoy the link!

In The News

This from one of our members this afternoon:

Please, if you are able, take a look at an article today's National Post (p. AL8) called Recess to the Rescue which covers all sorts of contemporary research findings about how time spent in nature is as effective or more effective than medication for children with ADHD. It talks about the important role of recess and how walks in natural settings are more effective than those in urban settings on improving concentration and attention. And it talks about the role of play, and playful learning environments. (Maybe the article will be on the web tomorrow, not sure how the National Post does that).

As if that was not enough, the Hamilton Spectator, had a story sub-titled, Intense Cognitive Training may overcome disabilities (p. Go 6), which discusses the Arrowsmith program, which uses the close study of works of art (by students) to improve cognitive abilities and improve attention.

...nature study, picture study...are we on the verge of an appetite for a new paradigm for education?

Prang Refills, Anyone?

Our family's dry brush painting has taken a bit of a stall over the winter months, but, as we prepare for spring's return, I realize that our supplies need to be replenished.

I went looking online for a place that would sell refill paints for the Prang Oval -8 watercolours and found on in Ontario. They sell the refills in packs of 12 of the same colour for $6.95 and offer free shipping with orders over $35. That would involve me buying a lifetime supply of refills for our family! So I thought maybe there are others of you out there who would like to combine an order for refills. If you're interested, please comment or email me, and I'll work out the details with you. (It would work out to about $0.65 per refill tablet once taxes are factored in.)

For sure I'd order yellow (two of our three paint sets are almost completely out of yellow!), blue, and red, but other than that I'm open to requests.

New Nature Study Post at ChildLight USA

Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins have a new post on the ChildLight USA blog, addressing common Questions and Answers about Nature Study, particularly when it is done as a formal Nature Study class incorporating dry brush watercolour once a month or so.

Reality: A Link

Many times, our plans are wonderful, but reality is quite different. We need to learn to let the children, our students, guide some of their own learning, to build on their own relations. Barb, at Handbook of Nature Study, has a post that reflects this idea, particularly as it relates to Nature Study. May I encourage you to hop over and read it?

Techniques of Dry Brush Painting in Nature Study by Sandra Zuidema

The following are the notes Sandra has made available. If you have questions for Sandra about technique, please put your question in a comment on this post so she can share the information with the rest of the group, too.

Techniques of Dry Brush Painting in Nature Study

A. Keep in mind that this is nature study, not painting, drawing or art class

• The focus is on studying nature
• 1 minute of quiet observation
• Allow time for kids to talk about what they’ve observed. Let each child talk. You and theycan ask questions like: “anything else”, “what is the neatest (most complicated, most lovely…) part”...
• Time for you to talk about
  1. What you observed
  2. What you know (Comstock…)
  3. Good technique for drawing/painting it (e.g. See how the grape tomatoes are all perfectly round, how the top ones are dark orange/red but get progressively lighter until they’re green at the bottom, how they are progressively smaller…Why? What side looks like it’s in shadow?)

B. Paint Box:

• Use small brush (#2)
• Transfer colour to the lid
• Mix colours in the lid
• Don’t wash them off; just add a little water next time and re-use
• Keep box open until dry
• Don’t use the green and rarely the black

C. Painting:

• Date, Common name, Latin name
• Observe object from the angle you will draw it. (Sometimes the children might choose a simpler position, other times they might like to challenge themselves.)
• Hold the paintbrush like a pencil. The bristles should form a point once wet. Paint with the point, just like with a pencil.
• Paint the outline in light yellow as if you were drawing it. (This is the most important part of your painting because it determines the size and shape, so take your time.)
• Work from lightest colours to darkest colours, in layers.

D. Shadows and Definition:

• Shadows: Shading is what will make your painting look alive, rounded, full. To find the right colour to shade with (NOT black!), take the colour of the object (e.g. yellow) and mix it with its complimentary colour (purple). Use this new colour (mud) to shade.
• Definition: Take the complimentary colour of the object (e.g. if your flower is yellow, take straight purple) and scantily outline the flower. I usually find that putting a very thin line on the shadow side of the flower and maybe in the folds of the leaves or the heart of the flower will make it pop out. The key is to use it very sparingly, rarely using a solid line.
  

Dry-Brush Exercise - Nature Study in Progress

Our specimens, laying out and ready to be chosen: Maple leaves and Black-Eyed Susans.

The tools of work in progress: specimens to choose from and observe, sketch or watercolour paper, pencils for labelling the painting, masking tape to hold the sketch paper to a hard surface when not working at a table, #2 watercolour paintbrush. The only thing not shown here are the watercolour paints.

A leaf outlined in yellow , ready to have colour added. Yellow is used for this first step as it is easy to cover over with green. This way you have an opportunity to perfect the details of size and shape before going to a less forgiving colour.

A Black-Eyed Susan in process. See how the stem was done in pale yellow first, then the light colours were painted. Green will come soon.

A red Maple leaf. Mixing the right shade is one of the trickiest parts, and intense colours can be achieved by layering the colours.

Careful work placing shading and definition marks.

The colour testing paper can be a beautiful thing in and of itself. There is no end to the variations of colour that can be achieved, and it's nice to have a scrap to test the colour on before it's applied to the painting.

This Black-Eyed Susan is almost complete. Light colours are finished, the small leaf and straight, narrow stem are done, too. Details of shading and colour variation have been added. Now for the black centre.

An autumnal leaf - just changing from green to golden-orange. This one has had details of shading added as well as dark edges for definition.

A completed Black-Eyed Susan. Lovely in its simplicity.

This leaf, heavy in reds, has striking green highlighting the main vein. Notice the lighter spot on the top of the leaf? See how the painter of this specimen tried to capture that in the painting?

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Thank you to everyone who allowed their photos to be taken for this post. What a wonderful evening we shared together. We'd all enjoy seeing samples of how you've tried dry-brush with your family, so, if you have photos, please email them to Jennifer.

First WHHE meeting of 2008 - Nature Study Notes by Jennifer Talsma

The following was originally posted on PeaceLedge. More about the first WHHE meeting and Nature Study, including Sandra's notes on dry-brush, photos from the meeting, etc., will be posted within a few days.

Tonight two sweet friends and I led the application portion of our Charlotte Mason study group meeting. We were asked to speak about Nature Study and to teach the dry-brush technique that we had learned at the ChildLight USA conference in June. What follow are portions of my notes from my part of that talk.

Nature Study

As the we were preparing this section of the meeting, we were struck by how much Karen Andreola’s chapters [33-35 in A Charlotte Mason Companion] reminded us of a session on Nature Study that S. and I attended at the ChildLight USA conference in June, led by Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins, mother and daughter nature study teachers at a CM school in the south. So as I talk about these chapters, I’d like to weave in things from the Dobbinses, leading up to S's instruction in a dry-brush watercolour exercise that we experienced at the conference.

First of all, why do we do Nature Study? Karen says that in a Charlotte Mason education, there are two main reasons.

The first is that it establishes a relationship between a person and creation. On page 255, Karen quotes Charlotte Mason:

"We are all meant to be naturalists, each to his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things."

Volume 1: Home Education, Page 61

And the second reason is because it points us to the Creator. Karen quotes Audubon, also on page 255, to illustrate this:

"When I had hardly learned to walk, and to articulate those first words always so endearing to parents, the productions of nature that hay spread all around were constantly pointed out to me. . . My father generally accompanied my steps, procured bird and flowers for me, and pointed out the elegant movements of the former, the beauty and softness of their plumage, the manifestations of their pleasure, or their sense of danger, and the always perfect forms and splendid attire of the latter. He would speak of the departure and return of the birds with the season, describe their haunts, and, more wonderful than all, their change of livery, thus exciting me to study them, and to raise my mind toward their Creator."

John James Audubon quoted in A Charlotte Mason Companion by
Karen Andreola, page 255

Always looking at the creation and the Creator, nature study is not inteneded to be intense scientific investigation but to build a relationship between the student and the one (or One) being observed.

The next question becomes HOW? How do we do nature study?

Sometimes it comes about informally, as you’re going for a walk to friends and one of the children sees a bird, or an insect, or a leaf skeleton along the sidewalk. Take a moment or two, observe it, and when you get home, try to describe it and locate it in a field guide or draw it in a nature journal.

Karen’s book has lots of suggestions for small nature study projects that you can do with your children whether you are in town or country. Chapters 34 and 35 are full of ideas. A key element in each one, though, is the Nature Journal. It is here that observations are recorded – dated entries that include drawings, poetry or prose, personal reflections about the item being journalled. This is simply a book, any kind will do, really, as Karen tells us in chapter 33: blank or lined, hard bound or soft cover; Karen even says that small children might prefer to work on loose paper and mount only the entries they choose to keep into their notebooks.

We have kept nature notebooks sporadically since my oldest was about 5, and you can look at my family’s samples as well as S and L’s after the meeting (you can see some of our samples by looking at the Nature Study topic here at PeaceLedge. L's are posted at "the world as we see it". I'll see if S will offer photos or a links for hers). These things do become treasures to the children over time. They see how their observation skills are expanding, and how their ability to accurately represent what they observe is growing, too.

You’ve heard me use the word observation many times already. Well, Karen points out in her first paragraph on page 253, the importance of observation when it comes to nature. Observation is how we come to know the natural world, how we come to care about it. Without observation there is no chance of a relationship.

I found this passage written by Charlotte Mason:

"In Science, or rather, nature study, we attach great importance to recognition, believing that the power to recognise and name a plant or stone or constellation involves classification and includes a good deal of knowledge. To know a plant by its gesture and habitat, its time and its way of flowering and fruiting; a bird by its flight and song and its times of coming and going; to know when, year after year, you may come upon the redstart and the pied fly-catcher, means a good deal of interested observation, and of, at any rate, the material for science.... 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."

Volume 3: School Education, page 236

Do you see the emphasis on observation, of accumulation of visual details which get sorted, collated, arranged, and categorized by the children on their own? This is the ‘common knowledge’ that precedes science teaching – and continues alongside it. This was something emphasized by Deborah and HollyAnne. They would take their students to the location they had selected for observation, and each student would choose a specimen. Then the students would return to their seats (or, if the whole class period was being held out of doors, they’d find a spot to sit) and they would silently investigate their specimen for a full minute. They would carefully turn their flower, looking at it from every angle, seeing what they could discover about it, handling it gently so as to preserve its beauty.

After that minute of observation, they would tell a partner what they had seen. During this time, the student listening was required to remain silent and attentive – his turn to share would come. It was amazing when we did this in the workshop, the number of details that our partners came up with that we hadn’t – and vice versa. There is a world of beauty and detail in each specimen, just waiting to be discovered!

I want to quickly add that Nature walks and nature journaling are not Science instruction time.
Charlotte writes in volume 3:

"The teachers are careful not to make these nature walks an opportunity for scientific instruction, as we wish the children’s attention to be given to observation with very little direction. In this way they lay up that store of ‘common information’ which Huxley considered should precede science teaching; and, what is much more important, they learn to know and delight in natural objects as in the familiar faces of friends. The nature-walk should not be made the occasion to import a sort of Tit-Bits miscellany of scientific information. The study of science should be pursued in an ordered sequence, which is not possible or desirable in a walk."

Volume 3: School Education, page 237

Nature study is a gentle time, a calm time of observing creation, and having our eyes raised to the Creator.

We want to give you an opportunity to try the dry-brush technique that we learned from the Dobbinses in June. I had been very intimidated about entries in our nature journals – I’m not an artist, our pictures were poor representations of the specimens we were choosing, and painting? Well, painting sounded like a lot of effort, so we stuck to pencil, pencil crayons, even going as far as watercolour pencils and crayons, but sometimes not even adding the water afterward! I wanted to try it, and having done it in the workshop I realized how very accessible it is. We considered demonstrating it only or having an opportunity to try it after the meeting if people chose to, but felt that the greatest benefit would be in trying it yourselves, seeing how easily it can be done.

A couple of things to keep in mind are that ideally the students should be silent during the dry-brush time. This is a time for quiet work – observing, reproducing. Sometimes Deborah and HollyAnne play soft music, other times there is complete silence. When the painting is done out of doors, the sounds of the environment naturally provide the backdrop.
The children’s work is not to be criticized or corrected, although using a step-by-step method to label the drawings, and so on, will encourage careful work and accuracy.

Always remember that the goal of this exercise is observation and a greater reverence for the Creator, not perfect representation of the specimen. If we wanted that, we’d take a photograph, and even that wouldn’t be perfect. No, the point is that the children spend time looking, learning to love what they see and the One Who made it.

For more on the Nature Study topic at the WHHE meeting, including S's notes about dry-brush technique, visit the post on the WHHE blog. Those items will be posted in a couple of days.

100 Species Challenge Link Corrected

Well, if you had tried to click the link to the challenge instructions in my 100 Species Challenge post, you probably found that it didn't work. I've fixed the link in that post, and I've made a link to it here. I encourage you to take a look. It appears to be a great idea for cranking up your family's Nature Study times.

One Hundred Species Challenge

Sandy Rusby Bell pointed me to this great idea. The point is to familiarize yourself with 100 species of plant life within walking distance of your home. Read the whole post to get instructions on how it works. It sounds like a great way to kick-start nature study for the new school year. Even if you don't blog yourself, you can do this in your nature journals, or even email this blog and share your information here, that way we can all benefit from what each of us learn. Do any of you think you'll give it a try? Please leave a comment if you plan to participate in this challenge.

We're getting ready to start school again after a wonderful summer of travel, play, and simply change of pace. Keep watching for the 2008-2009 meeting schedule which you'll receive in your inbox as well as post here on the blog.

Blessings to everyone these last weeks of summer!

Jennifer

Anna Botsford Comstock

Through the Handbook of Nature Study blog, which we've referred to a few times in our meetings, I was directed to an interesting little article on the Internet: In 1988 Anna Botsford Comstock was inducted into the Conservation Hall of Fame.

Isn't it exciting to know that Comstock has been recognized for the contributions she has made to Nature Study? And to think that many of our children (as well as us!) are benefiting from her wisdom and insight.

I believe that she'd be honoured to be recognized in such a meaningful way, don't you?

In her book, Comstock emphasized the rewards of direct observation. She was ahead of her time in stressing the importance of natural relationships that work to form what we now call an ecosystem. The point of her approach to nature study, she said, was to "cultivate the child's imagination, love of the beautiful, and sense of companionship with life out-of-doors."

-- From the Conservation Hall of Fame Website

You can read about other inductees by visiting the National Wildlife Federation's inductee page.