Nature Study Ideas this Year

 Nature Study is not our strongest Charlotte Mason piece, but I've definitely grown in that area since we started homeschooling many years ago. I get so many good ideas from blogs and podcasts which is great for pumping in excitement when I'm planning.

This year we have several "kinds" of nature study going on. I have the ideas all listed out in our homeschool planning app, and I decide the week ahead which activity we'll be doing.

The pictures below are all from a trip we took a couple weeks ago to Cibolo Creek Nature Center.

~ We take a hike about every month or two. ~

When we do this, we just enjoy the hike. The kids don't draw in their nature notebook.

~ We concentrate on one special study per term (3 terms in our year). ~ 

A special study may take 2-3 weeks. This year we are identifying the flowers in "the ditch" near our house. We did an ant farm and studied up on harvester ants. And I'm not sure what the last one will be. Ideas will likely come to someone. Sabbath Mood Homeschool has some good special study ideas here. And she has a blog post explaining special studies here. 

~ There are a couple other activities I wanted to involve the kids in: grow mold on bread, plan a butterfly garden, purchase a bird bath. ~ 

I'm loving the little bird bath! We've seen birds in it a few times. The neighbor cat Nina drinks from it a lot as well. 

~ Brandy from Afterthoughts blog had a great post called "Nature Study in Suburbia" that I've been reading every year to gather inspiration. ~ 

Ha! I just noticed it was published in 2019. So I've been reading it every year for the past two years. 

That post has inspired studying Nina the neighborhood cat, growing more plants and vegetables, and observing a tree in all its seasons. 

~ I'm asking the kids to each plan a nature study session this year. ~ 

These pictures from Cibolo Creek Nature Center come from Harrison's plan. We drew in nature notebooks at the marsh and then went to the creek to wade.

~ We take a short walk at a nearby park or around our neighborhood and bring something back to draw, identify, and sometimes write about. ~

I heard these great prompts from John Muir Laws that we now try to do at least once a year. We take a short nature walk and then sit and answer these three prompts in the nature notebook. 

~ "I notice.... I wonder.... This reminds me of......" ~

~ Simply Charlotte Mason had an interesting post about observation lessons which help when doing nature study. ~

We had a fun time with this one. I had each kid use each a different sense to figure out and describe the object I handed them. Then on the last object they used all 5 senses to figure it out. The handy dandy mandated masks work great as eye covers.

~ And lastly, we've been doing One Square Foot Space once a year. ~

I can't find where I got this idea, but there are books about it now. Each kid takes a length of yarn, makes a square (or circle) with it in our yard, and then lays down on a towel to observe everything in their encircled space. They draw and describe in their notebooks. 

So that's Nature Study for 2020/2021. A list to go off of and lots of flexibility and room for change. I sure love the homeschool community and their free-flowing ideas!