“An observant child should be put in the way of things worth observing.”

- Charlotte Mason, Home Education Vol 1., p.69

Nature study is one of my favorite Parts of homeschooling. It’s fun and even relaxing. Nature study consists of four steps:

1. Observe: Observe nature and say out loud what you noticed. For example, I noticed a hummingbird sucking nectar from our flowers.”

2. Connection: the second part is thinking what what you observed may remind you of or look like.

3. Ask: Ask who, what, when, where, why but only ask if it applies.

4. Reflect: After discussing what you saw, reflect by writing and drawing what you observed in your nature study book.

You can use a variety of books discussing what it is that you observed to add detail to your drawing and and writing. You can even come up with a poem about your observation.

Lately, my daughter has been into birds. She is actually studying them on her own and is so excited about everything she is learning.

We are using The Burgess Bird Book for children as the main source. We are also supplanting it with The Little Book of Backyard Songs by Andrea Pinnington and Caz Buckingham which has bird sounds along with a description of each bird. This book is great for learning to listen for these birds. She is also using the Fifty favorite birds coloring book and my natural history notebook to document her findings.

What are some of your favorite nature study resources?

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