We spent an afternoon earlier in the week outside in our "back-back". It's so wonderful to see how excited the kids now get about exploring our little piece of God's creation in our backyard. They hurridly grabbed their nature journals and pencil/crayon boxes and I grabbed some books and a blanket. That was all that was needed for our afternoon outside. The kids love running and playing in the trees, leaves, and flowers. They spent lots of time picking flowers for Mommy (some may call them weeds...but to a 7,5, and 2 year old they're beautiful flowers!). Dd7 drew a beautiful nature journal entry showing a butterfly that they'd seen as well as a snake that scared her in a hole. She and dd2 were walking towards the tree line and she happened to look into a hole that was mostly covered with dead leaves. There sunning himself was a little black snake. I tried to go see it with my ever inquisitive son but all of the screaming from Dd7 must have scared him back under the leaves. Still, I have the beautiful drawing from my daughter to help.
We have been seeing Mr. Redbird around our back patio quite a bit recently. He's been a favorite of Ds5 so we decided to look him up in our Handbook of Nature Study. As we were playing in the back I gathered the children together onto the blanket for a quick science lesson about the Cardinal. We learned all about this beautiful bird and his mate. We saw picture of their nests and learned that Mr. Cardinal is a very attentive mate and father. He brings Mrs. Cardinal all of her food as she's nesting on the eggs. And once the eggs have hatched and Mrs. Cardinal is busy working on the next set of eggs, Mr. Cardinal cares for the little baby Cardinals. We had yet to see Mrs. Cardinal...but to our surprise, this morning as we were doing school Dd5 saw our Mr. Cardinal in a tree outside. We went over to watch him and who was there beside him but Mrs. Cardinal. We watched them fly off together into our neighbors yard and talked about how sweet and loving they must be to each other.
Needless to say, we are so very glad that Spring has finally arrived and we can't wait to spend more time out in our Lord's playground. I wonder which creature we'll discover next??
Showing posts with label nature study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature study. Show all posts
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Pine Villages
Oh, what a wonderful afternoon we've had. I love that the weather is finally allowing us to be outside to rediscover God's beautiful creation. I heard the man mowing our "back-back" earlier this morning and I knew we'd be going out later in the day. There is still an ever so slight chill in the air yet considering what we have to look forward too (the blistering heat of 100+ degree weather in the summer) I wasn't upset at all.
We were last out in our "back-back" (the area beyond our backyard for those new to us) right after the snow. That was about a month ago. Since then it's been cold, wet, and rainy. Yuck! But slowly the Winter is making way for Spring and today we were able to do our first nature study of the year.
I gave the children their very own notebook for nature study. They LOVED them. Now, when I say notebook I mean a spiral wide ruled notebook that I picked up at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago for 5 cents each! They've been sitting on the top of a shelf ever since and to see the reaction from the kids you would have thought they'd been laced with gold (or candy). I even gave dd2 one. She likes to be a part of our school and thinks she's as big as the others.
We went out and I asked them to pick their favorite part of the area and draw a picture of it. I also asked dd7 to write about it. This is their notebook and I'm not going to be correcting it or grading it. All of my ideas on nature study are from the Outdoor Hour by the way.
Dd7 drew a picture and chose to write about the "Pine Village" that they've discovered. We have a lot of trees in our back yet right now there are none with leaves on them. This causes our "Pine Village" to really stick out. There is a group of 6 pine trees all clustered together amidst the other dead looking trees. We were able to discuss evergreen trees and look at the leaves/needles and even smell the trees. Oh, they smell great. She also wrote about some of the birds that she saw and was very good at describing them.
Dd5 drew a pine tree and he also drew a picture of some of the birds that he heard. I thought this was neat. He heard the sounds of two different types of birds and though he couldn't SEE them he drew what he thought they might look like. He's still too young to write words so he chose this way to express his thoughts.
Dd2...well...she drew lots of circles. That's her new talent of the month! It's precious though b/c she pretends to be drawing all sorts of other things yet everything is squiggly lines and circles. I love it! She really loves being involved.
"Nature-study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it." (Handbook of Nature Study pg 1)
Jill
We were last out in our "back-back" (the area beyond our backyard for those new to us) right after the snow. That was about a month ago. Since then it's been cold, wet, and rainy. Yuck! But slowly the Winter is making way for Spring and today we were able to do our first nature study of the year.
I gave the children their very own notebook for nature study. They LOVED them. Now, when I say notebook I mean a spiral wide ruled notebook that I picked up at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago for 5 cents each! They've been sitting on the top of a shelf ever since and to see the reaction from the kids you would have thought they'd been laced with gold (or candy). I even gave dd2 one. She likes to be a part of our school and thinks she's as big as the others.
We went out and I asked them to pick their favorite part of the area and draw a picture of it. I also asked dd7 to write about it. This is their notebook and I'm not going to be correcting it or grading it. All of my ideas on nature study are from the Outdoor Hour by the way.
Dd7 drew a picture and chose to write about the "Pine Village" that they've discovered. We have a lot of trees in our back yet right now there are none with leaves on them. This causes our "Pine Village" to really stick out. There is a group of 6 pine trees all clustered together amidst the other dead looking trees. We were able to discuss evergreen trees and look at the leaves/needles and even smell the trees. Oh, they smell great. She also wrote about some of the birds that she saw and was very good at describing them.
Dd5 drew a pine tree and he also drew a picture of some of the birds that he heard. I thought this was neat. He heard the sounds of two different types of birds and though he couldn't SEE them he drew what he thought they might look like. He's still too young to write words so he chose this way to express his thoughts.
Dd2...well...she drew lots of circles. That's her new talent of the month! It's precious though b/c she pretends to be drawing all sorts of other things yet everything is squiggly lines and circles. I love it! She really loves being involved.
"Nature-study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it." (Handbook of Nature Study pg 1)
Jill
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Fall Wonders- CM style!
"It would be well if all we 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 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 pant and animal life and to care for none of these things" (Vol. 1, p. 61).
As we were waving goodbye to Daddy this morning Man-Man looked up at me with an excited grin on his face, eyes wide with anticipation. "Mommy, when can we go into the back-back and study our nature study?" The "back-back" as the kids have so named it, is the large free space that exists behind our back gate. Daddy put a gate into the fence so that we could go into the wonderful wooded area behind our house and explore all that God has for us. There is even a little creek back there.
I told Man-Man to go get his shoes on and tell his sisters we're going to do our nature study. The sleepy house was suddenly alive and jumping! In no time we were out of the doors, with Gidgi (my mom) and Lucy (our dog) in tow.
"Wow, Mom! The leaves are all gone! And our favorite hiding tree has no leaves on it either!" Man-Man was the first to notice the drastic change in our trees from two weeks ago. No longer are the beautiful yellow, red, orange, and brown leaves hanging from the trees. Instead they are piled up in a mound under the trees from which they fell. The kids love one tree in particular. It has large limbs which bend under the weight of the leaves to form a canopy of sorts. It's a club house, or secret hiding place for them. But now, it's bare and empty. We found a wonderful treasure on their tree though. Large, green, oval shaped things hung from the branches. Some of these green things were split open to reveal a pecan hanging inside. What a fun discovery! They ran around the tree finding other green capsules to open up and even began gathering the pecans they found on the ground.
I asked if they could tell which leaves used to be on the tree. There were many many different types of leaves on the ground under this tree. The wind had been working it's magic and all of the leaves were mixed up. Tink found one little lone stalk still hanging onto the special tree though. She ran and picked it, proudly proclaiming that THIS must be the leaf since it came from the tree itself. We matched it with some of the leaves on the ground.
"The child has truly a great deal to do before he is in a condition to 'believe his own eyes'; but Nature teaches so gently, so gradually, so persistently, that he is never overdone, but goes on gathering little stores of knowledge about whatever comes before him" (Vol. 1, p. 66).
Man-Man made another discovery. Over in the distance was a tree that still had many green leaves on it. As a matter of fact, though some leaves had fallen, most were still as green as ever. I picked up a leaf from our Pecan tree off of the ground and took it over to the new mystery tree. I picked a "leaf" from this tree and held the two together. We discussed the fact that this new tree was actually a pine tree and noted the differences in the leaves' shape and color. We also found other evergreen trees in our back-back and compared those leaves. Now, the children made these connections on their own. All I did was guide their discovery. How proud I was that they noticed and wanted to know more about these spiky pine needles I held in my hand.
"That the child should be taken daily, if possible, to scenes-moor or meadow, park, common, or shore-where he may find new things to examine, and so add to his store of real knowledge. That the child's observation should be directed to flower or boulder, bird or tree; that, in fact, he should be employed in gathering the common information which is the basis of scientific knowledge" (Vol. 1, p. 177).
After spending over an hour in the beautiful Fall weather we returned to the indoors to put together all that we'd discovered. Tink drew a picture of the new evergreen needles she and Man-man had discovered. She also wrote a wonderful "essay" detailing many of our facts and adventures outside. This has been one of the most surprising benefits of our Nature studies. Tink really loves to write about what she's seen or done. She writes it once and we go through it together correcting spelling and punctuation. She then recopies it onto a clean sheet to put into her nature journal. There we go...science, spelling, grammar, copywork all rolled into one!
"Of the teaching of Natural Philosophy, I will only remind the reader of what was said in an earlier chapter- that there is no part of a child's education more important than that he should lay, by his own observation, a wide basis of facts torwards scientific knowledge in the future. he must live hours in the open air, and as far as possible, in the country; must look and touch and listen; must be quick to note, consciously, ever peculiarity of habit or structure, in beast, bird, or insect; the manner of growth and fructification of every plant" (Vol. 1, p. 264).
"And this is the process the child shoudl continue for the first few years of his life. Now is the storing time which sould be spent in laying up images of things familiar" (Vol. 1, p. 66).
Jill
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Gentle Art of Learning
Yesterday was a classic CM day for us. It started out somewhat different and I was worried we wouldn't get an entire school day in. My dd7 spent the night at a friend's house because the public schools had parent/teacher conferences the next day. I meant to pick her up early but due to a Dr's appt I didn't get her until after 10. Usually this means the day is shot for us. But yesterday was different. I decided that it was simply too beautiful to pass up the park on the way home so I told the kids that if they did their nature study at the park then we could play when it was done. We've had over 4 weeks of rain straight here already this Fall and we're tired of not seeing the sunshine and God's beautiful world! So the kids all jumped at the chance to play outside. We ended up running into two other close friends who'd decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather as well so it turned out perfect.
My instructions for this 1 mile walk that we went on were to find pieces of nature that we don't see in our backyard. That's it. The kids were finding things left and right. They had so much fun and we even carried a few samples home to investigate further. They had a ball! The best part was that my ds5 wanted to go on the nature walk INSTEAD of playing on the huge playground. My SON wanted this! I was amazed. This nature study is truly turning into something special in our home!
We got home and went about the rest of the day as normal with lunch, chores, and naps. When the naps were over we opened up all of the windows in the school room and the kitchen and dd2 and ds5 played outside all afternoon. I told dd7 to start with drawing a picture of her nature walk. She drew a beautiful illustration of the items that we saw and I followed that activity by asking her to write about it. Now, she loves writing. She's written many children's books and poems already. Writing is a gift that she has. Yet usually when I ask her to write things for school she just makes a list. She did that again today. So I sat down with her and explained what a paragraph is and how we need sentences to make a paragraph. We turned her list into about 5 different sentences and she wrote them out on a scratch sheet of paper. We then corrected her spelling and punctuation before she wrote her final draft for her nature journal.
I realized while she was doing this that even though we were still working on science we actually had covered grammar, punctuation, spelling, and copywork all in that one activity! We didn't need to have seperate activities for each thing. I was amazed that after she completed the assignment we needed only to finish math and we were done with school for the day. She so enjoyed sitting in the kitchen with me, windows open and the cool Autum air blowing in, watching her brother and sister play outside while completing a story of her own making. Now THAT has to be what Charlotte Mason describes as the "gentle art of learning". Just because we didn't use a specific curriculum for language arts and spelling doesn't mean that she didn't learn just as much. I know for a fact that she learned much more! Now, off to teach another day! God bless!
My instructions for this 1 mile walk that we went on were to find pieces of nature that we don't see in our backyard. That's it. The kids were finding things left and right. They had so much fun and we even carried a few samples home to investigate further. They had a ball! The best part was that my ds5 wanted to go on the nature walk INSTEAD of playing on the huge playground. My SON wanted this! I was amazed. This nature study is truly turning into something special in our home!
We got home and went about the rest of the day as normal with lunch, chores, and naps. When the naps were over we opened up all of the windows in the school room and the kitchen and dd2 and ds5 played outside all afternoon. I told dd7 to start with drawing a picture of her nature walk. She drew a beautiful illustration of the items that we saw and I followed that activity by asking her to write about it. Now, she loves writing. She's written many children's books and poems already. Writing is a gift that she has. Yet usually when I ask her to write things for school she just makes a list. She did that again today. So I sat down with her and explained what a paragraph is and how we need sentences to make a paragraph. We turned her list into about 5 different sentences and she wrote them out on a scratch sheet of paper. We then corrected her spelling and punctuation before she wrote her final draft for her nature journal.
I realized while she was doing this that even though we were still working on science we actually had covered grammar, punctuation, spelling, and copywork all in that one activity! We didn't need to have seperate activities for each thing. I was amazed that after she completed the assignment we needed only to finish math and we were done with school for the day. She so enjoyed sitting in the kitchen with me, windows open and the cool Autum air blowing in, watching her brother and sister play outside while completing a story of her own making. Now THAT has to be what Charlotte Mason describes as the "gentle art of learning". Just because we didn't use a specific curriculum for language arts and spelling doesn't mean that she didn't learn just as much. I know for a fact that she learned much more! Now, off to teach another day! God bless!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Time for Family and God's Handiworks
Today we had another nature study adventure. These have honestly become our very favorite parts of the week. Even my dd2 talks about our nature studies. The other day we were playing on a playground waiting for Dd7 to get out of her enrichment school and Ds5 was playing on the swingset. He was swinging and looking at the playground surrounded by huge beautiful trees. He said to me, "Mom, this would be a great place to have a nature study!" Yes, it truly would. It warmed my heart that while playing on a playground surrounded by plastic structures on which to play he would be thinking of our beloved nature studies.
So today we went out. We worked on the Nature Study Outdoor Hour's 2nd lesson today. Yes, we've done about four nature studies but we're only on their second lesson (we sometimes do our own observations). Today the assignment was to be still, quiet, and listen. Out we went and I must admit that quiet does not always come easily in my house. But we did the best we could. I never realized that I could hear crickets so loudly in the middle of the day. My Dd7 first noticed them. We then heard at least three different types of birds. We heard the sound the wind makes as it's blowing through the bronze colored leaves still hanging barely onto the limbs in the trees above. We heard the way the leaves sound while rustling under our foot steps.
We decided to touch as well as listen. We noticed the difference in the way smooth living leaves feels as opposed to the dried, crackling feel of the dead ones. We saw a vine growing up a tree and noticed that it felt prickly and hard. We felt the soft figs that were growing in one of the trees (at least I think that's what they are...we're waiting on Daddy to make a definite determination).
We also saw the beauty of our God's world. We saw the robin eating his food from the ground and scurrying to his tree home when we came too close. We saw that a few leaves were still in the trees while most have fallen to the ground. We saw that some trees were in fact, still green.
This was a fascinating lesson for all of us and it only took a few quick minutes. We came back in and listed on three different charts the things we saw, heard, and felt. Then Dd7 copied our lists into her notebook.
I can honestly say that our nature studies have become something I look forward to, rather than dread. It's not "just another thing to do" for us but it's a stress free time to observe our Lord and His wonderful handiworks.
So today we went out. We worked on the Nature Study Outdoor Hour's 2nd lesson today. Yes, we've done about four nature studies but we're only on their second lesson (we sometimes do our own observations). Today the assignment was to be still, quiet, and listen. Out we went and I must admit that quiet does not always come easily in my house. But we did the best we could. I never realized that I could hear crickets so loudly in the middle of the day. My Dd7 first noticed them. We then heard at least three different types of birds. We heard the sound the wind makes as it's blowing through the bronze colored leaves still hanging barely onto the limbs in the trees above. We heard the way the leaves sound while rustling under our foot steps.
We decided to touch as well as listen. We noticed the difference in the way smooth living leaves feels as opposed to the dried, crackling feel of the dead ones. We saw a vine growing up a tree and noticed that it felt prickly and hard. We felt the soft figs that were growing in one of the trees (at least I think that's what they are...we're waiting on Daddy to make a definite determination).
We also saw the beauty of our God's world. We saw the robin eating his food from the ground and scurrying to his tree home when we came too close. We saw that a few leaves were still in the trees while most have fallen to the ground. We saw that some trees were in fact, still green.
This was a fascinating lesson for all of us and it only took a few quick minutes. We came back in and listed on three different charts the things we saw, heard, and felt. Then Dd7 copied our lists into her notebook.
I can honestly say that our nature studies have become something I look forward to, rather than dread. It's not "just another thing to do" for us but it's a stress free time to observe our Lord and His wonderful handiworks.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Catching up!
We had a wonderful homeschooling week this past week. Since Monday was a holiday and Friday my dd7 goes to an enrichment school I really only had three days of school this week. I knew we wouldn't be able to get through with an entire AO week so I took the opportunity to play catch-up. Can I tell you how wonderful it was??!! I decided to do some of the activities that get put to the side when we run out of time. We had wonderful nature studies (lots of them!) and we did lots of "extra" reading about topics that interest us. We did do Math and Bible each day but other than that we just had fun and played. The kids and I both got so much out of this past week. I know that this is how Charlotte Mason really wants a school run. I know that this week I got a glimpse of her vision. It's a beautiful school once all of the elements come together and the kids are learning and growing on their own time!
For nature study (see previous post for more about this) what I had the children do was explore, have fun, point out new and interesting things. We found spider webs with spiders waiting for their prey, acorns, pecans that haven't rippened yet, vines growing up trees, deer tracks, and so much more. Dd7 brought a few things inside for a type of show and tell. I didn't ask her to do this, she suggested it on her own. We then drew pictures of their favorite parts of the walk. Ds5 drew a picture of a neat stick that he found (such a boy!). And dd7 drew many many drawings on her sheet. She even made a cover art for our nature study notebook. They are loving this new part of school and I promise that this will not be pushed aside any longer. To see my children notice and appreciate all of God's creation is such a joy to my heart. They point out things to me that I would just walk right by. I almost stepped on a mushroom on the ground before they yelled and told me to be careful. We then got down low to the ground exploring this mushroom. God made all things in heaven and earth to proclaim His glory and I don't want to take that for granted anymore.
I think we'll do a catch-up week every six weeks or so from now on. It's a wonderful time to have fun, do some of the things you've missed, and take a little break from the monotony. I can't wait for this week to begin. There is so much in store for us all!
For nature study (see previous post for more about this) what I had the children do was explore, have fun, point out new and interesting things. We found spider webs with spiders waiting for their prey, acorns, pecans that haven't rippened yet, vines growing up trees, deer tracks, and so much more. Dd7 brought a few things inside for a type of show and tell. I didn't ask her to do this, she suggested it on her own. We then drew pictures of their favorite parts of the walk. Ds5 drew a picture of a neat stick that he found (such a boy!). And dd7 drew many many drawings on her sheet. She even made a cover art for our nature study notebook. They are loving this new part of school and I promise that this will not be pushed aside any longer. To see my children notice and appreciate all of God's creation is such a joy to my heart. They point out things to me that I would just walk right by. I almost stepped on a mushroom on the ground before they yelled and told me to be careful. We then got down low to the ground exploring this mushroom. God made all things in heaven and earth to proclaim His glory and I don't want to take that for granted anymore.
I think we'll do a catch-up week every six weeks or so from now on. It's a wonderful time to have fun, do some of the things you've missed, and take a little break from the monotony. I can't wait for this week to begin. There is so much in store for us all!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Nature Study 2nd week/ Charlotte Mason lessons
I'm having a lot of fun with this nature study we've started doing. My previous post about the "jewels in our backyard" reminded me that we have even more to explore in our backyard (our very own backyard). We have a large "free space" of land behind our fence that has woods and deer in it. We built a gate into our fence some time ago so that we could access this space however, we rarely do. Yesterday we opened up the gate and the children had so much fun exploring and discovering our very own backyard.
Charlotte Mason says in Part II of her Home Education book that "every hour spent in the open is a clear gain, tending to the increase of brain power and bodily rigour, and to the lengthening of life itself. (pg. 42)" She goes on to say that we should "never be within doors when you can rightly be without". (pg. 42) I love this quote! I need to use that one on my children.
Charlotte Mason says in Part II of her Home Education book that "every hour spent in the open is a clear gain, tending to the increase of brain power and bodily rigour, and to the lengthening of life itself. (pg. 42)" She goes on to say that we should "never be within doors when you can rightly be without". (pg. 42) I love this quote! I need to use that one on my children.
Miss Mason has some excellent examples of simple nature studies that she shares with her readers. Her philosophy of nature study stems from this quote of hers: "They must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens; for of the evils of modern education few are worse than this- that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder- and grow. At the same time, here is the mother's opportunity to train the seeing eye, the hearing ear, and to drop seeds of truth into the open soul of the child, which shall germinate, blossom, and bear fruit, without further help or knowledge of hers." (pg. 44)
This is powerful and we all need to take note! Miss Mason is basically taking most of the responsibility for leading the lesson away from us. We don't have to know everything to guide our children in their studies. We just have to present them with time and opportunity to be children. Their exploring and curious minds will take it from there. So often we are scared that we can't teach a particular subject or we're upset that we don't know all of the answers. Our precious children don't expect us too. But we must allow them to explore and discover, and be willing to learn along with them.
The next page talks about the parents who feel that they have to constantly have something planned for their children to do. She says "no". Don't always have stories to read to them, tell jokes, recite tales, etc. Just simply enjoy and don't always try to entertain them. This is a very important lesson for the OCD moms and the "overplanners". I tend to fall into one of those categories myself. I feel guilty that I don't have planned activities to fill their days with. Miss Mason says that that's just allowing the children time to be children. It's wonderful the ideas and creations our children come up with when their imaginations are allowed to take flight!
I'll end with this final though from Miss Mason for today. "In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air. And this, not for the gain in bodily health alone- body and soul, heart and mind, are nourished with food convenient for them when the children are let alone, let to live without friction and without stimulus amongst happy influences which incline them to be good." (pg 43)
Isn't it amazing that this woman lived over 100 years ago and it seems as if she's telling us exactly what is needed for mothers today. Remember to let your school be pleasurable, calm, and have much room for exploring the world around us. "All the time, too, the children are storing up memories of a happy childhood". (pg 43) Isn't that what it's all about?
Jill
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Jewels in our own Backyard!
As a child I lived in many beautiful and exotic places within our country. I realized quickly that when people came to visit I was able to see more of those places than I did on a daily basis. For example, could you imagine someone from Oahu, Hawaii never having been to the Pearl Harbor exibit? Or what about someone from L.A. never having walked down Hollywood Blvd? So often we don't take the time to act like tourists and explore the town, city, State that we live in. Today, I took some time to do just that!
Just barely two miles from my house (I pass right by it everyday)is a wonderful community nature center. I remember my friend Dee Dee and I taking our children when they were younger and I loved it then. But sadly, I've never been back. Why? Oh, I guess I just let life get in the way. Plus, that was before I knew I'd be homeschooling and before I'd had my Charlotte Mason Education! ;) Today, my husband had a rare day off and we decided to try it out again. Sadly, this was the one day of the week that my dd7 was in Enrichment School, but ds5 and dd2 loved the experience. There are over 33 acres of trails behind this wonderful center! And over 300 trees are labeled with signs telling you what they are! I mean, all of the work was done for me! We saw deer, squirrels, butterflies, spider webs, and even a King Snake. My son picked up a bird feather at the beginning of the walk and thus, our nature journal has begun! I plan to research and identify this bird feather with the kids and tape it into our nature journal this weekend. How do you make a nature journal? I don't know! But it will start with a feather taped to a piece of paper and hopefully a name of the bird and a little about that bird written underneath. Nothing fancy here! But it's a start!
Hidden amongst the many Oak, Pine, and Poplar trees (and among the vast amounts of poison ivy!) was even an old wagon and "lean too". I'm not sure what the "lean too" is actually called but it's a type of shelter that travelers along the Natches Trace used to stay under when it got late at night. Yes, this nature center has tons of history surrounding it as well. If I'm not mistaken (I need to really research this more before I post this but oh, well...)Teddy Roosevelt used to travel the Trace on his hunting expeditions in this part of Mississippi--hunting for bear! This is where we get the word, "Teddy Bear"! What a wealth of history and nature studies we have right here in our own backyard. And do you know the best part, the nature center is free. They run on donations! I promise you this, the next time we're there we're buying a family membership! We'll definitely be using this little jewel again.
Jill
Just barely two miles from my house (I pass right by it everyday)is a wonderful community nature center. I remember my friend Dee Dee and I taking our children when they were younger and I loved it then. But sadly, I've never been back. Why? Oh, I guess I just let life get in the way. Plus, that was before I knew I'd be homeschooling and before I'd had my Charlotte Mason Education! ;) Today, my husband had a rare day off and we decided to try it out again. Sadly, this was the one day of the week that my dd7 was in Enrichment School, but ds5 and dd2 loved the experience. There are over 33 acres of trails behind this wonderful center! And over 300 trees are labeled with signs telling you what they are! I mean, all of the work was done for me! We saw deer, squirrels, butterflies, spider webs, and even a King Snake. My son picked up a bird feather at the beginning of the walk and thus, our nature journal has begun! I plan to research and identify this bird feather with the kids and tape it into our nature journal this weekend. How do you make a nature journal? I don't know! But it will start with a feather taped to a piece of paper and hopefully a name of the bird and a little about that bird written underneath. Nothing fancy here! But it's a start!
Hidden amongst the many Oak, Pine, and Poplar trees (and among the vast amounts of poison ivy!) was even an old wagon and "lean too". I'm not sure what the "lean too" is actually called but it's a type of shelter that travelers along the Natches Trace used to stay under when it got late at night. Yes, this nature center has tons of history surrounding it as well. If I'm not mistaken (I need to really research this more before I post this but oh, well...)Teddy Roosevelt used to travel the Trace on his hunting expeditions in this part of Mississippi--hunting for bear! This is where we get the word, "Teddy Bear"! What a wealth of history and nature studies we have right here in our own backyard. And do you know the best part, the nature center is free. They run on donations! I promise you this, the next time we're there we're buying a family membership! We'll definitely be using this little jewel again.
Jill
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