In my Outdoor Hour Challenge for this week, I have encouraged families to look at the table of contents of the Handbook of Nature Study and find a focus for their nature study. Here is what I wrote:
I am going to suggest that you pick a focus area for your nature study. Taking into account what you have close at hand, what season it is, and your child’s interest, look through the table of contents in the Handbook of Nature Study and pick one section that you will focus on for the next six to eight weeks. It might be a good time to study garden flowers (bulbs), wildflowers, birds, or trees if it is already warm in your area. If you still have lots of snow, you could focus on mammals, birds, or water forms. (For suggested nature study rotations using the Handbook of Nature Study, see the Ambleside Online’s nature study page for ideas. http://amblesideonline.org/NatureSch.shtml) If you have chosen a focus area, turn to the introductory page for that section and take the time to read just that page in the Handbook of Nature Study.Our family has been using a focus area since the fall term and I have seen how it has helped us learn so much more about the area we concentrated on. It is as if you become hyper-focused on that particular area and see so much more to research. When we focused on insects, we saw more insects. As we started focusing on mammals, we found many mammal related things to learn about as we went about our daily life. We are getting ready to switch to our spring term focus of garden flowers.
In preparation, I have skimmed down the table of contents in the garden flowers section and I have found eleven flowers we can study during the term. As we plan our garden and visit the nursery for plants, I will try to remember to point out some that we can study using the Handbook of Nature Study. For instance, the section on sunflowers has five pages in the HNS. There are ten observation suggestions at the end of this section just for sunflowers and that will be more than enough to get us started.
Picking a focus area using the Handbook of Nature Study will help your family get more out of your nature time. It will also help you become more familiar with this rather large book and learn how to use it in your family. It's like the old joke. "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time.
this is so perfect for my Lakewood florist
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, I pulled out my copy of Handbook of Nature, blew the dust off, and started using it.
ReplyDeleteI had always thought you need to go through a book "right," and since I wasn't interested in the first animals, I never got beyond that.
Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Dear Barb
ReplyDeleteSorry to post in an old post but my question pertains to this one in particular... I have picked a focus area for this term and you answered the question for me already about how long to study it for "O) But I was also curious as to whether or not it would be ok to focus on "horses" for weeks on end or should I move on to other mammals also? (We have access to these and dd6 loves them). Do you study one particular "thing" for longer than a week at a time? I guess this question has been triggered by the 16 questions that Anna poses in her "horse" section- should I try to answer most of them? Just the ones I like the look of in regards to 6yo? What is your wisdom/ experience in this?
Thank you again SOOOOO much for your time and help in getting me established as a nature studier "O)
Kindest regards
Pauline in Australia
What a really good question Pauline. I have never thought about this particular situation before.
ReplyDeleteMy best advice would be to take as long as you want to focus on horses but also take time every week to still get outdoors and observe other things too. You could also study other mammals at the same time, maybe not so in depth, and use your horse as the comparison. How do a horse's legs differ from a cat's legs? How does a horse use its teeth in comparison to a cow? You get the idea.
So you can focus on the lessons in the HNS for the horse but still have a way to learn about other mammals as well.
The main idea of having a focus is to direct your attention to a particular aspect of nature study. I know when we focused on insects that we saw more insects. I know when we focused on mammals we began to see more signs of different mammals....holes in the ground, scat, tracks, etc. You become more hypersensitive to a more focused area of nature for a period of time.
Let me know what you decide.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom