I have been super busy this week getting ready for the new Autumn Series of challenges for the Outdoor Hour. Extra time spent outdoors since the weather has cooled off a little has given me some things to think about in regards to nature study and I thought I would share a quote that has had me so absorbed.
I sometimes am tempted to pack into the Outdoor Hour Challenges lots of extra creative activities to go along with each topic but after remembering how important it is just to be outdoors with our children, having them direct our attention, I come back to the simple model we started with in the beginning.
To know a plant by the way it grows, where it lives, when and how it flowers and bears seeds, or to know a bird by the way it flies, its song, and when it arrives and leaves, to know when you might find a robin or a thrush, takes a lot of focused observation and the kind of knowledge that helps us understand science.
Students keep a dated record of what they see in their nature notebooks. They're allowed to manage these notebooks however they want; the books aren't graded or corrected. They take pride and pleasure in these notebooks and freely illustrate them with dry-brush work paintings of twigs, flowers, insects, etc.
They notice things by themselves, and the teacher tells them the name or gives other information only if they ask for it. It's surprising how much knowledge about different things a child can gain by the time he's nine or ten years old.
I think that an essential aspect of any living education should be for all students of all ages to spend a half day every week throughout the entire year, outside in nature. In almost every town, there's some place where children can have the opportunity to observe the changing seasons from week to week.
Charlotte Mason, volume 3, page 236
I am really looking forward to our new series of challenges.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
I am an occasional follower of your blog and want to both thank you and give a word of encouragement to the families who read your blog. I have always been an outdoorsy sciencey kinda kid and my mom took us on many, many environmental ed trips starting from a very young age. In high school I worked as a camp counselor at science camps and got a degree in Environmental Science. In college I started keeping a journal that was as much a nature journal as anything else. I spent 8 months the year I was 22 watching the moon every night. No one had ever told me how the moon works and so I figured it out, all on my own. To this day I treasure the knowledge I have about the moon more than any other "science" knowledge I have (and I have a whole heckuva lot) because of that fact... I figured it out all on my own! Just a note of encouragment for all of you endeavoring to give your kids a solid foundation in nature appreciation - let them figure stuff out on their own. They'll remember it much better :)
ReplyDelete"...the teacher tells them the name or gives other information only if they ask for it."
ReplyDeleteThis struck me. I'm always trying to fill my kids' minds with knowledge. I get excited when we find something new and I want them to be as excited as I am. I look up everything about it read the information to them. Usually they humour me for a minute or two, and then they're like, "cool, thanks" and run off to play.
So, how do I choose a focus then? How do I actually teach them anything? What if they're always just satisfied with the name of a thing and never want to investigate further?
I'm sure you can tell by now I have a hard time putting faith in "child-led" learning. My kids would just as soon run and play then focus in on any one thing.
On that note: Thanks so much for your autumn challenges. I look forward to participating...with my kids. :D
This is where we tend to always return, thanks for posting it here for easy reference and focus :) Many blessings in your new year!!
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