Nature Journaling

On Mondays, my goal in homeschooling is to have the kids and I do nature journaling together.  The concept is a Charlotte Mason idea, and you can read lots about it in Karen Andreola’s book entitled The Charlotte Mason Companion.  The idea is that you send kids into nature with art supplies and fresh drawing paper.  You encourage them to observe something in nature–an animal, a plant, a rock, etc.  They draw the object with as much attention to detail and artistry as they can.  They bring the finished drawing back to the parent, and she and the child try to find out a few facts about the nature they observed.  We are using Anna Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study, a fantastic (though wordy) science resource, but you could use any children’s science reference book to help.  We write the few facts on the paper, date it, and then save it to compile with the other nature journal entries.  We were graced by a mother deer and her two babies this morning in our neighor’s yard, so Kelty quickly dropped everything and crouched close to them to with her box of crayons and sketch paper to draw.  She also drew some purple wildflowers and a pine tree.  I am excited about intentionally getting outside more and observing the complex, creative natural world around us.