Meeting Charlotte Mason: Nature Study

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I can still see it now. Each of my children around age two or three would have the same experience, laying on their belly staring at a beetle. Little fingers extending toward the fat bug. Darting eyes keeping up with the skittering critter crossing our back porch. Excited nerves mustering the courage to touch it. It was their first nature study.

“Look, mom! Mom, look!”

It’s a common phrase of pre-schoolers because everything is new. It’s the first beetle. The first snowfall. Daffodils popping up for the first time.

Their cries to “look” can get tiresome but really it’s a cry for knowledge. They’re saying so much more than we think.

“Come share this with me! Delight with me! Teach me! Tell me more!” That’s what they’re really saying.

Children are generally better at nature study that adults; their fresh perspective is a gift they have that we get numb to as we get older. Nature study reminds us that we don’t have to be seeing something for the first time to be excited about it.

“Look, mom, look!”

And that’s essentially what nature study is…

Look.

Delight.

Share.

Repeat.

Charlotte Mason had a lot…and I mean a lot…to say on the subject of nature study. She saw it as a natural and necessary activity for a full childhood and education.

What is Nature Study?

Simply, it’s the study or close observation of nature.

Nature study is its own subject in a Charlotte Mason education.

Who does Nature Study?

Nature study is for everyone but it is done informally in the pre-school years and done as a formal subject beginning around seven-years-old.

“Every youth should know something about the flowers in the field, the birds in the air, the stars in the heavens, the many fascinating wonders that happen every day.”

– Charlotte Mason

Miss Mason advised that the better part of a child’s first six years should be spent out-of-doors and becoming familiar with the natural world around them.

What Should Children be Studying?

In short, whatever is directly around him and local to your area. Nature Study is about learning the environment you live in so it will differ greatly what you are learning based on where you live. However, there are some common categories.

Crops

Every child should have a basic understanding of the local pastures, meadows and field crops that surround him. Corn fields and cotton surrounded us in Alabama but in Michigan (where we just moved) we have plentiful orchards to choose from in the fall. Pay attention as you drive along the highway and point out these fields and crops to your child. Visit a farmer’s market and consider the local produce – is there someone you can buy fresh eggs or raw milk from? Visiting a local farm or participating in “U-pick” activities (apples, berries, and pumpkins are very common produce to pick yourself) are a great way for children to develop a “field to plate” mentality. Children should also experience the process of planting a seed and nurturing it to harvest. Backyard or container gardens are a fantastic way to teach this.

Flowers

“Myrtle, jewelweed, black-eyed Susan, every wildflower that grows in the neighborhood should be well-known to children. They should be able to describe the shape, size and placements of their leaves and whether the flowers have a single blossom or a head of them. When they know the flower so well that they could recognize it anywhere, they should take a look at the area it grew in so that they’ll know what kind of terrain to look for it again in the future.”

– Charlotte Mason

Wildflowers are really what Miss Mason was referring to here, but children can benefit from a walk around the neighborhood to observe what everyone is growing, as well. When you do come upon wildflowers, observe the habitat it grows in and make note of where you found it and what time of year. Pick a few to press into wax paper or to dry out into a book. When planting flowers in your own yard, be sure to make a note of the name of the flower; take a moment to show your child the leaves, how the petals look and observe other details. What shades of color are represented in the flower? Is the flower fragrant? Once it’s planted, do you notice that it attracts birds, butterflies, or bees?

Trees

Most of our neighborhoods are filled with native trees but I bet you’d be hard-pressed to find a child (…or adult) to tell you the name of half of them. Trees are some of the most obvious pieces of nature to observe. One of our favorite activities is to choose one deciduous tree to observe all year. Children especially love this activity of sketching the tree over the passing months and allowing the tree to teach about seasonal changes.

“Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year.”

– Charlotte Mason

Seasonal Changes

In addition to watching trees for seasonal changes, you and your child can observe other parts of nature to look for clues. You can look at the flowers and local wildlife to tell you about changes coming. Watching squirrels gather nuts to store away for winter and birds flit around collecting materials to build a nest in the spring are common favorites of children. Summer is a great time to visit the pond and search for frogs and even the dead of winter can reveal nature’s secrets of how rest is necessary for rebirth. Nature has many lessons to teach and some of these truths are beautifully displayed through the changing seasons.

What Resources are Needed to Teach Nature Study?

Calendars

You can keep a calendar of “firsts” to make notes on.

“It’s a great idea to have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first primrose, the first ripe blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for daily walks and nature hikes! A day won’t go by when something isn’t seen to excite them.”

– Charlotte Mason

Nature Journals

Small spiral sketchbooks have been the perfect nature journal for our family. We keep one book per year, per child. The kids are free to draw or write whatever they choose. We reserve one page to follow the tree we’re observing that year and I have done a scavenger hunt of sorts in the past. Another idea is to combine the “firsts” calendar with the nature journal. We have a checklist marking items to look for each season. For example, in the winter, we keep our eyes open for the first icicle we see, the first snowfall, etc.

“As soon as a child is old enough, he should keep his own nature notebook for his enjoyment. Every day’s walk will give something interesting to add–three squirrels playing in a tree, a bluejay flying across a field, a caterpillar crawling up a bush, a snail eating a cabbage leaf, a spider suddenly dropping from a thread to the ground, where he found ivy and how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, and how ivy manages to climb. An intelligent child will think of millions of little things to record in his nature notebook. At age 5 or 6, he can illustrate his notes with watercolors.”

– Charlotte Mason

Cautions when Teaching Nature Study

Do Not Overly Focus on Information and Terminology

Especially in the early years, nature study is a time for observation and appreciation.

“With this in mind, our priority in nature knowledge should be to make sure that the child has a personal, vital familiarity with the things he sees in his environment. It’s more important for him to know the difference between snakeweed and Lady’s Thumb, or hawkweed and dandelion, and where to find this or that plant and what it looks like as it grows, than it is for him to be able to define terms like epigynous and hypogynous. There’s nothing wrong with knowing scientific terminology, but that should come later, after the child has seen and studied the real thing in its own habitat, and tried to reproduce it in his nature notebook.”

– Charlotte Mason

Do not Make Nature Study Overly Formal

Likewise, this is not the time for a formal lesson or filling his head with facts. Nature Study is a very child-directed activity.

“It’s the same with object lessons. We’re in no hurry to develop his ability to make detailed observations about little parts of everything and have him label them as opaque, brittle, flexible, and so on. We don’t want these kinds of exercises to dampen his curiosity. We’d rather leave him to be receptive and respectful so that he asks questions and discusses things with his parents like the lock in the river, or how a mower works, or why fields are plowed, and provides opportunities for his parents to talk. These are the kinds of concepts that provide seeds to the child’s mind, and we don’t want to make him a show-off who thinks he knows it all.”

– Charlotte Mason

How Nature Study Looks for Us

We do nature study twice weekly: a nature journal entry on Wednesdays and family nature walk on Saturday afternoons.

Wednesday nature journal entries can be done on a walk or even in the backyard. The kids go out with their nature journals and colored pencils and “sketch something God made.” They are welcome to write notes about their drawings on the page, as well. Their nature books are their own and not something I critique.

Saturday nature walks are much more casual. I will take my camera and we will point out trees and flowers and insects but the point is really to create a passion in them for being in nature. We have a few reference books we can take along if we want to know what kind of tree or bird we’re seeing. I’ve listed these at the end of the post.

In a more spontaneous way, we are consciously aware of nature. We take notice of nature on daily walks or park visits, sometimes collecting a specimen to take home. The kids and I hang bird feeders and plant a garden and call each other to “come look!” at something happening outside.

The Autism Angle

Children with autism need to be in nature just as much as typical children, if not more. Nature is calming and soothing to the soul. Nature study, in general, is a very relaxed subject – there is no right or wrong answer and this makes it a favorite among children with challenges. Their nature journals should be a comfort zone for them – they can write or draw whatever they choose. What they find interesting and what you find interesting can be completely different things and that’s okay. If you end up with a sketchbook fully of ants, that’s okay, too. Gently point out new bugs and plants to your child but don’t try to pull him away from what he is drawn to.

Resources We Love

Consider putting together a nature walk kit with a few reference books, binoculars, a compass, a pocket knife and a box for collecting specimens. Here are some of our favorites {affiliate link}.