A "Natural" Way of Learning

       I'm a nature lover.  

                      Love nature.

                                 Love God's creation.  

It's a good day when we get to spend it outside, especially in the woods or on a trail or just "going on an adventure" as Jacob call it.

Thankfully, we all love being outside, so that has made it really fun to do our nature studies.  

I'm not a purist in any particular method of learning.  We have an eclectic style in our homeschool, blending classical, traditional, Charlotte Mason and even a little of the unschooling method.  

When it comes to nature studies and nature notebooks, Charlotte Mason and unschooling are where it is for us!  We love it!  I basically don't do anything, except help them research if they need help.  After all, God has filled His creation with so many wonderful and unique birds, plants, trees, creatures and so much more, that the children are naturally curious and excited to go explore and then come inside to sort and journal their findings.  Sometimes they take their notebooks with them outside and draw, but either way, I am usually amazed by what they come up with.  

Here are just a few pictures of our nature studies this year!

At the beginning of the year, we studied about Lewis and Clark for several weeks, so they made "leather" covers for their journals.  (They learned quite a bit about nature journaling from studying about those guys!)  The journals themselves are composition notebooks, and the covers are made of brown felt.  It was so fun watching Jacob sew the yarn around the edges.  The cover is made so that when the present notebook is full, they can slip it right out and put a new one in!

Well, clearly Evan wasn't ready for this snapshot!  This was a day back in the fall, when everyone was diligently working on their math, until Ashlyn randomly announced that we just HAD to go to the woods to see a GIANT pile of acorns that she had spotted the day before.  The kids finished their math and we dropped the next thing and went to the woods.  We saw the giant pile of acorns (part of it is in the bottom right hand corner of the photo), and several other interesting things too!

Jacob is really into feathers right now.  If we don't recognize what kind it is, we try to look it up online or in one of our books.  Sometimes he writes, but most of the time he draws his experiences or something he has seen outside and I write word for word what he dictates to me.

It has been fun to see Ashlyn's nature notebooks advance from year to year.  Her drawing has improved quite a bit!  She is naturally a writer, so many of her pages are filled with just words.  

The older three, working on their notebooks!  They are just finishing up the labeling here I believe.  Many times there is all kinds of "stuff" from outside covering the table as they sort through their treasures.

Emily has quite a few drawings in her notebook, but sometimes she likes to take the plucked specimen and "seal" it in her notebook with lots and lots of clear tape!!  

This little guy was snatched up one rainy day, and I'm pretty sure that there is a drawing of him in all of their notebooks!  

Emily came running into the house one day screaming for the camera.  She took the picture and then printed it off on our printer and glued it into her notebook.  Sadly, I don't think we ever figured out exactly what it is.  If anyone knows, please tell us!! :)
UPDATE: A good friend has informed me that it is milkweed in bloom.  

Here are the finished covers with the journals inside.

See how it works?  God has given children a natural curiosity, especially when it comes to His own creation.  There is no way I would hinder that curiosity!  Now is the time for them to learn, and to learn to love learning!   I would love to hear any ideas that you have when it comes to nature notebooking!

Our Lord's creation is a wondrous thing, and I'm so thankful to see it, every now and then, through the eyes of my kids in their notebooks.  But it doesn't end with just an in-depth observation or some research to satisfy academia.  I want to consistently remind my kids that all of God's creation was made for one purpose, and that is to bring glory and honor to Him.  As Romans 1:20 so beautifully declares, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made."  

He has made Himself known through His creation, so that all people are without excuse.  It's all for Him!