The Curriculum Choice

Pocketful of Pinecones

Charlotte Mason, Encouragement, Hands On, Living books, New to Homeschooling, Philosophies, Science, Uncategorized 4 Responses »

Oct 232009

51B56Y9JSZL._SL500_AA240_ I am currently reading for the third time a little novel that is such a treat for me and one that I have a difficult time putting down. It’s a delightful story and homeschool idea book all rolled into one. I’m talking about the book Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola, the veteran homeschooling mother who brought to light the works of Charlotte Mason.

The story is set in New England in the 1930′s and is the fictional account of Carol, a first-time homeschooling mother who is learning to apply Charlotte Mason’s methods as she teaches her children. Carol’s journal entries give the reader a window into the daily life of her and her family, as well as her hopes, fears, joys, and dreams, revealing that she is not so different from mothers today.

Mrs. Andreola weaves a heartwarming story of motherhood and family with the main emphasis on Carol’s carrying out nature study with her two children. Without sounding like a “how-to” manual, the story carefully incorporates ideas for nature study topics, nature walks, and keeping a nature journal. The reader can also learn from Carol’s example how to gently share and discuss information about nature with children without merely throwing facts at them.

One of my favorite things about this book is the inclusion of nature-related poems and hymns that would make wonderful additions to your own children’s nature journals. Mrs. Andreola also provides the scientific names of any nature subjects mentioned in the story, as well as thoughtful questions and ideas designed to get your wheels turning about studying nature with your own children. Because the chapters are short, you can enjoy each one in as little as fifteen minutes each day, coming away with a new idea or two to ponder and try out for yourself.

Whether or not you use the methods of Charlotte Mason or incorporate nature study into your own homeschool, this book makes for a welcome escape to a simpler time and place. Carol’s calm and gentle demeanor has a soothing effect on me and is something that I aspire to in my own mothering. Each time I read this story I come away refreshed, rejuvenated, and inspired to continue setting aside time to explore God’s creation with my children.

You can learn more about the Charlotte Mason method and Karen Andreola’s books by visiting her websites, Homeschool Highlights and the Charlotte Mason Research and Supply Company.

Written by Shannon, who enjoys learning about nature with her own children. She can be found blogging at Song of My Heart.

Handbook of Nature Study

Charlotte Mason, Science 7 Responses »

Oct 152009

“In nature-study the work begins with any plant or creature which chances to interest the pupil….Nature-study is for the comprehension of the individual life of the bird, insect, or plant that is nearest at hand.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 5

The Handbook of Nature Study has become my best friend. It hasn’t always been that way. In fact, I purchased it, could not figure out how to use it, and promptly sold it to a fellow homeschooler. I thought about this book from time to time as other homeschoolers would write about it on their blog or I would see it mentioned in nature study groups to which I belonged.

A few years later I took another crack at it using a copy from the library…..just look at that thick book! This time I was determined to use this huge resource in our nature study plans. I started at the beginning of the book and read through the foreword and then the preface. I tackled Part I of the book and suddenly it all clicked into place in my head. I had been trying to use this book as a field guide and that was not the purpose intended at all.

Anna Botsford Comstock did not set out to write a really long book about nature study but rather it was written as a collection of leaflets published as part of the Home Nature-Study Course for teachers. These lessons were compiled into one volume in the Handbook of Nature Study and published originally in 1911. The lessons were written not for young students but for the teachers.

The lessons are written to give the teacher an overview of a topic and then to give some suggestions for observation to use with the students. There are lists of questions to pick from in the study of each topic. These lessons, although written in the beginning of the 20th century, are still pertinent today and our family has used them to discover a wonderful world right outside our own back door.

This book can give you years of nature study ideas and even though it is written with a focus on eastern United States subjects, it can easily be adapted and used in all parts of the United States, North America, and beyond. I have seen it work worldwide in a variety of habitats by families that take the basic idea and apply it in their own way.

One Way to Use the Handbook
The Handbook of Nature Study can be used in a variety of ways. When we first started out we used the suggested nature study rotation from Ambleside Online which focuses on three aspects of nature per year. This worked very well for us and I know it has helped many families organize their nature study. If you choose to use this sort of schedule, make sure to read the introductory twenty-four pages in the Handbook of Nature Study before you get started with specific topics from the book. I always recommend underlining or highlighting thoughts that you want to incorporate into your family’s nature study.

For instance, you can choose to study mammals in autumn, birds in winter, and garden flowers in spring. Each week you pick a focus subject within the overall topic and read a little about it. Then using observation ideas given in the lesson, you can complete your nature study lesson using subjects you observe in person. The beauty of this system is that you can personalize your nature study to fit the interests of your family. You can spend as much or as little time on a topic as you find interest.

The Outdoor Hour Challenges-Another Way to use the Handbook of Nature Study
As many of you know, I use the Handbook of Nature Study every week and share our plans and results using the Outdoor Hour Challenges. The challenges were born when a blog reader suggested I lead a weekly nature study plan using the Handbook of Nature Study. That was nearly two years ago and we are still going strong, never running out of ways to include the information in the book with our weekly challenges. If you want to know how to get started with the Outdoor Hour Challenges, you can follow this LINK.

How do the challenges use the Handbook of Nature Study?

I suggest a few pages to read in the book before you take 10-15 minutes of outdoor time with your children.
Each challenge gives you a focus but I always remind moms to be flexible and follow the child’s lead if something more interesting comes your way. You may be out looking for oak trees but a woodpecker decides to let itself be seen. By all means, observe the woodpecker!
When you come indoors, take a few minutes to talk about what you saw during your nature study time outdoors.
Use the Handbook of Nature Study, either the table of contents or the index, and look up more information to follow up a child’s interest.
Make time for a nature journal entry if you desire. I encourage a sketch, a label, and a date. It is a simple as that…really.
The Handbook of Nature Study can be used before your study as a way to prepare for your outdoor time and then again afterward as a follow-up for any particular interest.

I highly recommend this book and I believe it should be on every homeschoolers science shelf as a resource and inspiration. The purchase of this book will give you years of topics to incorporate into your science and nature study plans. For younger children, the Handbook of Nature Study can provide the foundation of a solid knowledge of the natural world. There is an online version available as a free download HERE.

“A teacher does not need to know much about nature to use this handbook. The information is there for the novice and the expert alike. All that is needed is an inquiring mind, senses to observe, and a willingness to think about nature on a personal level.” Handbook of Nature Study, foreword to the 1986 reissue.

Additional blog entries you might like to read:
Beginner’s Tips

Picking a Nature Study Focus

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com and her business is found at http://www.harmonyfinearts.com. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com.

NaturExplorers from Shining Dawn Books

Charlotte Mason, Classical, Living books, New to Homeschooling, Philosophies, Preschool, Science, Uncategorized, Unit study resources, Unschooling 3 Responses »

Sep 112009

NaturExplorers graphic

I am excited to tell you about NaturExplorers, a new series of nature-based unit studies written by Cindy West and Melissa Leach. The authors are both veteran homeschooling Moms who are passionate about studying nature with their children and inspiring other Moms to do the same. No matter what type of homeschooler you are, and whether or not you already do nature study with your family, these studies will give you encouragement and ideas for getting outside with your children and exploring God’s beautiful creation.

Here is a sampling of titles in the series:

Animal Signs
Peaceful Ponds
Captivating Clouds
Delightful Deciduous Trees
Hard as a Rock
Creatures of the Night
Frogs and Toads

331

One of the things that I really like about these units is their flexibility. They are designed so that you can adapt them to be used in whatever way best meets your needs. A title can be used in its entirety as a complete science-based unit, or you can simply pick up the study and choose an idea to focus on as you head out the door for a nature walk.

However you decide to utilize these studies, you will find that they are jam-packed with plenty of ideas to keep you inspired about that particular nature topic for quite a long time.

Each unit includes the following:

A section just for you, the teacher, to spark your interest and excitement about the topic
Suggestions for quality, living books that will inspire your children about the topic
Background knowledge for the teacher to equip you with some basic information about the topic before beginning the study
A great number of ideas for nature walks and outdoor activities
Hands-on activities such as science experiments, art projects, recipes and more
Writing and research ideas
Bible lessons
Poetry
Artist and Picture study references
Composer and Music references
Helpful internet links
Ideas for including younger and older children
Suggestions for nature clubs and co-ops
Nature Notebooking Pages

wetlandwaterobservation3

I found the ideas to be creative and engaging, and as you can see, the units cover a lot of ground. I’d also like to mention that they are available in e-book format and are budget friendly.

I encourage you to head over to Shining Dawn Books where you can check out all of the themes that are available and find a wealth of free helpful nature study ideas, information, and photos as well.

Written by Shannon, who blogs about her family’s homeschooling adventures at Song of My Heart.

Have you heard about Eeboo?

Art, Charlotte Mason, Preschool, Science, Writing 5 Responses »

Aug 092009

Brenda and I had the privilege to review products from a new-to-us company with a funny but memorable name, eeBoo. We decided to combine our reviews into one entry so you can see a variety of their items and get two different perspectives about a line of products that is sure to become one of your favorites too.

Here is Brenda’s review to start us off.

I’m always on the hunt for new companies to add to my list of favorites to buy high quality games and toys from. It makes it easier to go into a toy store or shop online when I have a pre-approved list of companies, and it helps me narrow down my searches. Eeboo has been added to my list.

wall_birds1 Eeboo has an amazing assortment of products for young minds. I was fortunate to be able to review some wall cards and a story game, provided by this excellent company. The wall cards are perfect for my budding bird-lovers. They are beautifully illustrated number cards that have birds from 1-10. These cards are durable and look lovely displayed on a wall.

Now, if your tot doesn’t have an interest in birds, how about trains? Eeboo has counting trains too. Their wall cards don’t end with counting numbers, they also have a wide assortment of alphabet cards like animals, tools and flowers. There are several ways that I have thought about using these cards since I can’t display them all and I also happened to buy the tool alphabet set at a toy store while on vacation this summer. I thought about sliding the cards into page protectors in a binder to make a book, and displaying just a few at a time while we are learning that letter or number on an IKEA curtain wire including clips for 4.95, in the school room.

I’m definitely going to use these cards with the my little girl when we begin bird watching for our nature studies. I have collected a hand full of field guides to help us discover which birds we are watching and these particular cards will give us a head start because they have the names of the birds on them. The illustrations are also perfect for having young ones draw a bird in their nature study book, cause we all know birds don’t usually stick around and pose for a picture for too long.

tms_forest

Eeboo also has the perfect tool for budding writers. Tell Me a Story cards have brought hours of fun and laughter for my 5 year old daughter and I. The first time I opened this game, she devoured the box. We had to go through every card! The directions come with several games to play but her favorite is when we both take turns choosing a random card from the pile and add on to our silly story…and add…and add…and giggle.

We have the Mystery in the Forest edition, and I’m so happy to discover that there are 3 more editions. I’ve secretly bought her another one for her next birthday.

My “school” plan for using this pre-writing tool is choosing a few cards for her to dictate (or tell me a story about), while I write it down for her. Then I would read it back to her and have her draw a picture to go with her story. This would also work well with my seven year old son. I have also found that if I leave these cards in the dining room that my other children find them and start coming up with their own games to play with them. I can see why Tell Me a Story cards have won the Best Toy Award, because they are very versatile.

Written by Brenda, a classical eclectic mother of 5. You can find her writing at Tie That Binds Us about her homeschooling journey.

Now it is my turn! Our family decided to test these products out together…including our teen boys and my daughter Amanda! Thumbs up from everyone!

Screech Owl at Dusk. Robin Cheer Up. September Serenade.

eeboo-pencils_nature Don’t those color names make you want to go grab your nature journal and start sketching? Even before we opened the pencil box, we all noticed the beautifully illustrated tin they were packaged in. The watercolor style painting of birds on this eeBoo pencil set is attractive and so inspiring that you will want to open them up and get started. The sturdy tin box will be a great way to transport the pencils in a backpack on our hiking adventures. We all appreciated among the twenty-four pencils in the set that there are three shades of yellow, three shades of green, and four shades of brown. When you work in your nature journal it is wonderful to have a variety of natural shades to choose from when you need just the right color for a wildflower you find or to sketch a tree seen in a meadow. We will be adding these colored pencils to our list of items to take on our nature rambles, using them when we are inspired out of doors.

Speaking of nature journals, our family was also asked to review their Nature and Observations Notebook. We loved the size and feel of this journal. It is spiral bound and has a variety of features that give this special journal a little something extra.

eboo-ntbk_nature
12 glassine envelopes for field specimens and pocket to store them.
128 Pages including: Sketch Pages and Note Pages
10 fold-up sheets for stationery
2 sheets of stickers for specimens envelopes and stationery
The envelopes are perfect for holding pressed flowers and you can store them in the pocket on the inside of the front cover. The journal also includes beautiful specimen labels to attach to each envelope. Very handy! The journal has pages that are both lined and pages with sketch boxes to encourage you to illustrate this memory book. At the back of the journal there are 10 removable pages to be used as stationery and they come complete with stickers to seal the stationery closed. This is one complete nature journal! eeBoo also offers a travel journal and a summer journal .

Summing it all up, our family decided that the beauty of the eeBoo products is what attracted us at first but after using the pencils and their nature notebook we love the quality and versatility of the products as well. We look forward to filling our nature journal with colorful sketches. Thanks eeBoo!

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

Newer Entries