Nature in Your Pocket

 Hands On, Nature Study, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jul 292011
 

Waterford Press has a tagline that says, “Putting the World in Your Pocket.” With Waterford Press it is amazing just how much of the world you can fit into your pocket. You can store information about animal tracks, the cosmos, plants, wildlife and more right in your back pocket. These naturalist pocket guides are durable, easy to read, colorful, and fun for children or anyone who appreciates nature. In addition to nature guides, you can have a hands on guide to first aid, wilderness survival, knots, and state flags and facts. I cannot even begin to give you the entire list of amazing pocket guides, please visit the site. I am certain you will find a guide that suits you!

I had the opportunity to review three naturalist guides from Waterford Press; Animal Tracks, The Night Sky and Bugs and Slugs. I was pleased when I opened my package of pocket naturalist guides. Moreover, my children were pleased.

What we liked:

The guide is laminated which makes is durable. Durable enough for a two year old to grab it out of her sister’s hands and run around the house before dragging it alone before getting caught.

The size! The guide is 8.25″ H x 3.5″ W. It is small enough to bring it with you on nature walks or where ever you go yet big enough to find. The ability to find an object in a house with four kids, including one stealth mode toddler thief, is essential.

The amount of information provided in the guides. The guide is not simply pictures with a few words on each animal, bug or object. It provides a nice balance of enough information to understand and appreciate the topic yet not so much that my five year old or my 11 year old got that glazed look in their eye. It also had enough information to peak an interest yet not leave you with too many questions.

The Night Sky guide has a star chart that glows in the dark!

What we didn’t like:

Animal tracks had a picture of an opossum. I dislike opossums. So, that is a bit unfair, right?

My toddler and my Kindergartner fight over the Animal Tracks guide. Not sure how I can blame that on Waterford Press though.

Honestly, we couldn’t find anything wrong with the guides. In fact, I am looking forward to more of their products coming out in the spring. They will soon offer My First Nature Activity Books and Children Nature Activity Books which really appeal to me and my kids.

Pictured below is an activity I used the Animal Track guide for with my Kindergartener. I happened to have animal track molds from a previous activity. So, I rolled out Play Doh and imprinted the tracks. I then had my daughter use the guide to identify the tracks. She had a great time doing this activity. She even made her own tracks using the guide and a few Play Doh tools.

Richele is an eclectic homeschooling mom to four reflections of God’s love whose greatest accomplishment thus far was teaching physics, folding laundry, and playing Candyland simultaneously.  Find her blogging at Under the Golden Apple Tree.

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.
library nature books
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.
Reference books on the shelf
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.