Autumn 2010 OHC #1: Nature Journals

I recently purchased Barb’s Autumn 2010 e-book. I really love having the challenges ahead and the notebooking pages are beautiful. She’s really done a fantastic job and I believe it’s really worth the little extra money that you would have out of pocket. I know she posts them up each Friday, but it helps me plan ahead and I just feel more prepared.

I gave John and Gracie their new nature journals and they were so happy with them.

We went out for about 20 minutes. We have new mums in the front, so we started out by smelling them.

John and I smelled each cluster of mums that we have. Gracie on the other hand went about examining all kinds of things on her own. To be honest, she continued to do this pretty much the whole time we were outside.

We then discovered this cobweb that had some kind of beetle(?) stuck in it. If you look real close the spider is there too.

We went on a little walk and found many fallen leaves and acorns. Gracie again on her own picked up rocks, blades of grass, and sticks. When we came in I told them they could draw, paint, do a rubbing, whatever they wanted to do. They decided on rubbings, so I joined in with that as I’m a little intimidated by the drawing thing, but I won’t let them know that. Again below you can see where Gracie was doing her own thing gluing her rock on paper and the caps from the acorn along with some kind of grass or weed. She eventually outlined a leaf and colored it pink. I just let it go as it’s her journal. This goes against my very nature, but I want them to love studying and observing God’s creation.

(Gracie’s Journal Entry)(John’s Journal Entry) (Momma’s Journal Entry)

To be honest, I’ve always thought John kind of marched to a different drum and that Gracie was more of a follower. My little girl was definitely doing her own thing with no worries of having to stay inside a neat little box. I so enjoyed seeing this side of her, and I look forward to the coming weeks to see if she continues on the same path in our nature study time.

Some Nature Study Inspiration

“However if the love of nature is in the teacher’s heart, there is no danger; such a teacher, no matter by what method, takes the child gently by the hand and walks with him in paths that lead to the seeing and comprehending of what he may find beneath his feet or above his head. And these paths, whether they lead among the lowliest plants, or whether to the stars, finally converge and bring the wanderer to that serene peace and hopeful faith that is the sure inheritance of all those who realize fully that they are working units of this wonderful universe.”-Anna Comstock