Nature Study: Neighborhood Birds

Studying nature is how we implement science into our school day. Nature Volumes 1 and 2 comes from The Gentle Classical curriculum inspired by Charlotte Mason. The Charlotte Mason philosophy focuses on drawing children near to God and study His creations. We have nature studies in our front and backyard, local parks, lakes, dams, creeks, and even the ocean when we can. It is a lifestyle for us, so we don’t always journal, but we are always outside and observant as well as having the children narrate their experiences. Our children have the luxury of deciding what they want to study in nature, and that is when we do journaling, sketching and narrating. ​With narration, children are not simply repeating what they learn and they are not tested based on what they retain. Narration allows your child to explain what they remember in their own words. Narration is part of their engagement with the information and helps lock what they have learned into their long-term memory. Two children might give very different narrations from the same story because the ideas that stood out to them and their understanding will be unique.

Click below to download our little neighborhood nature study!