And then it happened.

A great moment for me as a teacher.

My girl said, “The variety of flowers is so amazing,” and in her voice

were the sounds of awe and amazement.

What? Even though I have been unfaithful so many times to do nature study, she still has learned an appreciation for nature?

If we keep our study of nature as Charlotte Mason suggested, how good that is.

Milkwort, eyebright, rest-harrow, lady’s-bedstraw, willow-herb, every wild flower that grows in their neighbourhood, they should know quite well; should be able to describe the leaf––its shape, size, growing from the root or from the stem; the manner of flowering––a head of flowers, a single flower, a spike, etc. And, having made the acquaintance of a wild flower, so that they can never forget it or mistake it, they should examine the spot where they find it, so that they will know for the future in what sort of ground to look for such and such a flower. ‘We should find wild thyme here!’ ‘Oh, this is the very spot for marsh marigolds; we must come here in the spring.’ –Charlotte Mason Home Education Volume 1, pg. 51

But what if our study of nature doesn’t resemble what Miss Mason taught? Should we make the decision of omitting that subject from our children’s education? Maybe because we have no time or the interest seems slight?

I would have to say no.

Nature testifies of a Creator and his greatness and any little thing we can do to give our children an appreciation for God’s wonderful creation cannot be in vain.

I’m just a little flower
With open face;
I’m fully turned to God,
Receiving grace.
I don’t know how to try—
This is my case—
I’m just a lily trusting God.

Thanks so much everyone. It is so exciting to learn the names of the birds here in our backyard!  If you want to be inspired, read the comments left on that post.  There were so many great ideas from you all.

Carmen mentioned that her family keeps checklists — personal yearly lists, and lifelists (one big list for your whole life). I love that idea.

I have been given the ideas and tools to make our homeschooling interesting and educational. I’ve gotten off track in the last year but it’s so important that I keep my focus and make our homeschool journey a real life education.  Since graduating 2 of my boys, I have learned that they may forget the facts they learned in history or the method to solving an algebraic equation but the ideas they have fed upon have stayed with them and is what keeps them inspired today.

Once again, I am amazed at Charlotte Mason’s understanding of humankind and more specifically, children.

Ideas alone matter in Education––The whole subject is profound, but as practical as it is profound. We must disabuse our minds of the theory that the functions of education are, in the main, gymnastic. In the early years of the child’s life it makes, perhaps, little apparent difference whether his parents start with the notion that to educate is to fill a receptacle, inscribe a tablet, mould plastic matter, or nourish a life; but in the end we shall find that only those ideas which have fed his life are taken into the being of the child; all the rest is thrown away, or worse, is like sawdust in the system, an impediment and an injury to the vital processes.

(Vol. 2, pg.38) –Charlotte Mason

How do we measure our children’s success in the schoolroom?

The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? (Vol. 3, pg. 171) –Charlotte Mason

[The duty of parents is to sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food.]

The initial idea begets subsequent ideas; therefore, take care that children get right primary ideas on the great relations and duties of life.

Every study, every line of thought, has its ‘guiding idea’; therefore, the study of a child makes for living education in proportion as it is quickened by the guiding idea ‘which stands at the head.’ (Vol. 2, pg.39) –Charlotte Mason

With every book our child reads, every video they watch, the activities they engage in, they are being influenced, as Charlotte Mason put it, by a “guiding idea.”  Nothing we/they do is neutral in its effects on our life.

I don’t want to get too deep in this, although my thoughts about this subject are quite intense, so I’ll just bring it back around to schooling our children.  Let’s be careful what we allow them to fill their minds with.  Give them only the best, not twaddle and dumbed down readers but expose them to the greatest writers who are passionate about their subject.  Find mentors, like Lily’s mother-in-law (read the comments) who will take the time to share their enthusiasm for their area of interest whether it’s bird watching, knife making, fishing, gardening, farming, economics, history, geography, etc.

Reading the comments on the post Cultivating Enjoyment of Nature, you can’t help but be inspired.  You, my dear readers, all are excited about your interest, you like to share about it and in doing so, you are spreading your “ideas” around. Through that, you have inspired me; I then shared with my family and believe that I will inspire them to a greater attention and appreciation of God’s marvelous nature.

 I know you may bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. What I complain of is that we do not bring our horse to the water. We give him miserable little text-books, mere compendiums of facts, which he is to learn off and say and produce at an examination; or we give him various knowledge in the form of warm diluents, prepared by his teacher with perhaps some grains of living thought to the gallon. And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children. (Vol. 3, pg. 171) –Charlotte Mason

Though they will plod on obediently over any of the hundreds of dry-as-dust volumes issued by the publishers under the heading of ‘School Books,’ or of ‘Education,’ they keep all such books in the outer court, and allow them no access to their minds” (Vol. 3, p. 228) –Charlotte Mason

How do you agree or disagree with Charlotte Mason’s philosophies?

Has the way you’ve homeschooled your children changed over the years?

Do you find yourself intimidated to drop the “traditional” way of schooling and do something different?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

“We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”  Charlotte Mason

I have never purchased birdseed for songbirds before because I thought we didn’t really have those birds around.  I knew we had blue jays but not much else…. or so I thought.

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)

These come in small flocks to our feeder.

“Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life.”  Charlotte Mason

Can anyone identify the yellow and black bird on the left?  We thought it was an Oriole but it’s beak doesn’t seem like the right one for that bird.

 “All the time he is storing up associations of delight which will come back for his refreshment when he is an old man.” Charlotte Mason

A cardinal that I had no idea was even around.

I wasn’t able to get a picture but I even had a Western Blue Bird come in.  So very pretty.

(Source: Wikipedia)

“[A child] should know by name, and where and how they live at any rate, the things of the earth about him, its birds and beasts and creeping things, its herbs and trees…” Charlotte Mason

Did you know that bird watching, amongst the British, is known as twitching?  It’s also becoming a popular term amongst American bird watchers but instead of just referring to bird watching, we refer to it to mean, finding and marking the birds you find off in your journal checklist.

So how about you; have you been twitching lately?

Do you like the activity of bird watching?

Do you keep a Nature Journal?

“Children are born naturalists, with a bent inherited, perhaps, from an unknown ancestor; but every child has a natural interest in the living things about him which it is the business of his parents to encourage; for, but few children are equal to holding their own in the face of public opinion; and if they see that the things which interest them are indifferent or disgusting to you, their pleasure in them vanishes, and that chapter in the book of Nature is closed to them.” Charlotte Mason

Don’t you find what Miss Mason said to be true?  If we as parents express an interest in something and show delight in it, our children will also find joy in them.

I have good intentions many times about getting out into nature and letting the kids observe, but then when things get too hectic and the busyness of life is around me, that is one of the first things to go.

“Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them.”  Charlotte Mason

Ouch, Miss Mason.  You mean I really don’t have an excuse?

Linking up at http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2013/07/nature-study-monday-july-linkup.html

Scrub Oak
Cyphomardra Betacea

For the A B See Photo Meme, I’m approaching it this way: my children will use this for their nature study. Each one has their own letter from the alphabet (starting at A) and they are to find something in nature that corresponds with that letter. They take a photo of it and place it in their Nature Study journal, as well as writing a few facts about it.

This week’s photo was taken by Wesley, my 13 year old son.

Alligator Bark Juniper
Juniperus Deppeana Steud

The alligator bark juniper, called so because its bark resembles alligator skin. It is only found in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and can grow to 55′ tall.

To see other ABSee photos go here. You also can join any time you like.