I think you'll love these living chapter books for nature study. They capture the attention of readers with wonderful tales that weave storyline and nature together beautifully. From harrowing adventures to hidden gardens, many of these timeless stories have well-loved for years. They also happen to subtly encourage a love for nature and make perfect read alone or read-aloud selections for your homeschool. The books listed below are loosely in order from easier to more difficult reads. You will find some of them to be obviously "nature study-like" in essence, while others are more subtle and simply integrate plants, animals, and habitats into the stories. I hope you find some new ... Read More
Nature Study
Nature study has been one of the most rewarding subjects in our homeschool through the years. It reaches deeply into every single realm of science. It gets us outdoors for fresh air, sunshine and exercise. It creatively includes other subjects like language arts, math, geography, and even history. But most importantly, God has revealed so much about Himself to us through the study of nature.
Nature study works easily with all homeschooling styles. It makes a huge difference with children who need to be active. It can meet all kinds of learning styles, and offers those with learning disabilities a fresh perspective on learning to give them success. Best of all, nature study works really, really well when teaching multiple ages. I know you'll enjoy some amazing learning using the lessons you'll find below. Have fun!
Discovering Pond Habitats: How To Do Nature Study in Real Life
Have you ever been to the same nature study destination so many times that you almost forget there are always new things to discover? My friend, Tracy, and her children had visited the same ponds many times over. They never really got tired of exploring, but she found a way to refocus their attention in a simple way that led to new observations and new learning. Please welcome Tracy as she shares the most delightful post about her family's quest to learn about pond habitats. Our love of nature study began at a pond. I had my children rambling around the pond as toddlers and preschoolers, my youngest just an infant and strapped into my baby carrier. We made some fond memories ... Read More
A Day in the Life: Hands-On Nature Study at the Creek
Boy, am I excited to introduce you to Kristina Garner in this post! She and her girls enjoyed some exciting, hands-on nature study in their backyard creek recently and Kristina is sharing the experiences with all of us. I think you'll especially love to see how much they learned about creeks (and how much fun they had) in just one day of exploration per week over a 5-week period. If you'll remember, that's the nature study plan my own family has followed over the years - just once per week. But, oh, how those weeks add up in knowledge over time! Please welcome Kristina and her sweet girls - and be inspired in your own creek walks! Hands-On Nature Study is Fun I first discovered ... Read More
Yes, You CAN Do Nature Studies with Multiple Ages!
One of the best things about nature study is that it works WONDERFULLY when teaching multiple ages at once. For years, my friend, Lynna, thought that nature study might be a tad overwhelming for her large family. I asked her to give NaturExplorers a try and she agreed. I think you'll love this little peek into her experiences doing nature study with multiple ages... I have a confession to make. I’ve been a homeschool mom for eight years now, and I’ve never once done a nature study with my kids. Not once. Not even a nature walk. To be honest, I felt a little overwhelmed about making time for nature with eight kids at so many different grade levels. In my mind, “nature study” ... Read More
Enjoy Animal Signs Nature Study Wherever You Are in the World
I'm asked all the time if families should live in certain places or certain climates to get use from the NaturExplorers curriculum. The answer is no way. As long as you have specimens for any particular topic, you can most assuredly use NaturExplorers! I'm so excited to welcome Ashley Fox to share a perfect example. Her family lives in Southern Florida. While she may not ever be able to use the Snow and Ice guide, there are still plenty of topics she can use. Her family recently enjoyed animal signs nature study using NaturExplorers in the Everglades! The Florida weather has cooled, and it's time to take our homeschool on an outdoor educational adventure! Join us for a nature walk ... Read More
You’ll Love These Christmas Nature Study Books
Since the Christmas season can bring along busy days and sometimes cold weather, it can be difficult to incorporate nature study into your homeschooling routine. I've created a list of Christmas nature study books that will help you bring new and inviting ideas to the table without tons of effort. Each book description gives you an idea of how to use these books as living literature resources. Hopefully, they will spark curiosity and a hunger for learning. How could they not! Especially when the first story on the list includes a yummy cookie recipe! This post contains affiliate links. Christmas Nature Study Books Cranberry Christmas This classic story comes with an incredible ... Read More
You’ll Love This Kid-Friendly Water Testing Kit for Science
Water is such a fun topic for homeschool science. Yep, plain ol' water. You can study its properties, its physical states, the water cycle, weather events, the geography of water around our world, water sources, water treatment, and water conservation. You can learn about water as biomes and the various life that inhabits each. You can observe water in nature, measure it in many ways, test it in many ways, change it in many ways, and about a zillion other experiments. Each of these fitting into various science categories like earth science, physical science, chemistry, and environmental science. And, can you imagine the nature study as science possibilities? Today, I'd like to ... Read More
Simple Field Guide Hint
Here's a simple field guide hint that will work for all ages from preschool through adult. We started using this little trick before our children were even readers and we still use it to this very day. Simple Field Guide Hint Get out the stickers! Before they could write, or even draw very well, I wanted a way for my children to note the plants or animals we had identified. I pulled out a sheet of mini-stickers and we placed a sticker on each picture as we came across something during our nature walks. As the children have grown, we haven’t stopped marking our field guides with stickers. It’s proven to be a great tool for all of us in remembering what we’ve already identified - and ... Read More
How To Start Your Homeschool Morning Beautifully
For years, our homeschool mornings have begun on a note of family time. Those mornings gathered around the table at the start of each day have been such a blessing. And...as some of my children are moving out of our homeschool as of late, the memories I have of all of us gathered joyfully together at the start of our day are precious. Morning time has set the tone for our school days, given the children some common ground in lessons, and allowed us the daily opportunity to worship together. It's also been a wonderful way for me to "kill several birds with one stone" as morning time lends itself to teaching several subjects in a relatively short amount of time. How To Start Your ... Read More
How to Build a Hands-On Homeschool. It’s Easy!
These days, it seems like hands-on homeschool is a buzzword of sorts. What's all the fuss about? Let's define hands-on first. It's best to define hands-on first because I think it's overall meaning might surprise you. You see, hands-on learning can actually mean several things. Most obvious, hands-on means "touching" things during lessons. For instance, rather than reading about simple machines, you actually use simple machines to learn about their characteristics. Or, when learning about the rock cycle, you make your own rocks by taking them through a rock cycle simulation. Similar to the definition above, hands-on can also mean learning by doing. When you learn about Colonial history ... Read More