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Do you *really* do nature study?
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I hate being outside. I just do. I don’t know if I will ever conquer this. I. Truly. Hate. It. Ugh. Enter guilt!
Has anyone else let this area slide and ended up okay in the end?
Or once and for all how do i get over this hurdle? 🙁
Thanks!
Dana
I do not go outside with my kids. I often do not have time – although I should probably make time. However, my kids, on the other hand, are constantly outside. They find TONS of different insects and plants. I try to show a lot of enthusiasm when they bring something to show me – even if it is a live cicada, like today!
I let them dictate to me all about thier bug explorations outside. Most of the time I am inside for these.
Also, maybe you could recruit your hubby to take the kids on a nature walk?
Just some thoughts – hope it is helpful!
I feel your pain… and guilt. But my aversion to the great outdoors is temporary. Being pregnant, I just don’t want to battle the heat and mosquitoes. It seems like there have been similar posts here before so I’m sure you will get wonderful advice/encouragement.
Personally, I wouldn’t drop it altogether. Nature study is about knowing God’s ways through His creation. It is also the foundation of later science. Children learn to classify and also to make close observations.
Having said which, there are some other ways to approach it. You can read books on it. I am thinking of things like Edward Way Teale’s and Clara Dillingham Pierson’s books. We often try to do nature walks someone else is leading. At the local Audobon center for instance. You can also bring thIngs like leaves inside to compare and study. Even your own nature study doesn’t need to be long. Aim low like for 10 minutes a week.
Nebby
I am probably not the best person for this since we LOVE nature study. Yesterday it was voted favorite subject of school and today we clambered around a creek bed and walking trail for an hour and a half. Also, realize that kids need outdoor time even if we hate it. It is good for their lungs, their muscles, their eyes, their energy levels, and their emotions. Having said that…
Ways to make it real without a lot of stress (or tons of outdoor time):
1. Create a nature study box of outdoor things like rocks, feathers, bones, dead bugs, etc that you find as you are out and about. Use those as your nature study subjects.
2. I take the camera and take pictures of the plants – trees, grasses, flowers, etc and insects, birds, and animals that we see and use those to make our journals indoors. That way we can see something on the way to the doctor and get a picture – and still count it as nature study. Especially if you are looking up names and identifying them.
3. Get some really good DVDs of insects, plants, animals, water creatures and have your son watch those. Narrate it, draw it, whatever. The real-life photography in these kinds of movies are amazing and bring you into the world from the comfort of the couch.
4. Get kits like ant farms. worm farm, or tadpole thing and take care of it.
5. Get pets that you can observe
6. Go to the pet stores, petting zoos, animal shelters, the zoo, etc. Take pictures and use those to record things in your nature journals.
7. Plant a few flowers in a pot on your windowsill or front step.
8. Hand a bird feeder by a window.
9. Utilize the internet. Identify things that are common in your area and research those in depth – pictures, sounds, locations. See if you can locate some in a specific spot and go see them. Then put it in your journals.
10. Can your husband work on the actual time outside if you do any of the above??
11. Maybe you have a friend who would trade something in exchange for some outdoor time. (I do realize you are in an apartment in France and that may not be an option…)
12. Can he join the Scouts in a few years? That will get him some outdoor time (w/out you, lol)
13. Read lots of books about things outdoors. That helps for when they are outdoors.
I don’t make a habit of nature study, but I guess I should… I do hate the heat and the bugs. I’m not a gardener and don’t know a whole lot about anything. I try to squueze in walk before school work in the afternoons if we get back from my office early enough and if there’s something that catches our eye we’ll check it out. of course that habit drops off as soon as the weather becomes too hot or too cold. Also, doing our insects study on the front step or at the picnicn table has helped me to get out there a bit more. It was fun one day before my dh finished putting the railing on the front deck. The boys were laying on their stomaches watching the ants scurry around on the ground while I read to them about, well, ants.
My boys do spend a lot of time out of doors in the mornings, though, and they love to explore. My oldest enjoys reading about nature and out-door survival so he’s usually knows more than I do and points things out to his younger brother. Dad takes them fishing and all that other out-doors manly stuff that I avoid like the plague.
Just want to make you feel better that I’m terrible about nature study, too:( I wish I would have held off on the Apologia Elem. books when my kids were younger and done more nature study. But the busyness of the day and feeling like I needed a curriculum kept me from being outdoors more. That said, I’m a work in progress and trying! I have nature study or art project on my schedule for every Friday this year and hope I’ll be more diligent in these areas I tend to drop….hope to combine the two sometimes by drawing what they find.
I’ve also started to take more advantage of our local nature center classes…let them do the teaching:) I’m not much help…just feel your pain of being a CM educator but not really into nature study:( Gina
Well, I’m not fond of heat therefore at certain times of the year I don’t like being outside. Unfortunantely, this is usually the time of year when most of nature is extremely active. Some ways we have learned to study nature without being out in it as much:
1. Have dd bring in what she finds. I have jars on our porch for her to collect in and catch things in. When she brings things in we observe it or look it up online if we don’t know what it is.
2. When we are out and about, we take pics of anything weird we find that we would like to know more about. Then we go home and research.
3. Nature Documentaries. My dd8 has owned BBC’s Planet Earth Documentaries for 2yrs now and watches them at least 3-4 times a year. I don’t know about other sets, but this one tends to stick to facts about the creatures being discussed and only makes mild and infrequent refrences to evolution. My dd has learned alot about some amazing places watching these. You can also find documentaries at Library, but would probably need to preview. Some other shows that we have enjoyed are Big Cat Diaries and Meerkat Manor. These chronicle the every day life of specific types of animals.
4. This one involves going out, but gives you a destination. (Geocaching.com) Geocaching is a treasure hunt using your GPS. While not all geocaches are on nature trails, this activity will definitely get you out and about and you will encounter some amazing things to take pictures of andgo home to look up. (i.e. Once we decided to go to a local park to find a cache after dark and ended up getting to watch a huge spider weave an amazingly huge web!!!) That is some thing you wont see during the day.
Hope these ideas help!!!
I had a hard time getting going with the whole nature study thing too – I’ve never been that much of an outdoors person either, so was kind of daunted by knowing where to begin. I am also the sort of person who tends to overcomplicate things, so found that that was an obstacle as well with getting started, especially when my oldest was pre-K age. Anyhow…a few ideas:
1. Someone else mentioned keep your camera with you when you are out and about anyway so you can snap photos of anything interesting you see. (Maybe challenge your ds to look for something in particular – something a specific color or texture, or signs of the season, or whatever). When you get home you can choose one specific item to identify (if you don’t know what it is) and draw in your nature journal. We always do our drawings inside, I find this easier with little ones. I keep a nature journal with my kids…they like me to draw alongside them.
2. Read nature-themed books – we liked Outdoor Secrets (I just read it, didn’t use the companion, though), and are enjoying the Among the ____ People series this year. There are lots of picture books too. I’ve found since we’ve made a point to READ about nature, we’re more likely to notice things as we go about everyday life. I also like to keep a few nature guides around – we had the little pocket size ones like these (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=golden+field+guides&sprefix=golden+field%2Caps%2C275) when we were in the US last year and the kids just LOVED looking through them at all the pictures.
3. Do some simple ongoing projects that don’t require heaps of outdoor time – like making monthly observations on a specific tree you can see from your house, or planting seeds in a planter box on your porch just to see what happens to them, or keeping a simple weather chart.
4. Keep your nature journal super simple. I really love the ideas here https://pinterest.com/pin/253116441528039729/ and here http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.fr/2012/07/first-stage-of-nature-journaling.html for using with little ones.
I think it is possible to do nature study without having to spend tons and tons of time outdoors…and I’ve found that from my very small beginnings I have come to enjoy being outdoors more. But that’s been slowly over the past 2-3 years, so don’t expect too much all at once. I’ve read in so many places that the power of observation developed through nature study will be a huge asset in science, writing, etc. later on that it’s been worth it to me to make it part of our life even though I wouldn’t say it’s something I have any natural inclination for.
HTH,
Jen
We are also bad about nature study. However, I do think they still get some in. I often take our dog in the backyard and if I find something interesting, I call them out to take a look. We’ve seen lots of bugs, birds, wildflowers, earthworms, etc…all in the comfort of our backyard (and we live in town).
We’ve also purchased some houseplants and started some from seed. DS has some catci growing from seed right now and we’ve all been watching them grow. We also set up a bird feeder to draw more birds in the yard (and can watch them from inside the house). 😉 We have hermit crabs and birds as pets…we spend lots of time observing them and talking about them. I’m hoping to set up our aquarium this year as well (we’ll be doing Apologia 2–Sea creatures for science). They also love watching online cameras set up at zoos….there is an amazing penguin one!
We do nowhere near the amount of nature studies we should do, but we have a nice state park nearby and visit it a couple times a year. I’m hoping to go more frequently (on DH’s day off), so we’ll see what happens this year. We saw turtles on our last visit…and while we didn’t bring scetchbooks or guidebooks, I think they still got a lot from their walk.
I agree with others: try to enjoy nature somehow…even if it isn’t taking weekly walks with nature notebooks and guidebooks in hand.
I am a little bad about being consistent with it as well. I purchased the Outdoor Hour Challenge because I need specifics and because my kids LOVE nature study and always beg for more when we get around to purposefully doing it. They love to draw (well, my younger set do) and learn about nature. My oldest could take it or leave it, but he is not getting out of it because he needs it just as much as we do.
I have set Fridays as the day and plan to visit a local zoo/nature center once per month. They love all of that. I wish I had started sooner as well and been more consistent but we’re trying.
Best wishes on finding a way to incorporate it or just not feel guilty about it.
So hopefully you are feeling better after reading all these posts about people who dislike the outdoors too! I am not a big fan of it…at least not in my backyard with bugs, etc. I DO love to hike and camp and did alot before I had kids. I just don’t like all the extra work and stuff it is with kids. The rewarding part is showing them God’s creation and seeing the wonder in their eyes when they discover something new or appreciate beauty in a way that you don’t see kids normally do. (Having my son ooh and ahh and tell me that a butterfly is beautiful is a breath of fresh air compared to his usual obsession with anything slimy or creepy/crawly)
Anyway, as I’m typing this I’m sitting in the gazebo by the pool while the kids play in the water. I do not like getting wet, and then the baby is asleep so when he wakes up I’ll have to go get him (and get everyone out) and I would be all drippy- UGH. So I have guilt because I’m not in there with them even though this week I am using my broken toe as an excuse.
So try not to feel too bad. Just make an effort to include in your own way, as many have given suggestions for. It’s fine!! I haven’t even started HSing yet but I bet I will be feeling the way you do in the winter because I really do not like being out in the cold.
Thanks everyone! I am taking my son to a raptor center close by on Saturday. That’s a start, right? 🙂
Do any of your kids not like playing outside by themselves? My DS doesn’t unfortunately. 🙁
We live in an area where my children can’t play outside without an adult. So even though they would love to, they have to wait for mom or dad. We’re by an alley that has foot traffic day and night, one street over from the local high school. You see far more teens out of class and in my area (1 block from the pizza shop) than should be. Most are using the alley to stay out of sight of truant officers as they leave school. ugh. We will move out to the country one of these days. Or put up a security fence with razor wire maybe?LOL
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