Putting it all together

I’m new here 🙂  We’ve only done 1 year of HS so far.  Last year we did Rod & Staff because I was nervous and decided to jump in with a boxed curriculum.  I then started going to a Charlotte Mason support group in my HS co-op and thought, “This is what I imagined homeschooling to be!”.  So this year we are going with the CM method and I’m really excited!  Today, I sat for hours and worked on pulling together our curriculum for next month (totally last minute!) and I was going to do Apologia for the Elementary years (my kids are 8, almost 6 and 4).  But then I got to reading on the discussion forum and went back to my first love, nature studies.  Well, at least I think I love them…haven’t really done them yet! LOL  Anyway, I’m just looking over ALL the stuff and wondering, where do I begin?  I love the look of the living books, such as the Burgess books, the Among My People, etc.  So how exactly do you incorporate these living books into nature studies?  I have the “Handbook of Nature Study” blogspot book marked and will read that more tomorrow (my eyes are getting blurry and cross right now). 

I imagine nature studies consisting of us going outside, the kids exploring, or going for walks, geocaching, going to the beaches, etc.  So, when it comes to the living books, do you add them in when you find something in your outdoor time that corresponds with it, or do you read the book and then search out something outdoors to go with the book…or neither?! lol

I plan on doing a nature notebook for my 8 year old, but should I start my almost 6 year old doing one or would she be too young?  I know she will want to do what her big sis is doing 🙂

Thank you!

Rachel