Charlotte Mason 101: Nature Study Tips and Tricks 

It took me a lot of years to learn to love the nature I live in (the scorching hot city), and to closely observe living things wherever I can find them. It's been a joy to bring the children along with me as we make these discoveries together. Of course, it looks nothing like most other nature study that homeschooling families do :)

We also have a box that my daughter puts her nature study treasures in. We also collect sticks, leaves and acorns and glue them on a big piece of cardboard to make a fall sign. I usually use the sticks to make letters like "welcome" or "fall" or "give thanks" or our last name. We hang it with twine and make one each year and the kids love it! You can hang it on our front porch or in your house somewhere.

Oh my goodness, her frolicking is so precious! I love it!

I always feel as though I am the only "indoors" person, especially for a homeschooling mother. Good to know there are more like me.

This is awesome! so NYC mom here and nature walks have to be deliberate trips unless we consider the rats in the subway part of our environment. There are many leaf, tree, and plant recognition apps now, my 6 yr old has filled my phone memory with pictures trying to identify trees in our neighborhood park. the best is learning about how the trees got here since most of our parks are man-made so a bit of history is included. I also have very reluctant artist, it had become literally a river of tears every time I asked for a drawing, so now we take crayons and put the leaves under the paper and take the impression of them. you can also iron leaves and flowers in between wax paper and hang them around, or dip them in wax.

I’m an outdoors person. We moved out of New York to avoid the winter hibernation. I cannot live without the real sunshine. We do nature study when we go hiking or go to the beach. We take our magnifying glasses, binoculars, compass, small containers, and bags to collect things. We observe, take lot of pictures and later, we do the sketching, coloring and other details indoors.

I used to do nature study with my big kids when they were little and they never really took interest. I have 2 younger 2 as well and have introduced nature study to my 5 year old just on walks and she loves it! It reminds me of how Karen Andreola wrote about in Pocketful of Pincones. I am now getting really excited about nature study this year since I have interest. I also plan to study some things of interest during the cold months. My daughter wants to learn about volcanoes, tornados and dinosaurs. I plan to do some unit studies and lapbook for those when we can't do nature study.

Thanks for sharing these titles, I've added many of them to my wishlist. Great backyard space!!! Awesome! -Hana

Thanks for sharing these resources. I've added this video to our Nature Study playlist. :)

Thank you for sharing your tips! I stumbled across your new channel and I'm so glad! We recently started using the Charlotte Mason method in homeschooling our six year old. She is also a perfectionist - so thank you for the tips in that regard. Please keep your 101 series coming! Loving them!

Thank you! This is so helpful! This is our 2nd year homeschooling....this year using CM fully! The info you shared is very handy!

I just stumbled upon your channel looking for information on CM homeschooling. This was so informative and helpful because unfortunately we don't live close to nature. I will definitely check out some of those books.

I’m waiting for the weather here in Florida to get cooler before we start our nature study. I don’t know much about nature but I do love being out in it so I bought a ton of nature books to start our nature study lol. Great books and tips!

Thank you for having great CONTENT.

thank you for the resources!!

Great tips! I love the Nature Anatomy book. :)

I appreciate this! I actually really enjoy being outside, but I live in a city apartment with no outdoors space, so it's difficult sometimes.

Thank you for this video! Those books look like beauties. We really like Exploring Nature with Children from Raising Little Shoots. It's such a nice guide with copy work and poetry.

what a cutie!! thanks for the video. i'm an indoor person and struggle with nature study.

Thank you for making this video! We are starting AO next school Year and I'm going to their conference in May!

I’ve just found your channel and now I’m going to binge watch while my children are in bed!

love

What a very nice video, so enjoyed your nature study books, your walk, absolutely beautiful Pond and scenery. I have a question outside of the nature study since I do believe you said you have older children and you are Charlotte Mason inspired... what type of math for older students like Middle School have you used if you have.. thank you!

I have been watching your channel for some time now. I can't tell you how much motivation and ideas I have found on RU-vid. I myself am at stay at home mom who also does homeschool. I have recently started a youtube channel and would love for you to check it out. Keep up the amazing videos!

What was the book title on studying "squares" I didn't get that one.

Great job! My almost-8-year-old watched with me and wants us to do some nature notebooking. She is also a perfectionist and I appreciate the tips you gave! =-)

It's so beautiful there! What state do you live in?

Confession: Years I've intended to do nature study, 5. Times we've done it, 0. :( Fact: Jesus loves me and has me (and the kids), in His hands! Thank you so much for this inspiring video! I think those books may be a big help for us!! I WANT to be an outdoor girl. I love the IDEA of being an outdoor girl. But, I'm just NOT. ;)