by Barb
“She who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week finds nature study in the schoolroom a delight and an abiding joy……She finds, first of all, companionship with her children; and second, she finds that without planning or going on a far voyage, she has found health and strength.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 3
Nature study and science are two interrelated subjects near and dear to my heart. Every day there are opportunities to share a few minutes of time outdoors with your children, starting when they are young and continuing into their teen years. This gradual awakening to the joy of discovering things in nature builds into their hearts a love for all things in science. The roots of nature study hold fast the growth of knowledge acquired during more formal science.
Don’t miss the opportunity to learn alongside your children. The resources linked below are some of the best of the best to be found in the homeschooling world. I encourage you to click and pin as many as you can for future reference and encouragement.
Barb:
Nature Study-3 Steps to a Better Experience: “I am finding that for my high school aged son there needs to be a different sort of follow-up to our observations…more than just a nature journal. He is using his past experiences with nature study and making some connections. This has led me to going back to the internet to research more closely how nature study develops into upper level science. I am finding it fascinating. I am excited to share my findings and show how I am implementing the ideas learned with my son as we go along.”
Nature Study With Very Young Children: “What does this mean in a practical way? Our yard has lots of things to explore so many times we would just walk around our own backyard together. There were rocks to turn over and look at what was hiding underneath…..ants and spiders and crickets. There were plants to smell like roses, thyme, and lavender. There were trees to touch and leaves to gather.”
Nature Study-Living Science Beyond the Books: “Every parent hopes their child receives a solid education in science. This is the case whether our children are homeschooled or attending a more traditional school. Many parents, including myself, know we received very little “real” science education growing up and when it comes time to teaching or supporting science learning in our children, we feel inadequate. This doesn’t need to be the case.”
Homeschool Science-Things I Would Do Differently: “Setting fear aside and keeping in mind your goals, it is possible to have a great science experience at home. Here are a few thoughts from my brain this week on how I would handle the teaching of science in our home if I could go back and do it again.”
Free Printables from the Handbook of Nature Study: Lots of free printable notebook pages and activities to stimulate your nature study.
Cindy:
Ultimate Guide to Nature Study: “In an effort to help you get started (or keep going) with nature study, I’ve pulled together a post of THE most wonderful resources I’ve found over the course of the last few years. I hope this Ultimate Guide to Nature Study proves to be your one-stop post for encouragement, ideas and more!”
10 Days of Nature Study: “A series of ten easily implemented nature walks and follow-up activities.”
NaturExplorers Studies: “More than 20 nature study topics jam-packed with ideas for creative nature walks, hands-on activities, writing and research projects, and notebooking pages. Includes literature lists as well as poetry, composer and artist study ideas.”
Amy:
Animal Kingdom Notebooking Pages: “FREE page I created to aid in your study of any animal. Track where any animal lives, what it eats, and more. Have your child write a short narration and draw or add pictures, diagrams, etc.”
Let’s Celebrate Spring: “Help your preschooler learn about all things SPRING! This 3-part series covers Trees, Seeds, and Baby Animals.”
Starting a Nature Journal: “Get ideas for starting a nature journal with your youngsters. Includes a nature journal printable.”
Science Activities for Preschool/Kindergarten: “Enjoy a whole list of fun science activities to use with your children. The list is broken down by season so you will have fun learning about science all year long!”
Tricia:
Homeschool Marine Biology for Multiple Ages – These are the resources we have gathered for our children to use together. It’s a family study for kindergarten, second grade, our sixth grader in middle school and our two high schoolers – ninth and tenth grades. (with an accompanying Marine Biology Pinterest board)
Cultivating Curiosity with Nature Study – “Mama, I need a towel because I did one of the nature prompts,” she calls through the cracked open back door. I look and her feet are covered in clay. I smile.
How Nature Study Mixes with High School Biology – We’ve been blessed with the benefits of family nature study in so many ways. We notice the subtle seasonal changes and more. And just when we were enjoying nature the last couple of weeks, we were surprised by how much our times complement formal high school biology studies.
Homeschool Science with Multiple Ages – We use several resources for all our ages. I’ll share them with you today as well as how we work them into our days – for each of our ages. In each section, I’ll share links to more how tos or reviews.
Stephanie:
Top Ten Reasons to Nature Notebook- “You can make your notebook as simple or as involved as you like. The main objective is to document what you see and what you experience. It’s your nature notebook so there is no limit to your creativity.”
Nature Notebook Pinterest Board-Discovering the world around me and keeping a journal about it! This board is for all things nature and that help me to study it! It accompanies my on line journal @ Nature Notebook.
Science Field Trips for Kansas- “Whenever people think of Kansas they tend to think of it as flat. While that’s true, there is much variety to offer anyone willing to travel off the beaten path. The homeschooler who wants to learn about the natural world will not be disappointed. Your aspiring paleontologist, astronomer, or cartographer will be simply overjoyed!”
Learning Science Through Art-In our home creative learners abide. There is no end to the celebration of creativity. You can probably imagine that the arts are a huge part of our homeschooling. Even if your not particularly artistic you can still apply the arts to your science program. I have found art to be particularly compatible with science.
Annie Kate:
My husband and I are scientists, and we are eager to teach our kids science. We have been very happy with Apologia’s high school science courses. They are thorough, clear, and honor God for his creating work. In fact, in a review I wrote: “Because of the Apologia science texts, homeschooled high school students have access to better quality science education than most students in public or private schools, even if their parents do not know science.”
To introduce you to these courses, here’s a detailed review of Advanced Chemistry.
Review: Science Roots by Nancy Paula Hasseler - We found that Science Roots was a great help in learning the vocabulary for Apologia’s Biology.
As we were working through the Apologia courses, we had a question: Is This Course Grade 11, Grade 12, or AP? Here are my thoughts based on what an Apologia representative told me.
Tweaking Apologia’s Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics for Grade 12 - We needed to adjust these AP level courses for grade 12. This is how we met our province’s requirements for grade 12, and how you can do the same for your state or province.
Betsy:
Elementary science is all about hands-on exploration, and igniting your children’s curiosity about the world and how it works so wonderously! And finding out the answer through doing, such as with Evan-Moor’s Science Works for Kids series, makes science real and so much fun!
Science Works for Kids Series: Energy
Science from Oak Meadow reviews – First and Fifth Grades
Science and Nature Study Reviews from our Curriculum Choice archives
Outdoor Hour Challenges – Handbook of Nature Study
Sonlight Ultra Microscope – Investing in High School Science
Nature Study Through the Holidays – a Mini book of Nature Studies for Easter
Answers in Genesis: God’s Design for Science
The Story of Science Series by Joy Hakim
Get in on the Fun of Birdwatching with Bird Sleuth
How to Teach About Electricity
History of Science Unit Study for Middle Grades
Volatile Volcanoes Unit Study by Amanda Bennett
Owl Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child
Science Roots: Vocabulary for Biology
Review Team Features
Our Curriculum Choice Nature Study and Science Pinterest boards
Browse our science archives of reviews as well as our nature study reviews
Have you enjoyed this special post from our review authors? Our Curriculum Choice review team features a topic monthly. You can see all that our authors have shared on electives, math, curriculum choices and more under Review Team Features.
~ Hosted by Barb-Harmony Art Mom. I also blog at Harmony Art Mom and my business is found at Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at Handbook of Nature Study.
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