Outdoor Hour Challenge

11 Jan 2010 - INTRODUCTION

Nature Study is important to me. When I reflect on my best memories and my most satisfying moments in each phase of my life, I was recently surprised to discover that they all involved the great outdoors. Maybe that's why I decided to study Horticultural Science as my career. (I have a BSc in Agriculture)

Anyway, its one of my values to pass this on to my children, and I love the Charlotte Mason approach of encouraging gentle, delight-directed learning based on a child's curiosity and discovery. This is very enticingly described by Karen Andreola in "Charlotte Mason Companion". This was also where I was introduced to Anna Botsford Comstock's "Handbook of Nature Study". So when I found the Outdoor Hour Challenge (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2008/02/green-hour-challenge-1-lets-get-started.html), I was hooked!

Let me warn you: Handbook of Nature Study is a real whopper - over 850 pages and no colour! Written in 1911! It's a tome, a doorstopper...I would never have given it another look if it wasn't for these referrals. But it's value is in the way it is written. Try this about the housefly: " The housefly is one of the most cosmopolitan members of the animal kingdom. It flourishes in every land, plumping itself down in front of us at table, whether we be eating rice in Hong Kong, dhura in Egypt, macaroni in Italy, pie in America, or tamales in Mexico. There it sits, impertinent and imperturbable, taking its toll, letting down its long elephant-trunk tongue, rasping and sucking up such of our meal as fits its needs". Or about the Pansy: "Some people are pansy-faced and some pansies are human-faced, and for some occult reason this puts people and pansies on a distinctly chummy basis."

This is not a heavy subject, even though the book seems pretty intense. The author just has a way of bringing out what is important and highlighting ways to help children to discover nature. Nature Study itself, though, is not meant to take more than 15 - 30 minutes. Although the book its quite pricey (I found mine on Kalahari), it is available free online (see the link in the blog above). I am going to be challenging myself weekly, and I encourage others to join in. I plan to follow the initial challenges to get started, then after about 5 weeks spend some time on challenges focussed on summer flowers, then move on to Autumn.

CHALLENGE FOR THIS WEEK:

• Read the first part of the blog at http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2008/02/green-hour-challenge-1-lets-get-started.html).
  
• If you have "Charlotte Mason Companion" read the chapters on Nature Study again
• Decide on a format for your Nature Journals (I am just going to use lined or blank papers as appropriate which can be punched and filed - my kids hate not being able to remove a page that they are not happy with. Each child has their own clipboard which they know is especially for Nature Study. Oh, and just for fun I got them each a R10 magnifying glass at Crazy Store).
• Discuss the plan with the family and share your excitement.
• Start your own blog like this and tell us how you're doing.