Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Nature Study, in The Armpit of Texas



It was exactly this month last year, humid and hot and swarmed with mosquitoes, that I was reading Charlotte Mason's writings on nature study.  Oh my goodness, the last thing I wanted to do was walk outside with my children.  It seemed almost dangerous.  In fact, I got brave and walked to the preschool two blocks away, and felt awful to bring home a baby with welts of mosquito bites.  Despite the stories of children learning about God's creation in the rainy dreary outskirts of London, I wasn't buying nature study.  It was just another dose of Mommy Guilt.  Oh yeah, my kids are supposed to be outside.  But I'm scared to go outside.  In fact, so are they.  We have nets hanging from all of our doors to keep the mosquitoes that make their way inside to a minimum, and we still have a few a day.

But despite the fact that we live in what's described by many of our neighbors as "The Armpit of Texas," nature study soon became one of the delights of our home school life.

 I first quit complaining and simply gave a try at getting us outdoors as much as possible.  In a few weeks the weather cooled.  The mosquitoes persisted, but we could tolerate longer sleeves, and I made peace with using 30% DEET on the kids most days.  Yes, we tried essential oils.  Our mosquitoes aren't scared of essential oils.  If the mosquitoes are really bad and the bites are inevitable, we'll take Zyrtec before we head out.

In October I tried to find days when were could spend the bulk of the day outdoors.  We packed snacks and lunch, lots of water and bug spray.  I often packed books, but we have yet to get any real reading or school work done on our outdoor days.  But some of our efforts were smaller than planning outdoor marathon days.  I tried to make it a habit to pack up and leave the house in time to walk, rather than drive, my preschooler to the nearby church on her preschool mornings.  I began to collect a few field guides, and I would pass out the laminated trifold bird, butterfly, and tree guides to the kids to reference as we went.  Truth is, we didn't find many of the species on our guides.  But we found a few, and they were absolutely delighted.

Come spring, I was amazed to hear my one-year-old insist that birdies say "coocoo" instead of the storybook "tweet tweet," because he'd so often heard us mimicking the mourning doves in our neighborhood as we watch them.  In fact, he's quite attuned to the songs of the birds now and will do his best to call back to them with their own song, having heard his siblings and I give our best attempts at replicating the sounds ourselves.  The kids each have a "favorite tree," and Abby will collect Magnolia leaves endlessly, because Magnolias are her favorite.  While I was pleasantly surprised to discover in the spring that my interest and a little intention had led my children to identify numerous neighborhood birds by sight and by call, a handful of trees, and a few local butterflies, it is really the affection that they have developed for the study of nature that I count a success. 

For we are here at the beginning still, thank Goodness.  They don't need to reference a repertoire of facts on plants, animals, or physics.  They need first an affection that drives them into a relationship with their subjects and a pursuit of understanding tinted with delight.  As we develop the skills of observation and attention, and then practice the discipline of memorization, the details will come together.  Meanwhile, we had a wonderful morning watching the turtles this Friday.  It was was of those mornings that makes my heart swell with contentment and which makes me so very, very grateful to have the freedom to do our learning together in a place like this.

And this year, as the mosquitoes swarmed and I sweated myself into a migraine in September, I let it go, gave up, and hauled the troops inside to read with a glass of cold water.  I've learned in this year that "consistent" doesn't mean "every day" or "every week" or "perfectly planned."  The cooler days will come (they're coming!), and there is plenty of opportunity to make our time out of doors fruitful and meaningful.  I've seen what an impact on our family a few changes in our rhythm and habits made last year.  I can't wait to see where this next season takes us.



It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.
(Vol 1, II, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children, p.61)





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