Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education
There are several ways in which I strive to get our children out into nature regularly. And, I confess, that even though I love to get out, even though it enriches my life, it is still a discipline to do it with regularity. What I mean is that I often don’t want to go out of the house and can find a thousand excuses. The baby’s schedule, my toddler has a cough, the dishes, the laundry etc all call to me as more important. And of course there is the weather. It keeps changing and once I get into a rhythm with one season, it changes and I have to adjust our patterns. I often have to coach myself to just leave the mess and get out because it is good for us all. And we all benefit by happier countenances.
The most helpful way for me to get started is to find something to go “check on” each day or each week. At one home we lived in, everyday we checked on a puddle that was in the back of a cornfield behind the property where we were living. The temperature was around 20 degrees (F) at this time, but the puddle would freeze and melt with the changing weather patterns. What we found was that the ground would also freeze into a hard rock and get slushy and muddy as the winter’s rhythm progressed. Though this was not something I planned, it is a lesson that we refer back to often and even run across this type of weather and ground in the stories that we are reading. My older children have a point of reference from this experience. And these lessons that nature teaches are carried with us. All we needed to do was show up and pay attention.
At another home we lived in there were several different options, and my pattern was to take a different route each day. We checked on our neighbor’s flourishing garden one day and then there was Woods Wednesday where we would check on the woods behind our home. Then on the other days, there was a route the kids could ride their bikes and yet another route where we could “check on the lake” that connected to the end of our street. There are just four days because there was usually a day for an outing with friends or our Bible Study day. I enjoyed the variety, but that is not always available.
In our current home, we only have one or two routes and they are a bit underwhelming. But still, we’ve seen amazing displays from the seasonal changes. One maple tree changed to a brilliant fuchsia. The biggest challenge has been our toddler. I’ve needed to carry, coax and discipline this child to come along with us at times. This does cut into the enjoyment of the outing, but usually when this happens I get to witness the love of siblings and find some creative ways to parent us back to the house. Usually the goal of petting the neighbor’s cat does the trick. It’s certainly not always “a walk in the park!”
When we have a specific topic we are studying, I will naturally draw attention to it and test myself to see if I can remember the names. Usually, I have to ask my children whose memories prove to be more faithful than mine.
It may be important to point out that there isn’t a formula that works for everyone all the time to be able to do nature study consistently. Nature Study, instead, is a habit to cultivate — especially for those of us for whom this way of living and paying attention to nature is new. As Charlotte Mason talks of education as an atmosphere, discipline and life we can see how these three principles play out in the context of nature study. The atmosphere is dictated by mother’s attitude (and of course the attitude of the children as well, but mother leads). The discipline is the structure of a routine to get out into nature and the plan of what to study (which includes planning ahead by having the proper resources and books available to study). The life is the joy and the play, the messing in the dirt or the inspiration found in the stream or flower or even the new discovery made. This is exciting and life-giving for everyone.
I recently noticed that my mother and I have similar affections for flowers and nature. There seems to be a link and a passing along a love for nature that has happened without any real design on the part of my mother. And she shared with me that her mother and grandmother also loved pointing out beauty in nature and passed on a love of making flower arrangements. My great grandmother grew up in Germany, and in her village there was an abundance of flowers to enjoy. My mother told me this the other day:
“My mother was always pointing out beauty in nature. She always had some flowers planted. I remember in Virginia, we had a screened-in back porch and mother planted morning glories of all colors to climb up strings from the bottom to the top of the screen outside. In the summer mornings, I remember how beautiful they were and also with the dew on the spider webs in the yard. We were fortunate that we had a whole area of creek and woods behind our house that mother freely allowed us to roam—which we did!! We played Tarzan sometimes.I remember seeing the beauty of a passion flower out in the field and thinking it was the most beautiful flower I had ever seen. My sister also has the same love of flowers and making arrangements.”
Isn’t it wonderful that something so simple and so life-giving can bear fruit long after your life ends? May we persevere little by little, day by day. This idea is not new. Charlotte Mason affirms this same idea: “Every human being has the power of communicating notions to other human beings; and, after he is dead, this power survives him in the work he has done and the words he has said. How illimitable is life! That the divine Spirit has like intimate power of corresponding with the human spirit, needs not to be urged, once we recognise ourselves as spiritual beings at all.” (School Education, pg. 71)
A note on group outings:
Group outings are so refreshing and helpful for mothers and children alike. With six children of various ages and stages, I’ve found that I can commit to one large group outing per month. I have several knowledgeable friends who have taught me how to identify different types of trees and different flowers. This helps me in the long run be a better guide at home or on family nature hikes.
During the month of April, our group scheduled something each week because it was peak wildflower season. This was just right. I love having a whole month dedicated to getting outside regularly with friends. What a gift!