This summer I gave an immersion at the Charlotte Mason Institute East conference at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. I spent a few hours in the morning explaining the importance of having many hours out of doors with young children. And tried to convey the need for observation skills beginning with the young.
It's ALL ABOUT observing. It's not about the nature journal.
To learn about nature observation, you have to do it. It's a habit. It doesn't come naturally for the adult. Perhaps we have unlearned our ability to observe nature.
Take any 2 year old on a walk and you will find every pebble along the way catches their attention. And perhaps catches their attention so much that they are mesmerized. It's the child's whole focus. When we are hurried as a parent, we rob the child (and ourselves) the chance of good observation. Of wonder. Of being able to see with new eyes.
So how about you? Are you modeling nature observation?
Maybe?
What does nature observation look like in the adult? Just like what a child does. Let a child teach you! Get slow. Don't hurry. Carve out a moment (10 minutes) to just be. Be in nature and let nature be in touch with you. Make this a habit. DAILY.
Perhaps you want to bring focus to your observations? Ask yourself what do you notice? (or what do you notice new?)
Look up. Look down. Look closely. Come close to what has caught your attention. Now far away. Step way back to get a bigger view.
Get in touch with your senses just like a child.
What do you hear? Can you hear anything close? Far away?
What do you smell? Get close enough to smell! {Have you smelled the inside of a broken twig from a choke cherry?}
What do you feel? Is the object of your observation smooth, rough, hot, cold, etc?
What do you taste? Most things in nature can be tasted. It's probably not wise to eat a whole mushroom unless you are knowledgable about mushrooms! But so many things can be tasted in little bits. {Have you tasted a dandelion leaf? How about a blade of grass?}
Let your mind wander with these observations. Does your mind find past memories that link to these new observations you have? Where does your mind take you? Do you find yourself in the past? Have you remembered a place you visited before in which this same specimen was present?
What do you notice?
What do you wonder about?
What does it remind you of?
When you have spent plenty of time making observations, then, and only then, take your nature notebook out of your bag. If you are a talker, you might wish to share in a narrative style by oral transmission to those you know everything you saw today. This can give you a starting point of what you will record. If you are someone who needs to work on your composition, then you definitely should give yourself another 10-20 minutes to write down all you saw/felt/tasted in your nature journal. Try to narrate in a way that will bring you back to this moment of time. Collect all of your observations into a essay of sorts.
If needed, add some dry brushing to illustrate your narrative.
These wondering questions are inspired by John Muir Laws. Enjoy these prompt question bookmarks I made for use in our nature journals. And please share your successes with me! I love to hear about moms (and kids) that are enjoying the natural world that God gave us!