It's important to get outside everyday. And also to enjoy the out of doors with others.
I'm sharing this document I made years ago especially for families new to nature time and nature study. If you are just staring a nature club or you have families that are joining your existing club that are new to nature experience and journaling, you might find this helpful.
We all move forward from where we are. Welcome and keep going. You are doing great.
Showing posts with label observation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label observation. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Scouting Guidelines: IX Starcraft
As my local learning community makes their way through the scouting guidelines, I've been considering how we might make this Terms "Starcraft" extra fun. Have you looked at the Guidelines and considered using them as you study with your children?
Enjoy using this to help you discover ways to get science, nature study, handwriting, composition, expressions of personality and knowledge recorded in a fun way!
Starcraft Guidelines help
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Tea time and essential oils musing
What's your favorite tea for tea time? My kids like a cinnamon variety. My close friend loves a pear black tea. I have found that Earl Grey suits my needs. Does that mean that I'm British? I'm snobish? And of course scones are very important.
Today as my son was working on scones for the 4-H fair he wanted to add Earl Grey tea to his menu. (Thank you dear son.) I hurried down the rabbit trail looking up who was the Earl? What is in Earl Grey tea? What makes Earl Grey called it's name? I really was full of wonder.
And what did I find? CONNECTIONS! I keep an essential oil next to my bed. It's my favorite scent and I use it all sorts of times. I wear it to bed. I put it on in the morning. I often use it to cover up other smells of the farm life....sigh. It's the essential oil called Bergamont.
Did you know Earl Grey tea has bergamont in it? I didn't until today!
Listen to this!
Today as my son was working on scones for the 4-H fair he wanted to add Earl Grey tea to his menu. (Thank you dear son.) I hurried down the rabbit trail looking up who was the Earl? What is in Earl Grey tea? What makes Earl Grey called it's name? I really was full of wonder.
And what did I find? CONNECTIONS! I keep an essential oil next to my bed. It's my favorite scent and I use it all sorts of times. I wear it to bed. I put it on in the morning. I often use it to cover up other smells of the farm life....sigh. It's the essential oil called Bergamont.
Did you know Earl Grey tea has bergamont in it? I didn't until today!
Listen to this!
The Earl Grey blend, or "Earl Grey's Mixture", is assumed to be named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830s and author of the Reform Bill of 1832. He reputedly received a gift, probably a diplomatic perquisite, of tea flavoured with bergamot oil.
According to one legend, a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale appears to be apocryphal, as Lord Grey never set foot in China and the use of bergamot oil to scent tea was then unknown in China. However, this tale is subsequently told (and slightly corrected) on the Twinings website, as "having been presented by an envoy on his return from China".
Okay Wiki. I'll play. I'd love to think that Charles Grey rescued someone and then found bergamont oil in China.
But where is bergamont from? Looks like Italy and Greece. So perhaps Lord Grey was visiting the Santa Maria Novella church and saw the Fresco while drinking his own blend of tea? Hmmm.
Okay now I'm really dreaming! And then I looked up what Bergamont essential oil is supposed to be used for (because I probably bought it initally for some important reason!)
Did you know it can help with depression? It can decrease stress levels when they are high. It purifies and cleanses the skin. It really is a wonder!
So that's it. I just have to drink Earl Grey tea. Especially on high tension days. With my scones.
Do you wonder about tea?
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Making Nature Observations a daily habit
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!
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!