Do your children have a nature journal?
Do you?
I’ll admit that I’ve tried them.
But first let me just tell you a little story….
So sit back……grab your coffee,
and enjoy my failure for a moment.
A few years ago when I first decided to homeschool,
I was introduced to the idea of Nature Journals.
There were so many amazing examples online of what
could be included, so many beautiful watercolors paintings
amid pressed flowers and texture rubbings of important things.
It was overwhelming.
But I like a good challenge
I decided that I would create (see the problem here)
lasting memories of a happy, outdoorsy childhood, spent
among wildflowers, babbling creeks, white tail deer that stood
still for hours.
Ha.
So I set out with my then 2 children
I packed up our watercolor pencils, sketchbooks,
apple juice boxes and peanut butter crackers.
I drove for a half hour, to a scenic viewpoint,
one I was sure would inspire my children to create magic.
We hiked for 20 minutes and finally sat down in the Summer
heat to begin our journaling.
So, I’m sure you can imagine,
(or at least infer by the tone of this post)
How it all went down.
And it went Down. Hill. Fast.
Think sticky juice box fingers mixed with expensive sketchbooks
Colored pencils with ever breaking tips. Not a sharpener in sight.
Peanut butter cracker crumbs.
And only ONE green pencil, in a field of green trees and flowers.
682 feet above sea level, Snickering onlookers, and two children coming down
from an Apple Juice high.
(Ooooh I could have just….)
MY DREAMS of inspiring, keepsake worthy nature journals
was shot.
I loaded the children back up in the car.
And drove home.
Defeated.
I haven’t attempted Nature Journals since.
Until Now.
WHY?
Because I had the privilege of hearing This Funny Lady,
speak at a Homeschool Conference last month.
And I was again inspired to try Nature Journaling.
However.
And this is a big However.
HOW – EV – ER
(are you catching my tone here?)
This time I’m going in with little to NO EXPECTATIONS.
This time I understand that I can’t expect a child to draw a bird
while it’s flitting around everywhere.
That it’s OKAY to just sit back and enjoy the creature, and then LATER
*gasp*
look up images and facts about the animal.
So, as you check out the following photos,
DO NOT BE DECIEVED.
There was no magic peaceful moment as we drew them.
It was actually an instructional time for us, sitting around the table
and working hard at where to put little eyes, and beaks, and toes.
But we do spend peaceful mornings together watching these little birds
fly around our yard. We talk about what kind of birds they are, and each time they visit we look for new things to learn about them.
And then later we looked up images and poetry online,
and added them to our nature journals.
And here’s how that all translates:
Didn’t they turn out cute?
Now those are keepsakes!
I was so jealous inspired with how easy things went
that I went out and got myself a sketchbook.
Oh. And colored pencils too.
The good ones.
I just can’t resist an opportunity for new pencils.
And you know what?
I forgot how therapeutic drawing was.
And I love that I can use my journal to document the “real life”
that causes us to add something to our journals in the first place.
I’m feeling pretty good about nature journals,
And this time around
I think we’re off to a great start!
To sum things up and see if I understand this-
You go observe and talk about nature.
You return home (or to the library) and research what you saw.
You then draw in your journal a picture of what you learned about and a few notes on it.
Is that about right? Cause I have 8 kids, 14 and under, and I can completely forsee my nature journal times going just like your first one. if there is a better way I want to know about it before I try and get discouraged!
I agree that the first examples of nature journals that I saw made me feel very similar to you. Good reminder to let our kids discover and be kids doing things as they are able instead of expecting perfection.
Kate, I think Valerie’s point is that if the bird is flying around and is hard to draw, then just oberve and find a photo to draw from at home. However, if you are observing trees those stand in place and you can draw those while sitting next to them, do so. There is not one perfect nature experience to set up for our kids. Would you agree, Valerie?
We’ve had similar experiences with nature journaling. We use books sometimes too, although I still prefer drawing the “real thing.” Some are easier than others – flowers don’t jump around much! Sometimes we’ve been able to catch insects or frogs and observe them up close for a while. I really think the biggest benefit of a nature journal is learning to see, not necessarily the drawing or painting.
Wow! We already so this kind of thing and I didn’t even know it had a special name … and I don’t even homeschool. I am going o give myself a pat on the back.
One thing to keep in mind (as Charlotte Mason advocates) is to let the child pick what he/she will draw. It usually goes a LOT better that way. And yes, you WILL have days just like (or dare I mention WORSE) than told above, but DON’T GIVE UP!!!! When I had to stop nature study last year due to being extremely pregnant and then having a very coliky baby, the one thing my children kept lamenting about was how much they missed nature study! So take heart ladies!!! Looking back you will see it all much more clearly than going through it! And believe it or not, they WILL thank you for it (one day!). ;-)
oh, this looks like JOY. and low pressure. love it. you mean we don’t HAVE to DRAW–OUTSIDE????? your work is beautiful!
:)
I am SO glad to hear that I am not the only one with failed expectations. Actually that sounded really mean didn’t it? I didn’t mean it in a bad way :). Just that I too started with GREAT expectations and have learned that- boy was I wrong. I love that it is working for you now and it is so much fun isn’t it?!
We do nature journals but ours go like this: I give each child a sketchbook and plenty of coloring pencils or markers or whatever they would like to use. Then I give them freedom to draw, color whenever or whatever they want. When they come show me their work, we talk about the drawings and I steer them toward books, encyclopedias or websites where they can learn more about their animals or plants. We also use whatever they find around our 4 acres of land, or what they’ve seen on TV or books.
I just do not do the sit down formal classroom type of learning. It’s very creative restrictive for us. :) But like you, I learned that after failing miserably at it. :)
You can also put a leaf rubbing in your nature journal, along with the name of the tree. You also also take field guides and draw the animals from it. Last year, when we were studying France, we did not a “out of the box” nature study, in which we studied about the Lascaux caves there. The cave paintings there were made using natural materials. I had an idea. Slate, a type of rock, is very abundant in our area. So, we took another rock and knocked some off. The powdery rock, slate, mixed easily with water and glue to make paint. Then , we made a little paint with sunflower pollen mixed with glue and water. Our neighbors joined in, too, and we all took another “virtual” tour, online, of the cave. They made cards with homemade paint (and memories). There were a few more steps than this,but this is the gist. However, most of the time, our nature studies are much simplier. But, this shows, that nature studies are what you make them, and are only limited by our imadginations!!!
Aha! The real explanation behind how the nature journals truly work…from a real perspective I can totally understand. Yes, that too would have been my experience so we never started one. Love how you changed it around and focused on the experience, then the actual teaching afterward. Love those kinds of moments! ~ Wendy
We love nature journaling in our family and it really is something that evolves. I look back at what our kids recorded when they were little and I was discouraged about the “quality” of our journal pages and I can see now it didn’t matter. What was the most important thing was that we were outside and exploring. The nature journal is icing on the cake. I love that you are keeping it real and enjoying it. Keep it up!
BTDT…several times. We haven’t tried keeping journals in some time now although we continue to do our hiking, bringing along field guides, magnifying glasses and binoculars to observe and identify. But I might try YOUR way and see how that goes!