I love nature study! But, to be totally honest, I haven't always been very faithful about taking the time to simply make it happen! I have all the books, and we keep a nature shelf! (I think I got the nature shelf idea from Soule Mama??)
But, in the past I have made all the plans... only to be disappointed when I didn't follow through with them! Kids love nature, and being outside discovering things together is so fun!! And, to make it even more enticing, Erik had an oval shaped trail cut through the woods directly to the right of our house this summer. It is perfect for nature walks!
So, this year I was determined that we would find a way to be faithful! I set the bar super low! I find that setting the bar low helps to motivate me. I am easily overwhelmed and give up when expectations are set too high. So, here is what we are doing...
We take one nature walk a month! One focused walk. The kids look forward to it. We collect leaves and flowers. We chase butterflies and whatever else they find that interests them. We notice the changes in the trees/insects/wildlife from month to month. We eat a picnic lunch. When we get back home, we pull out our journals and write about what we noticed, and we draw something we collected. (Everyone except James Christofer that is... His nature journal is a video put to music of pictures and videos he took of the rest of us while we were on our nature walk. I'm always so excited to see the videos he puts together! Sweet memories in the making!) We, also, use the things we have collected to decorate the house! :-) And, some months we even do a nature inspired craft of sorts! It all just makes me so happy!
The best part is that we have been faithful three months in a row! Easy peasy! This I can do!
3 comments:
Oh hooray! I came over here today just hoping maybe, just maybe you'd blogged something, and I found several posts! Yay!!!
Kevin talked with Drew today, who mentioned that he had seen y'all this weekend. Got me to thinking about your blog. Rattled my brain for several minutes to remember the name of it, but I finally found it. Miss y'all and it's been so long, too long since we have seen you. All of your kiddos have grown so much. Time is definitely not standing still. We are getting use to our new normal of a family of four. Still hard to believe Hannah is in college. Still feels weird at times that she isn't here. But we do get to see her about once a week. And Monday night she was wanting home cooked food and readily met Kevin at Alli and Aaron's school to get her dinner. You just have to embrace the change and go with it. Much love to you, Erik and the kids!
I was looking for these kind of posts.. thanks for sharing
Mcx Sure Call
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