Homeschool Perk #7

I have been writing a on a continuing theme here the last few months, with the emphasis being on the many perks of homeschooling. In fact, I decided it might be fun to write on this theme in a “Top 10″ format, so this month I arrive at Homeschooling Perk #7.

But before I do, let me recap for you. You can click on the links below to read the previous “perks”. Unfortunately, Homeschool Perk #8 seems to have disappeared forever into cyberspace, sadly these things sometimes happen, but if you would like to read more about various learning styles, you can read from one of my older posts here.

Top 10 Homeschooling Perks:

#10:  You can take “off-season” family vacations!
#9:  Your children will love to learn.
#8:  You can cater to your child’s learning style.
and this month: #7: You can make the great outdoors your classroom!

Spring is my favorite time to homeschool! The days are getting a wee bit longer, the ice starts to thaw and sooner or later there is new growth stretching it’s shoots out of the ground. This is the time of year when I really get motivated about our learning – a second wind so to speak. Primarily, this is because I can now take our learning outdoors. After spending the majority of our winter inside due to very chilly temperatures or high gusts of wind or torrential island rain (not to mention snow) we are all to eager to make use of the outdoors as part of our learning environment.

When I first started homeschooling we discovered Charlotte Mason, and I fell in love with the idea of nature walks and nature journals. As the the kids got a bit older, life seemed to get a little bit busier and nature walks occurred less and less often. Recently, I have decided to revisit some of Charlotte Mason’s methods and this means making nature walks part of our regular routine. Some of our most memorable learning experiences have taken place outdoors. This is the venue for kids to get up close and personal with nature. It’s one thing to read about trees and flowers and how they grow, it’s quite another to observe it firsthand.

Nature walks have also inspired my girls to draw. Charlotte Mason encourages her students to not just observe, but take this observation a bit further by recording the object’s likeness on paper. This of course, leads to the creation of the Nature Notebook. Over the years I’ve used a variety of books from the library on this topic, my favorite (which I recently decided to purchase) being: Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You, by: Clare Walker Leslie. I highly recommend this book if you’d like to learn more about making the most of a nature notebook.

Since we have rekindled the nature walk routine, I also decided to splurge and purchase the Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Comstock. This seems to be the book of nature study recommended by Charlotte Mason fans, and it is probably one of the most thorough I have ever seen. However; whether or not you decide to keep a nature notebook, being able to make the great outdoors part of your learning environment is a HUGE perk of homeschooling and can be explored many different ways. In the past we have attended many of the local CRD parks programs, we have explored nature on our bicycles, we have gone on family hikes, and signed up for some amazing nature oriented field trips. I could write so much on this topic, but I must end it here and this is where I encourage you to go out there and make the outdoors part of your home learning environment!

Cheryl has been married to her ‘do all’ husband for 13 years. They live in British Columbia, Canada on beautiful Vancouver Island. Cheryl has been homeschooling their two daughters ages 9 & 11, for 6 years. Her approach to homeschooling is mostly ecclectic with a dash of Classical & Charlotte Mason. She used to be one of those parents who thought they could never homeschool – boy, was she wrong! She enjoys blogging to encourage others that they too can homeschool if the desire is upon their hearts. She homeschools simply because – her kids are worth it. Please visit Cheryl at HomeSchool Journey.

Tags: Charlotte Mason, Handbook of Nature, homeschooling perks, learning outdoors, nature field trips, nature notebooks, nature on bicycles

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