Advice for Your Outdoor Time From Charlotte Mason

All quotes are from Charlotte Mason (modern English), volume 3

"One afternoon a week, the students in our 'Practicing School' [taught by the student teachers at Charlotte Mason's teacher's college] go for a 'nature walk' with their teacher. They notice things by themselves, and the teacher tells them the name or gives other information only if they ask for it."

"The teachers are careful not to turn these nature walks into an opportunity to give science lessons, because they want the children's attention to be focused on their own observations."

"They're allowed to notice things with very little direction from the teacher. By doing this, children accumulate a good collection of 'common knowledge.' "

"The nature walk shouldn't be used as a chance to dispense miscellaneous tidbits of scientific facts."

"Even more important, students learn to know and take pleasure in objects from nature like they do in the familiar faces of friends."

All photos in this entry are from our trip last winter to Palm Springs. My youngest son and I spent the day together, just the two of us, at the Living Desert Museum. I handed him the map when we walked in and told him that he was in charge of our day. We would look at whatever he was interested in and I would follow his direction.

We had a wonderful time exploring the very long hiking trail that starts at the museum but then winds up into the hills. The top photo in this entry is at a spot where you can use telescopes to look out over the valley. I was tempted to read him the signs that explain the geology of the area but I restrained myself. He asked a couple of questions and I told him that the answers were probably on the signs so he went over and read a little bit to himself and was satisfied.

He was hoping to see a jack rabbit on our hike and sure enough, we saw one on the way back to the museum. He then wanted to see the cheetahs since on the schedule it said that they would be feeding them and we could watch. Okay....I wasn't sure I wanted to see a cheetah eating but we headed over to the enclosure. It wasn't so bad. :)


Just a little silliness from my cat lover....


He took the camera over when we headed over to Eagle Canyon where they had a beautiful mountain lion. He was able to capture the lion up on his rocks.


He also was interested in the Mexican wolf and we went back two times before the wolf was up from his nap.



Mr. B must have wanted to indulge my interests because he suggested the butterfly aviary. I was eager and we spent quite a bit of time following various butterflies around trying to get them to land on our fingers. No luck but it was still fun.



There was a rock to sit on inside and as we sat there, the hummingbirds came very close. You can see Mr. B in the background and the hummer wasn't bashful about coming right up to where we were sitting.


We both were a little tired and hot so we found a cool spot to have a drink and I pulled out my nature journal and my son decided to join me. He didn't spend much time sketching but it was enough to make a memory for his journal back home.


This was another of Mr. B's photos. We actually were able to feed the giraffes which was pretty exciting stuff. Have you ever seen a giraffe tongue up close?

I have certainly given my share of "science lessons" during our nature walks and nature time. I am getting better about letting the boys direct me to what they are curious about. I see the wisdom in allowing the boys to explore and learn in a way that makes sense to them, but I can be available to assist them with questions they might have. I am pretty comfortable with telling them that I don't know the answer to their question and then find someone or some resource that does have the answer.

These principles are the same whether your nature study takes place in your backyard, on the trail, or during some other nature study outing. As the parent, I set the mood. If you quietly observe your children, you will see what they are drawn to learn more about without much effort.

Try it the next time you are having your outdoor time.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Desert Nature Study-Joshua Tree National Park and More

I wanted to share some more of the photos from our trip to the desert that we took a few weeks ago. The photo above is from Joshua Tree National Park. The scene is typical of what you will find as you hike along the trails of the park. It has taken me three trips to the desert to begin to develop a love for the animals and plants that live here. In this strange and wonderful landscape, you can find the most beautiful of things if you look carefully enough.


There really are blooming plants here and if you get the chance to get up close, you realize that there are bees and other insects as well as birds that are attracted to the color and fragrance.


I will admit that there are sections of the park that are more rock than anything else. My two boys couldn't resist a good climb when they saw it.


When you get up close you see all the intricate patterns and designs of the desert plants. I believe this is some kind of cholla cactus.


Now here was something that surprised me and I examined it carefully for some time. Can you see all the different colors of lichen on this rock? There is a moss green, a grey-green, an orange and a soft yellow-green all living right here on the side of this rock. Beautiful.


Many times as we hike along we name the rock formations we see. The boys named this one "Whale Head".

Not to be confused with "Whale's Mouth".


They keep me smiling.....and thinking.



We came across a wash on our hike and the wildflowers were already blooming. There are three different flowers blooming in this photo...two white and the desert sand verbena.

How about a video? (Why does it take so looooong for the videos to load onto Blogger anyway?)
This squirrel was entertaining us with his acrobatics...trying to get that certain pod to eat.






Here is what the squirrel was gathering to eat. This is a palo verde tree.

I took a lot of photos at the Living Desert Museum and I shared a lot of the butterfly and hummingbird photos already but here are a few more of the larger animals we saw that the boys spent a lot of time observing.

The giraffes...there were four of them.


The cheetahs..there were two of them. I love this photo....look at that face!


For some reason I threw our nature journals in my backpack and we took the opportunity in the afternoon to slow down and do some sketching at the museum. It was a great way to remember our time there.


What a great memory.


It was great way to end our stay at the museum. The desert holds so many interesting and surprising creations for us to learn about....a life time of learning just one plant and one bird and one animal at a time.

So whether you venture out in the national park or you stay in town and visit the Living Desert Museum....there is so much to enjoy as a family. Pick your adventure.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Butterflies Galore!

Just like with the birds at the Living Desert Museum, it was a treat to see so many butterflies at their Butterflies Alive! exhibit.

They also had a butterfly garden outdoors that was a great source of ideas for different plants that I may be able to incorporate into my backyard butterfly garden.

"This graceful butterfly is a very good friend to the flowers, being a most efficient pollen-carrier. It haunts the gardens and sips nectar from all the blossom cups held out for its refreshment; and it is found throughout almost all parts of the United States."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 301

It was hard to know where to look because there were butterflies flying and landing in just about every direction. Make sure to click the photos to see them close up!


There were blue ones.


There were white ones. (Love the heliotrope!)


There were striped ones.


There were ones with beautiful wings and long legs.

We tried to catch them on our fingers but they were very shy. It was more fun just to sit and watch them flutter by on their way to sip some more nectar.

When we tired of butterflies, there were more hummingbirds to observe.


Now I wish I would have written down the kinds of hummers that were there. This one was black with a greenish head and a long red beak.


This one was not shy and came within inches of me over and over again to sip from these red flowers.

I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this part of our desert trip.

The museum purchases the butterfly chrysalis' and then mount them on sticks in the window for all to watch. There were rows and rows of them and some were just starting to come out and stretch and meet the world.

My favorite chrysalis' were the ones for the Queen butterfly. They were a soft green color with a gold line rimming one end. Amazing, truly amazing.


This is a newly hatched butterfly waiting for its wings to fully dry before they let it out into the aviary. So, so pretty.

Okay, this entry is getting rather long and it has completely too many photos. Believe me...I restrained myself.

:)

Hope you enjoyed seeing this part of our trip. I will share more about the cactus and rock climbing in another entry.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Birds Up Close

One thing that frustrates this bird lover is that it is nearly impossible to get up close to live birds in the wild. So when the opportunity presents itself to get a really good look, even at a zoo or museum...I grab it. We were able to observe quite a few beautiful birds at the Living Desert Museum. If you live in California or even in Nevada, you might want to check this museum out and include it on your next roadtrip.

This Burrowing owl was so gorgeous and he impressed me very much with his wide eyes and his colorful pattern on his wings and body.



They had a hummingbird and butterfly aviary that I could have spent all day wandering around. We spotted this hummer on the littlest nest around. Click the photo to see the texture of his feathers. I will post photos of some of the butterflies soon.


I am amazed at the way the birds are so different from each other. They may all have feathers, wings, and legs but the variety of how those pieces are put together is an amazing testimony to our Creator.


Most of the birds at this museum are not able to be released into the wild. Some have lost a leg or a wing and the owl in the first photo of this entry is blind. This bird is a kind of heron and I forgot to write down his exact name but he was so pretty...and sleepy. :)

I encourage you to take advantage of any opportunity that comes along for nature study. I was surprised to see that this particular museum had a badger exhibit so we were able to observe a real live badger as part of our Outdoor Hour Challenge.....more on that in another post.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom