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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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I mentioned in another thread that I'm helping form a nature club. One of the weak areas for most moms is having the confidence to encourage the nature notebook. There is fear of doing it "incorrectly" or unsatifactorily, ruining a good notebook, feeling inadequate in drawing or identifying.
I'd definitely fit into this camp. I'd like to encourage others, and help myself along the way. Can anyone suggest simple advice, simple beginner steps to encourage?
Simple resources? Favorite materials?
Thanks!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 11:48am | IP Logged
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On another thread someone recommended the nature journalling section of the Handbook of Nature Study blog to me, it's been invaluable to us, as we are also just starting out.
I also recommend the drawing with children using your nature journal section.
Handbook of Nature Study - Nature Journals
Edited to fix link 
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God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 12:25pm | IP Logged
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We've been nature sketching for several years, and I don't think we have any special talent for it, it's just something we always do, so it seems comfortable and natural. The children sketch 3 - 4 times/week. That means they complete a few sketch books/year. When a sketch book is complete, we might choose 1 - 4 sketches that are special from the sketch book that we want to save. We store those in individual portfolios (each child gets an inexpensive paper portfolio when they start doing art work). I throw out old nature sketch books. I can't store all that I would accumulate!!  This helps all of us in knowing that we'll save the best of the offerings from that sketch book, but if there are mess-ups in the book, no biggie - it isn't going to be saved!
Thinking out loud...
** Make it regular! If it's something that is done once or twice a year it feels intimidating; it's harder to put watercolor or color pencil to paper. Special nature walks, like those you'll be leading are terrific, but make sure you send the kids out to your front garden 2 - 3 times a week for regular nature walks, and then ask them to come inside and draw something they saw - grasshopper, leaf, spider, flower, anything. Our own yard and through our windows is where 80% of our nature walking and nature learning occurs, and thus the inspiration for many/most of our sketches.
** Introduce basic drawing skills. I like Bruce McIntyre's simple and inexpensive Drawing Textbook. He teaches perspective, shading, shaping, etc...all done very simply. One little exercise a day - perfect for the short lesson. These give tools that are helpful, but not necessary!!!
** Don't buy expensive sketch books! I purchase the most inexpensive I can find from Dick Blick - average, adequate sketch books. We like spiral with a thick, hard cardboard back for support, and we like perforated pages because then if we mess up (and we HAVE!!!) we can remove a page! We've used side spiral and top spiral and like both options. We DON'T like glue bound sketch books! Our favorite is the Canson Foundation Drawing Pad in 5.5 x 8.5 because we do not like textured drawing surface paper, and this paper has a nice fine surface. I also really like Strathmore pads, and recently, I purchased a tiny sketch pad of 3.5" x 5" and the kids just love these tiny little pads!!!
** Mistakes are ok! Some of them have become favorites - like the 5 legged fox!  If a child is significantly bothered, I'll use the perforation to remove a page, but I don't encourage doing this often or this becomes the habit with the book and you end up with a pile of 15 perfectly good pages removed!!! (Thus, I make it a rule that I must be the person to remove the page.) I'll either encourage them to move to another section of the page and start again, reincorporate the "mistake" as another part of a drawing, or IGNORE IT! We all make mistakes! And, I remind them that this book will be thrown out when complete - we'll just be saving our favorites! So...don't be afraid to make a mistake! We won't be preserving it forever!
Let me give you an example of a recent mess up my 5th grade son made...He began what he hoped would be a 2 page spread of his mallard duck. The first attempt was way out of proportion and he wasn't happy with it. Simple fix. Pull the page and toss it in the trash. Discuss proportion -- I helped him by modeling some basic shapes with him and we looked up lots of pictures of mallards since this sketch was very important to him. He started again and was pleased with his work! He'd completed one full page of work, the head and half the body of the mallard, when he noticed he'd done the entire thing upside down in his sketch book.  He was irritated. Simple fix. Tear page out, reorient, glue right way in book. His mallard was finished and he's very pleased! ** Stick to short lessons -- I ask my children to take a 10 minute nature walk and spend 10 minutes on a sketch. They don't have to finish the sketch in one sitting!! They can come back to the sketch the next day. I found this to be very important because my perfectionist could become frustrated very easily so setting time limits on sketching has been helpful!
** Special sketches can be completed and added to the sketch book later - sometimes my dd will watercolor and want to add it to a sketch book, she'll either paste the watercolor in the book, or just paste a portion of the margin of the page so that the glue doesn't wrinkle the watercolor.
** Use a digital camera to capture a specimen or still life in the field so that the child can view it at home and continue the sketch there if it isn't completed in the field.
** For sketching in the field - pack lightly - one simple sketchbook and one small set of pencils OR one watercolor set. Too many choices in colors and medium is overwhelming and could add to the intimidation level if you're already leaning that way. Favorite tools:
I use Prang watercolors and we've all fallen in love with Niji waterbrushes!! My dd uses them all.the.time now!!! (The HT for this one goes to Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart - The Joy of Watercolors) For my youngest watercolor artist, I purchased this set of Aquaflow waterbrushes because it was so inexpensive!! He loves them and so do I! My pref for color pencils in the field are Prang as well. I like Prang because the quality is good, the colors are vibrant, and they are so affordable! ** I encourage identification of a specimen that has been sketched, but it isn't required. Over half the sketches in our books are un-identified, and many we go back to and identify weeks, even months later. On a sketch I ask for: date
location
and perhaps setting -- cloudy, after a hard rain, windy
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hope this helps some, Jenn! Just grab a sketch book and put something in it! Don't show up to your nature walk with a blank sketch book!!!! That would definitely intimidate me!! Make it a goal to complete some simple sketches...and then your special nature walk sketch is just one...among others.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 12:44pm | IP Logged
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It does help, thanks for both of your input. Trying to encourage when I don't have anything to show is like blind leading blind!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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We do similar to Jen. It's not a big deal....I just want them to DO IT. I don't worry about the specifics....each child will add/find/create/embellish/discover according to their own styles.
Kids go outside...they have access to our yard and the olders have permission to go into 2 of the neighbor yards. They walk around for a few minutes....I used to go with them....but not right now (pregnant) and not now that they are older. Next year, I'll go out with my second group of littles.
If it's nice out, I encourage them to sketch outside. If not, they bring it inside and draw. They spend 5-10 minutes drawing something and label it. And, like Jen, I do NOT have time to look everything up....so they label the date and where it was found. The more verbose children may describe it.
We use 5x7 pads, spiral bound on the top...must have a strong back cover so that the notebook can keep its shape without anything under it.
We also do "directed stuff"......an outdoor hour here and there or I will specify to find something that we're learning about at a certain time of year. But, that's a different topic. This was more general about how to get that finding/observing/drawing in.
We don't keep all our full pads of sketches either.
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: Sept 14 2010 at 2:37pm | IP Logged
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Like Krista mentioned I love Barbs blog for inspiration and tips. When we began our nature journals I wasn't conernced with the sketch pad but after using the inexpensive ones I have come to prefer spending a little more on say a Strathmore or Canon brand preferebly spiral bound.
We have a tote that we place our journals with our favorite items: magnifying glasses, sketch artist pencils, water color pencils, regular color pencils and a small pouch of crayons for my 5 yr old. This sounds like a lot but it isn't. It's just a few of each to give the kids choices, not to overwhelm them.
I read Keeping a Nature Journal and was inspired to have these become keepsakes for my kids. We have not completed a whole book yet (since we started over) but when we do I will place them in their storage bin for the year/grade they began it and then begin another.
I like Jen's recommendation about don't be quick to tear out pages. Mistakes are great conversation starters for us. The kids really enjoy going back and looking at them. They become a memory of the outing or quiet time drawing. We visit certain places every year around the same time and if you go back you can see in their journals how their skills/appreciation has evolved for the subject.
We've been informally drawing in our journals since we started our hs journey, but this is the first year that I actually put it on our schedule for Mondays when dh is home. I have a binder with Barb's Outdoor Nature Hour Challenges. My kids pick one, we read the Handbook or other sources and then we set out to draw it. We can either go on a nature walk or sit in our back yard. My kids look forward to this.
Did I mention I keep one too. My kids like when we compare journals. Mine are more of the moment like for example I have a sketch of my kids backs looking at some ducks in a pond. They get such a kick out of it (by no means is it profesional or am I an artist but it is mine and they like that they are the subject).
These are just some of my thoughts. I hope some are helpful .
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Natural Journal and/or Notebook Help
