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UK Mum
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| Posted: May 13 2011 at 2:23pm | IP Logged
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I was thinking of giving our nature study seasonal themes for the next year & wondering if any ladies have experience of doing this? I am thinking it would give us focus, but also wondering if it would be limiting?
here are my plans:
Autumn - Trees
Winter - Birds
Spring - Wild flowers
Summer - Herbs
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Lynn
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
Michelangelo
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 13 2011 at 2:41pm | IP Logged
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Ambleside Online has a nature rotation schedule for 6 years, laid out seasonally similar to this, so that over time, they will cover all the topics. I imagine you could get a lot of good advice reading all that is there for approaching a nature study this way.
I think it also depends on how in depth you want to get with your study.
I'm working on plans right now, and I'm arranging things into 4 week blocks (so, three per 12 week term), and I'm contemplating having a nature emphasis for each block. My children are still so young, I think that four weeks is plenty of time to explore a particular subject. For instance, if the topic is trees, learning to identify four trees in our yard is a good amount! In theory, this would also allow us to study different things at different times of the year, for instance, maybe revisiting the same trees in Summer and then again in the Fall and Spring? They look so different!
I also thought this would allow some flexibility but still allow for planning to study something in depth that might not otherwise merit "focus." For example, my four year old just a little while ago came in and told me that he saw the fox (living under our shed) out in the neighbor's yard with its kit! We'd suspected she had them, but this was our first confirmation. I doubt it would otherwise occur to me to study fox in particular, yk? (I don't know that we will actually spend four weeks studying the fox formally, it is just an example, lol).
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Lindsay
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 13 2011 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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Oh, and right now, I'm planning to do Caroline'sTin Cup and Tinder plans in an attempt to get us more organized in approaching Nature Study more formally. This along with other summer programs will probably buy me time to get my plans ready for the fall.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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kristinannie
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| Posted: May 14 2011 at 12:31pm | IP Logged
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That sounds like a great plan to give some order to things. I am sure the kids will find other fun things to learn about during that time as well! Let me know how it goes!
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MaryM
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| Posted: May 14 2011 at 1:55pm | IP Logged
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Seasonal themes for science are a great way to approach the subjects. You have some good ideas.
A couple of our favorite themes include:
Insects are great for summer due to their abundance. And so is astronomy/stars because of the warmer evenings for observation.
It depends on what you want to do if it would be limiting. 12 weeks is a long time to stick with one topic, especially if it is on the short side. If you aren't spending too much time on science in general then 12 weeks would be good. But if you are doing it pretty regularly then may run its course before the season was over. You might consider 2 themes per season in that case (6-ish weeks each).
Another idea is to look at a couple themes each season as there is so much difference to observe and experience depending on the season.
Take birds- they could be spring or fall also, because of migration both seasons and nesting/eggs (spring).
Weather anytime but whenever your area has the most extremes and variety of weather is good. But if you did a few weeks of weather each season you cover different aspects.
Trees (and any botany in general) is different each season and budding can be covered in spring, identification summer, color change and seeds fall, dormancy winter.
Rocks/geology any time as it doesn't change seasonally.
Water/wetlands seasonal for changes.
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 16 2011 at 10:39am | IP Logged
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If you have a family trip or vacation, include a bit of time covering the unique nature surrounding the area.
We covered seashore at the beginning of the school year for our late season beach trip. We read quite a bit before we went on the trip, and then did the actual "nature study" hands-on the vacation, bringing our guides and such. We are still reaping and enjoying the benefits.
Both boys responded so well that they are clammering to "study" it again.
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stellamaris
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| Posted: May 16 2011 at 6:07pm | IP Logged
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I'm sure you are all familiar with the Handbook of Nature blog, but just in case!
There are so many wonderful resources on this blog!
ETA: And, yes, I use "themes", too. I try to select a new theme every 6 weeks or so. Leaves, for example, might be a focus in fall or spring; roots and flowers in the spring/summer with all the weeding; right now, it is frogs (spring, and also we just found a leopard frog living in our front yard). A lot of our nature study just "happens" based on what the boys find that is interesting and intriguing to them. The themes are more for my help, to make sure I cover a variety of topics and also have a few extra resources available for enrichment.
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Caroline
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Nature Study Themes
