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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 24 2006 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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I put up a new post on my blog where I share photos of pages from my and ds nature journals. I did this in hopes that it would inspire you ladies to share some pages from your journals as well. I would dearly love to see what you guys put in yours and your children's as well.
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Theresa
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Meredith
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Theresa, you are so great! I have been wanting to do this, thanks for the nudge!  I'll link here when it's up on my main blog!
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Meredith
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Genevieve
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I love the idea of nature journals but wonder how to introduce it to my children. Let me explain. My eldest is three; He wants to do whatever I do, exactly the way I do it.  So when I try to sketch something, he tries to. Then gets frustrated that his drawings don't look like mine. Any ideas?
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Genevieve
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Genevieve
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Theresea,
Just saw your site. Truly lovely! One day my dream of living in a rural might come true... a big might! Do continue sharing!
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Genevieve
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Cici
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Theresa,
Absolutely beautiful. Alas, I picked up "Nature Drawing" by Claire Walker Leslie from the library and haven't even had time to open it. I can't seem to draw (or maybe I just need to try more).
Similar to Genevieve, my oldest is my dd and at only 4 I'm not sure how to begin a journal with her.
Maybe someone has a few suggestions?
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alicegunther
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Our scanner has been giving us problems, or I would post pages from the children's journals! As many of you already know  , for the past two months, the girls and I have been collaborating on a family online nature journal, The Cottage Garden. There are no drawings there yet, but a number of photos, narrations, video clips and original poems.
Theresa, would you post a direct link to your stream post? I am running out the door now, or I would do it. Your photos were INCREDIBLE!
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alicegunther
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Cici wrote:
Similar to Genevieve, my oldest is my dd and at only 4 I'm not sure how to begin a journal with her.
Maybe someone has a few suggestions? |
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I couldn't resist responding to this one!
For a four year old, I would go on many walks, letting her gather little things here and there (fallen petals from a flowering tree, seedpods, acorns). Children love to glue these on paper later. She might also like giving brief narrations of her observations. These are often unbelievably cute. My four year old son had a lot to say about a little pond his sisters made for him: Pond Life.
Encourage her to do a lot of drawing, but label everything. What sometimes looks like scribbling may contain a world of meaning. I remember my current six year old drawing a page that looked like a mess at age three. It turned out her picture contained a wisteria vine, tulips, some Koi fish, and water lilies! Once the page was labeled, it became a treasure!
Now I really do need to go! My children are all lined up in the front hall!
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lapazfarm
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alicegunther wrote:
Theresa, would you post a direct link to your stream post? I am running out the door now, or I would do it. Your photos were INCREDIBLE! |
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Ok,
I am not really sure what you mean, but I will give it a shot.
Do you mean this post where we spent a day in the stream?
Is This Unschooling?
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Theresa
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lapazfarm
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As a suggestion for a way to start little ones journaling, check out the new page on my blog sidebar titled "Nature Scavenger Hunt." It is a copy of a fun activity I made for my kids awhile back. They really enjoy it and it can be done over and over in new places with new results each time.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Hope you like it!
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Theresa
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Caroline
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Theresa your son's nature journal is just wonderful! I've just picked up Clare Walker Leslie's "The Art of Field Sketching" and am loving it.
Your post has inspired me! I might have to start working on ours!
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Cay Gibson
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Theresa,
I'm still gapping at (and savoring) your ds's nature journal. Looks very professional to me. I've never seen one so nice. What a talent this young man has. 
We found a bird nest in our fig tree today. Chelsea immediately ran inside to get her natural journal. She drew the picture and colored it while I took snapshots of the nest.
What I like to do is take a picture, cut the edges with scrapbook scissors, and glue it next to the child's drawing. No worries of "My picture doesn't look anything like the real thing  ." The day comes all too quickly when the child delights in looking at his old drawings and having the real picture to view as well.
We also cut out (with scrapbook scissors) nature poems we come across in Ranger Rick, Highlights, etc. and glue them in our book. Sometimes we do copywork with them but not always.
You've inspired me, Theresa. Our journals are nothing compared to your ds's but I'm going to click some pictures of our nature journals and share on my blog anyway. I think each journal, each child, each family is cause for admiration and special in their own way.
I look forward to enjoying everyone else's.
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Christine
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Theresa, have you and your son ever thought about writing a book on nature?
Thank you for the Nature Scavenger Hunt link. It is great!
A little off topic, but I like the new look of your blog.
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Theresa, thank you for the inspiration. I have gotten way too comfortable with just blogging our nature study when we really should get back to good old paper and pencils. Perfect time of year to get back to it too.
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lapazfarm
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You ladies are too kind. We do enjoy our nature studies, but I would dearly love to see or hear what others do in their journals.
Christine, a book! I am flattered, but I think that is a bit beyond my capabilities! However I was thinking about making some more pages on my blog with my ideas for nature study activities, similar to what I did for the Scavenger Hunt. I'm glad you liked it. We had alot of fun doing it. I just have to learn more about formatting the pages online and such. Do you think it would be a useful resource?
Dawn, some of the pages in my journal are just print-ups of my blog entries! It's not very "Edwardian Lady-like" but hey, we can't all be!
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Theresa
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Cici
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alicegunther wrote:
| For a four year old, I would go on many walks, letting her gather little things here and there (fallen petals from a flowering tree, seedpods, acorns). |
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No problem whatsoever with that part. I can't tell you how many "collections" we have. Rocks, flower petals, leaves, acorns, fallen leaves, fresh leaves, to name a few. Now I have something to do with them all.
alicegunther wrote:
| Children love to glue these on paper later. She might also like giving brief narrations of her observations. These are often unbelievably cute. My four year old son had a lot to say about a little pond his sisters made for him: Pond Life. |
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I read that, and it was adorable. We love to tell stories around here - all sorts of narrating goes on. Note to self: get out digital recorder to gather the fruite while it's ripe.
alicegunther wrote:
Encourage her to do a lot of drawing, but label everything. What sometimes looks like scribbling may contain a world of meaning. I remember my current six year old drawing a page that looked like a mess at age three. It turned out her picture contained a wisteria vine, tulips, some Koi fish, and water lilies! Once the page was labeled, it became a treasure!
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Hmnn. This is, sadly, where I have failed. My daughter has made some lovely drawings. We have a lovely pair of Cardinals who visit our feeder daily. The other day, I brought out our "Birds of Ohio" book, and asked her to draw a bird. It was lovely! She drew a "boy" cardinal, a "boy" mallard, and a hummingbird. I was amazed at her skill level (and still I never thought to put it in a nature journal  ). That said, after one "drawing" of the sort, she quickly deteriorates into a mass of scribbles. Perhaps we are well on our way to Nature Journaling already. Maybe Mama just has to get it into daughter's own "journal", where she can more easily take pride in her work.
This is why I love these forums. Could it be that Real Learning is this easy? Could it be that Real Learning is this fun?
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Diane
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lapazfarm wrote:
| I was thinking about making some more pages on my blog with my ideas for nature study activities, similar to what I did for the Scavenger Hunt. I just have to learn more about formatting the pages online and such. Do you think it would be a useful resource? |
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Absolutely, Theresa! Nature study continues to be an inexplicable stumbling block for this CM-wannabe, and I am grateful for all of the help and inspiration you can offer. (From what I've heard, I'm not alone.) Blogs like yours are a great gift to me. Your nature journal is gorgeous---you are very talented---and it appears your ds is following in your footsteps. I would love to be able to inspire this in my kids. They are naturally naturalists , but we don't seem to be able to chronicle it, and I don't know how to identify or draw anything!  I know we don't get out often enough.
Please keep sharing!
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Diane
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alicegunther
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lapazfarm wrote:
I am not really sure what you mean, but I will give it a shot.
Do you mean this post where we spent a day in the stream?
Is This Unschooling? |
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Yes, that's the post! I loved it!
Theresa, I am just back to my computer after a busy afternoon/evening, and wanted to say that your nature journal is fantastic, as is your son's. Thanks so much for posting those excellent images.
Cici, it sounds like your little one is already well on her way to keeping a wonderful journal! Do not feel bad if you don't get everything in her book--my son draws constantly, but I only manage to save a small sampling of his work.
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Leonie
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Theresa, your nature journal is a joy!
I have taken your hint, and been inspired by Alice's Cottage Garden and Lissa's dd's nature journal on her blog.
I just put up a scan on our blog, of yesterday's mushroom and toadstool spores nature journal entry.
Love to see what others are including in their nature journals/notebooks.
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lapazfarm
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Thanks, Leonie! I really enjoyed seeing your spore-prints! We will have to give this a shot soon!
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Theresa
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alicegunther
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Leonie wrote:
I have taken your hint, and been inspired by Alice's Cottage Garden and Lissa's dd's nature journal on her blog.
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Thanks so much, Leonie!
And I loved your toadstool post and image.
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Love, Alice
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: What's in YOUR Nature Journal?
