Every walk should offer some knotty problem for the children to think out –– ”Why does that leaf float on the water, and this pebble sink?” (Charlotte Mason. Home Education. Vol. 1, pg. 153-154.)
“I know that many parents feel handicapped…by their own defective education in nature knowledge…they must dismiss from their minds any idea that it is the quantity of knowledge acquired that makes a nature student. It is rather the particular habit of mind induced in the act of acquiring such knowledge which is of the most value to us and our children.” (Alfred Thornley, PR 19, p. 722)
A nature walk is simply stepping outside to marvel at God's creation. It can be a walk in your backyard, a walk in your neighborhood, a walk to a local park, or a planned and special nature excursion to a state park. If possible, a daily walk should take place, but for some families, perhaps once a week, or every other week. There is not a set parameter, but time in nature be customized for each family. The idea is to stay consistent and keep up a habit of nature walks so they may become part of your life.
Charlotte Mason believed that children should be familiar with the common species of plants that grow in their own neighborhood.
Sometimes, it is wise to go alone with just your immediate family, and sometimes it’s fun to go with a small community of family and friends! Occasionally, take a small walk around the pond or take a long half or full-day excursion. There are no hard and fast rules.
An extension of the Nature Walk will be to come home with a specimen and watercolor the objects found and observed. We can learn so much from common objects such as twigs, wildflowers, leaves, acorns, rocks, or bark.
It is a good idea to have the children self-direct the walk. Adults are more of a guide than a teacher. Let nature be the teacher. One thing that makes Nature Walks successful will be the parent and teacher attitude toward nature. As we marvel with curiosity about nature and God's beauty, so will our children!
“As soon as he is able to keep it himself, a nature-diary is a source of delight to a child. Every day’s walk gives him something to enter: three squirrels in a larch tree, a jay flying across such a field, a caterpillar climbing up a nettle, a snail-eating a cabbage leaf, a spider dropping suddenly to the ground, where he found ground ivy, how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, how bindweed or ivy manages to climb.’” (Charlotte Mason. Home Education. Vol. 1, pg. 54.)
Randi Tatsch
Editor/Fourth Grade Teacher
