Monday, August 24, 2015

Slow School: Nature Walk



As the homeschooling years add up, I think I get more and more relaxed about my expectations of school. This year, I'm really trying to bring slow even more to our school experiences. My kids absolutely love going on nature walks and sometimes they turn into play or distraction which in my mind kind of feels like wasted time.

Last summer, I bought these great Nature books on Amazon. {Please note: they are not from a Christian perspective, so use at your own discretion.} And, I lightened my expectations of finishing the book in a year. We just worked on the book when we worked on it and set it aside the rest of the time.

It was fun to pull them out again early in this school year. We walked to our little neighborhood lake and found a pear tree we'd never seen before, a variety of mushrooms, interesting leaves and pinecones.

When we got to the lake, we opened our books and each wrote down ten things going on around us in nature right then. It was fun to hear and observe what each of us saw or heard and how some of those things were the same and some were different.

There was also a suggestion to collect goodies and then make an arrangement from it when we got home. These sorts of ideas give me purpose for nature walks {and, yes, I realize we can go for a nature walk without such a set purpose!} which helps the teacher-mama side of me.

I also suggested they might have fun slicing into some of the unusual mushrooms they found just to see what they were like on the inside and that was a huge hit as well. We all washed hands super well afterwards and had fun in the hands-on-learning. My little students just seem to glow under this kind of freedom and opportunity to explore.

And, I will continue my brave exploration of marrying slow and school together.






































6 comments:

Unknown said...

Love that! Very fun way to teach and discover God's creation.
Christina

Tina Leigh said...

I love nature!! George Washington Carver awoke at 4 every morning & went to walk the earth and pray. He was such a smart man and prayed that God would reveal the mysteries of nature to him! God honored his prayers over and over again! Look at the inventions & knowledge we learned from GW Carver because of his consistent act of prayer! You are a wise woman/mother/teacher to incorporate nature walks and studies with your children.

Amy said...

I keep reading articles about how simply taking a nature walk reduces stress. I think is is because it gets us close to God's creation. God can teach us many things through his creation.

*carrie* said...

Are those "scientist" goggles?! =)

Blissful & Domestic said...

Such a beautiful thing being in nature! We too are incorporating more slow into our homeschool day and letting God lead. He truly knows our kids hearts :) thanks for always sharing friend!

Jeremiah and Stephenie said...

I was just looking at that book a few days ago and thinking it looked great for our homeschool!