planting sycamore seedlings
With beautiful fall weather peeking around the corner, I’m getting excited about nature study again. (Are you?) We have had about a dozen hummingbirds in our backyard for the last week, and we’ve spent many hours watching their antics.
With the hummingbirds, I am again impressed by the good sense of Charlotte Mason’s good advice to let children learn through direct observation.
Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasp, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragon-fly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way.
(Vol 1, II, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children, p.57 )
After Sprite had observed and sketched the birds for an extended period of time, I read her the hummingbird pages from the Handbook of Nature Study. Although she did learn a few new tidbits, much of the hummingbird behavior she had already seen first-hand. (We would love to see a hummingbird nest like this woman did, but they are probably high up in the large trees in our yard.)
cicada exoskeleton on a tree trunk
The printable is designed for your year-long plan with room for all twelve months.
Three additional pages are for your monthly plans. You can use them for planning your nature walks or for recording what you did after the fact. To be honest, I’m not much of a nature study planner. We simply keep our eyes open to study whatever catches our eye during that season whether it is backyard birds, insects, or squirrels.
Hi and welcome! I'm Jimmie and this is my online collage of our Charlotte Mason homeschool. Taking just a little more time to document our learning shortens the learning curve for other busy homeschool moms.
Feel free to browse around my posts and freebies. My aim is to bless each reader with something useful. 
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I have the perfect solution for seeing a hummingbird nest – watch live nature web cams! They are so awesome!! We have seen close-up a hummingbird hatching and feeding her babies, and we even got to see the babies leave their nest! We have been able to observe owls, geese, eagles, hawks, and other birds from building their nests, to hatching their eggs, feeding their young, and then watching the babies leave their nest. I am so glad people post these on the internet. Hummingbird nests are so small, I am 45 years old and have not found one yet! There are also cams of other wild animals and even pets that can be used in our nature studies.
I completed the survey but the link to the printables didn’t work for me. Got a message telling me it didn’t match any documents. Any idea if it is a problem with the link, a problem with Google, or just a problem with me?
Thanks
Thanks for the free nature study pages – they’re lovely! I love the font
We’re going into spring now and really love our fresh re-start on nature walks and nature study.
Nadene recently posted Memory Verse Cards for Victory, Prayer & Purity.
Thank you for the great free nature study pages, Jimmie! I am looking forward to know about the survey results. Have a nice weekend!
Sybille recently posted Sportschützen.
Hi, I just found your site and I am enjoying it. I did a post on cicadas today, too. Hope you have a great weekend.
Did the survey – thanks for the pages. I tagged you in the latest homeschooling meme going about. Would love to hear your thoughts. http://everydaysnapshots.blogspot.com/2011/09/homeschooling-in-ten-but-i-only-see.html
Pam recently posted Homeschooling in Ten (but I only see eight) Easy Questions.
Completed the survey but could not make the link work.
Thanks for the nature pages. I, too, look forward to your survey results.
Will you, by any chance, be sharing your fall nature-study lesson plans on your blog? I don’t do this often because I am not sure how to go about it. I may already be doing it … letting the kids go outside and observe on their own. BUT, we don’t do nature journals. THAT is where I’d like to see some real-life examples. Thanks for a great blog!
Hi, I’m a new follower and found you on the OK homeschool blogroll. Stop by and say hi if you get a chance
Jennifer from Just Wedeminute–
Wonderful resource for nature study. Thanks so much for sharing. You know I will be linking.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom recently posted Sketch Tuesday: When In Rome.
It is a wonderful blog post that everyone should visit and see. I appreciate the great free nature study pages and I am looking forward to know about the survey results.