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Nature Study

Between global warming, holes in the ozone, and the pollution of our seas and rivers, maybe it is best to keep kids indoors and pacified in front of the television....but probably not. If these aren't real threats then there's nothing to protect our children (or ourselves) from, and if they are real threats—all the more reason to instill a love of nature in the younger generations.

Kids have an inclination toward exploration and learning. Allowing them to do so encourages not only active bodies and active minds, it fosters a healthy imagination and love of beauty. Charlotte Mason understood this over a century ago, and developed a system of education in which nature study played a prominent role. It is in nature, more than in the classroom or the rec room or even the library, that children best learn by observation, and this habit once formed will never disappear.

The often-referenced "childlike wonder" inherent in all of us from a young age (though modern society seems to be stamping it out quicker and more efficiently) isn't just some esoteric feeling of awe. It's literal wonder—kids wonder how birds fly, why their pet dog's fur falls out in summer, where ants go in the winter, why it gets colder and harder to breathe the higher you get. The less contact they have with the natural world, the less wonder they'll have; but the reverse is also true, and kids allowed to roam and explore the outdoors will develop a sense of inquisitiveness that can only help them in the so-called "real world."

Preparation for the Real World of modern myth often takes on peculiar guises. Children are snatched from the fields and streams and placed in front of computer screens or television sets. They are crowded into classrooms and made to feel good about the fact that they are learning nothing at the same rate as everyone around them. They are given plastic toys with supposed educational properties and made to "play" with them under close adult supervision.

Meanwhile, the real real world waits outside the walls and doors and windows with its fresh smells, its colors brighter and more unique than anything on HDTV or Blu-Ray, its real wind, and its endless mysteries. If you don't like answering questions, don't want your kids to grow or exercise, prefer fat and lazy to fit and intelligent offspring, by all means somberly prepare them for a life without questions, and consequently without answers. If you want children who will grown into thoughtful adults with a sense of the loveliness of Earth and their place in it, keeping them inside is possibly the most dangerous choice you can make on their behalf.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Nature Study
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78 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Insects & Arachnids, 3rd grade (Ages 8-9)
1001 Bugs to Spot
by Emma Helbrough
from Usborne
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
All About Moths and Butterflies
All About Books #15
by Robert S. Lemmon
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
Animal Architects
by W. Wright Robinson
from Blackbirch Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ant Cities
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Arthur Dorros
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.99
Backyard Nature - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Dot Barlowe
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$4.99
Be Nice to Spiders
by Margaret Bloy Graham
from Harper & Row
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Black Widow Spider - Danger!
by Gladys Conklin, illustrated by Leslie Morrill
from Holiday House
for 1st-3rd grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Bug Dictionary
from Tangerine Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Bugs Big & Small God Made Them All
by William Zinke
from Master Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$13.59
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
DK Eyewitness Readers Level 2
by Jennifer Dussling
from DK Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Butterflies - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Insect Coloring Books (Location: COL-BUG)
$4.99
Butterflies and Moths
Golden Library of Knowledge
by Richard A. Martin
from Golden Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Butterfly Is Patient
by Dianna Hutts Aston
from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
Butterfly Is Patient
by Dianna Hutts Aston
from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.99
Caterpillars and Butterflies
Usborne Beginners
by Stephanie Turnbull
from Usborne
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
$2.70 (1 in stock)
Creatures of the Night
by Dorothy Sterling, illustrated by Winifred Lubell
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Creepy Crawlies and the Scientific Method
by Sally Kneidel
from Fulcrum Resources
Science Curriculum for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars
by Margery Facklam
from Little, Brown & Company
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Dan and the Miranda
by Wilson Gage, illustrated by Glen Rounds
from World Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
DK Eyewitness Explorers: Insects
by Steve Parker
from DK Publishing
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
DK Handbooks: Insects, Spiders and Other Terrestrial Arthropods
by Randall Jarrell
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-Adult
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Double Trouble in Bugland
by William Kozwinkle
from David R. Godine
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Dragonfly Beetle Butterfly Bee
by Maryjo Koch
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-Adult
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Draw 50 Creepy Crawlies
by Lee Ames
Reprint from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
Exotic Butterflies and Moths - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Ruth Soffer
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Insect Coloring Books (Location: COL-BUG)
$3.99
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
2nd edition from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$39.20
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1 (old)
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$31.50
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1 - MP3 CD Audio Book
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$24.00
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1 - MP3 CD Audio Book (old)
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$20.30
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1 - Notebooking Journal
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$27.20
Exploring Creation With Zoology 1 - Notebooking Journal (old)
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$22.40
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2 - MP3 CD Audio Book
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$21.00
Exploring Creation With Zoology 3 - MP3 CD Audio Book
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$24.00 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Extraordinary Life
by Laurence Pringle, illustrated by Bob Marstall
from Orchard Books
for 2nd-6th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
First Book of Bugs
First Book Series
by Margaret Williamson
from Franklin Watts
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Forest Animals - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Diane Gaspas-Ettl
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$5.99
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Hexapod Stories
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-4th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Hornets
by Sandra Markle
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.50 (2 in stock)
Housefly
by Heiderose and Andreas Fischer-Nagel
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of Ants and Bees
by Ronald N. Rood, Illustrated by Cynthia and Alvin Koehler
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Insects
by Ronald N. Rood, Illustrated by Cynthia and Alvin Koehler
from Wonder Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Insects
by Ronald N. Rood, Illustrated by Cynthia and Alvin Koehler
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
Insect Life
Eyes and No Eyes #6
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Insect Life
Eyes and No Eyes #6
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Insects - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Insect Coloring Books (Location: COL-BUG)
$4.99
Insects Do the Strangest Things
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Insects in their World
by Su Zan N. Swain
from Garden City Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out About Bugs
by Janice VanCleave
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Junior Book of Insects
by Edwin Way Teale
1962 Printing from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Times of the Ant
by Charles Micucci
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 1st-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Life Cycles of Butterflies
by Judy Burris, Wayne Richards
from Storey Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$16.95
Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
Magic School Bus
by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Magic School Bus (Location: SER-MSB)
$8.99
Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
Magic School Bus
by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Magic School Bus (Location: SER-MSB)
Maxton Book About Bees and Wasps
by Valerie Swenson
from Maxton Publishers
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Monarch Butterfly: Winging North & South
by Marion W. Marcher; illustrated by Barbara Latham
from Holiday House
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$36.00 (1 in stock)
Nature's Clean-Up Crew: The Burying Beetles
by Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Outside and Inside Spiders
by Sandra Markle
from Atheneum
for 2nd-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars of North America
by Amy Bartlett Wright
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-4th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$7.95
Sally's Caterpillar
by Anne and Harlow Rockwell
from Parents Magazine Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Small Creatures in My Garden
by Christopher Reynolds
1966 First American Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Smithsonian Super Bug Encyclopedia
by John Woodward
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$12.50 (1 in stock)
Social Life in the Insect World
from Jefferson Publication
for 3rd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Spider and the Fly
by Tony DiTerlizzi; based on the story by Mary Howitt
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
2003 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99
Spiders and Other Creepy-Crawlies
Wild, Wild World
by Denny Robson, illustrated by James Field
from Paragon Publishers
for 2nd-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Summer Walk
by Virginia Brimhall Snow
from Gibbs M. Smith
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
Travels of Monarch X
by Ross E. Hutchins, illustrated by Jerome P. Connolly
from Rand McNally
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Trouble in Bugland
by William Kozwinkle
from David R. Godine
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
True Book of Insects
by Illa Podendorf, illustrated by Chauncey Maltman
from Children's Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
True Book: Bees
A True Book
by Larry Dane Brimner
from Children's Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
True Book: Beetles
A True Book
by Ann O. Squire
from Children's Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Two Bad Ants
by Chris Van Allsburg
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Book
by Barbara Soloff Levy
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Dot-to-Dot (Location: COL-D2D)
Usborne Mysteries & Marvels of Insect Life
by Jennifer Owen
from Usborne
for 3rd-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$1.80 (1 in stock)
Who Lives at the Seashore? (2024)
by Glenn O. Blough, illustrated by Jeanne Bendick
from Purple House Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Who Lives in This Meadow?
by Glenn O. Blough, illustrated by Jeanne Bendick
from Purple House Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.99
Wicked Bugs
by Amy Stewart, illustrated by Briony Morrow-Cribbs
from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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