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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53 Items found Print
Active Filters: Insects & Arachnids, 6th grade (Ages 11-12)
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)
All About the Insect World
All About Books #6
by Ferdinand C. Lane
from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
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
Book of Insects - Package
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$57.74
Book of Insects - Student Text
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.35
Book of Insects - Student Text (old)
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$10.50 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Insects - Teacher Key
by Laura Bateman
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$19.45 $13.00 (2 in stock)
Book of Insects - Workbook
by Laura Bateman
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.35 $11.50 (1 in stock)
Bug Dictionary
from Tangerine Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
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
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)
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 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)
Elementary Science: Soil, Sea, & Sky - Curriculum Pack
from Master Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Master Books Science (Location: SCICUR-MB)
$50.00 (1 in stock)
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)
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
Freshwater Life
Science Nature Guides
by Susan McKeever
from Silver Dolphin
for 4th-6th grade
in Oceanography & Marine Biology (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hornets
by Sandra Markle
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.50 (2 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)
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)
Jack's Insects: Narration & Nature Study Notebook
by Karen Smith
from Simply Charlotte Mason
for 4th-6th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
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 Cycles of Butterflies
by Judy Burris, Wayne Richards
from Storey Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$16.95
Life of the Spider
by J. H. Fabre
from Purple House Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$12.99 $7.50 (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)
Peterson Field Guide to Insects
Peterson Field Guides
by Donald J. Borror, Richard E. White
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
Peterson Field Guide: Butterflies - Coloring Book
by Robert Michael Pyle, Roger Tory Peterson
Subsequent from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-7th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths
by Paul A. Opler
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-12th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$7.95
Peterson First Guide to Insects
Peterson First Guide
by Christopher Leahy
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$9.99
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)
Stronger Than Steel
by Bridget Heos
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
in Genetics & Microscopic Life (Location: SCI-GEN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tarantula Scientist
by Sy Montgomery
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-7th grade
2005 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
Trouble in Bugland
by William Kozwinkle
from David R. Godine
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Book
by Barbara Soloff Levy
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Dot-to-Dot (Location: COL-D2D)
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)