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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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46 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Reptiles & Amphibians, Used Books & Materials
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific States
by Gayle Pickwell
from Stanford University Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Detective Dinosaur
by James Skofield
from Barnes & Noble
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Digging Up Dinosaurs
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Dinosaur Activity Book
by Earl & Bonita Snellenberger
2015 Printing from Master Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$7.99 $5.50 (1 in stock)
Dinosaur Days
Step Into Reading 3
by Joyce Milton, Franco Tempesta
Revised from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Dinosaurs
Usborne Beginners
by Stephanie Turnbull
from Usborne
for 1st-2nd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
$2.70 (1 in stock)
Dinosaurs! A Drawing Book
by Michael Emberley
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Drawing for Beginners (Location: ELE-ARTDRAW)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Dinotopia
by James Gurney
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dinotopia: The World Beneath
by James Gurney
2012nd edition from Calla Editions
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness Juniors: Amazing Frogs & Toads
by Barry Clarke, photography by Jerry Young
from DK Publishing
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dry Bones and Other Fossils
by Gary & Mary Parker
2nd edition from Master Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$11.19 $6.50 (3 in stock)
Earth for Sam
by W. Maxwell Reed, revised by Paul F. Brandwein
Revised edition from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$34.30 $18.00 (2 in stock)
Fossils Tell of Long Ago
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Fossils Tell of Long Ago
Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 2
by Aliki
Revised from HarperCollins
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Frog Alphabet Book
by Jerry Pallotta
from Charlesbridge
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Alphabet & Counting Books (Location: PIC-ALPH)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
From Tadpole to Frog
by Wendy Pfeffer
from HarperTrophy
for Preschool-1st grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Great Discoveries and Amazing Adventures
by Claire Llewellyn
from Kingfisher
for 4th-8th grade
in Archaeology (Location: HISRF-ARCH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of Fossils
by John Burton, illustrated by John Barber
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of Prehistoric Mammals
by Martin L. Keen, illustrated by John Hull
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
How to Hide a Gray Treefrog
by Ruth Heller
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Living Amphibians of the World
by Doris M. Cochran
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Living Fossils
by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Andrew Plant
from Charlesbridge
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mixed-Up Chameleon
by Eric Carle
from HarperTrophy
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Museum Guide (old)
by Answers In Genesis
from Answers in Genesis
for 3rd-7th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Oh Say Can You Say Di-no-saur?
by Bonnie Worth, illustrated by Steve Haefele
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 2nd-4th grade
in Cat in the Hat's Learning Library (Location: EAR-CAT)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Patrick's Dinosaurs
by Carol Carrick, illustrated by Donald Carrick
from Clarion Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Peterson Field Guide: Reptiles and Amphibians - Coloring Book
by Sarah Anne Hughes, consulting editors Robert Stebbins and Roger Conant
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-7th grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rare Treasure
by Don Brown
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Real Book About Prehistoric Life
by Dorothy Shuttlesworth, illustrated by Matthew Kalmenoff
from Garden City Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Real Dragons!
National Geographic Kids Level 1
by Jennifer Szymanski
from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-1st grade
in Early Readers (Location: EAR-MISC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
by Joy Cowley, Photographs by Nic Bishop
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-1st grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Reptiles and Amphibians of the World
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Reptiles at Your Fingertips
by Judy Nayer, illustrated by Grace Goldberg
from McClanahan Book Company
for Preschool-1st grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Riddle of the Dinosaurs DVD
by Mike Riddle
from Answers in Genesis
for 3rd-6th grade
in Worldview & Apologetics for Kids (Location: BIBWV-APK)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Salamander Rain
by Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini
from Dawn Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in River, Pond & Swamp (Location: SCI-ECO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Snakes and Lizards
by George S. Fichter; illustrated by David Mooney
from Western Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Tadpoles and Frogs
Usborne Beginners Level 1
by Anna Milbourne
from Usborne
for 1st-2nd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
$2.70 (3 in stock)
Toad Hunt
by Janet Chenery
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
True Book: Fossils
by Ann O. Squire
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Turtle Summer
by Mary Alice Monroe, Barbara J. Bergwerf
from Sylvan Dell
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Turtles
by Bertie A. Stewart and Gordon E. Burks; illustrated by William Hutchinson
from Golden Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?
by John Morris & Ken Ham
from Master Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Wonderful Life
by Stephen Jay Gould
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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