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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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54 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Birds, Hardcover
Adventure with Olivia Owl
from Silver Dolphin
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Look and Find Books (Location: PIC-LOOK)
Album of Birds
by Tom McGowen
from Rand McNally
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
All About Birds
All About Books #11
by Robert S. Lemmon, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
1955 Edition from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
Audubon's Birds of America
by John James Audubon
from Macmillan
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
Audubon's Birds of America
by John James Audubon
from Galahad Books
for Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Beak Book
by Robin Page
from Beach Lane Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$18.99
Bird Families of the World
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Birds at Home
by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Jacob Bates Abbott
from M. A. Donohue & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Birds Do the Strangest Things
by Leonora and Arthur Hornblow
from Random House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
Birds Every Child Should Know
by Neltje Blanchan
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Birds of America
by T. Gilbert Pearson (editor), illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Birds of Prey
A Grosset All-Color Guide
by Glenys and Derek Lloyd, Illustrated by Ken Lilly
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 9th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Bluebirds Seven
by R. Bruce Horsfall
1st edition
for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Birds Volumes I & II
by Gilbert Grosvenor & Alexander Wetmore (editors), illustrated by Major Allan Brooks
from National Geographic
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Eagles
by Helen Roney Sattler, illustrated by Jean Day Zallinger
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Boy Who Drew Birds
by Jacqueline Davies
New title from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Breathtaking Birds
Marvels of Creation
by Buddy & Kay Davis
from Master Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$10.39
Bubo: The Great Horned Owl
by John L. and Jean George, illustrated by Jean George
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Collins Guide to Bird Watching
2nd edition from William Collins
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ducks Don't Get Wet
by Augusta Goldin, illustrated by Leonard Kessler
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 1st-2nd grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Elf Owl
by Mary & Conrad Buff
3rd Printing from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
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
Field Guide to Western Birds
Peterson Field Guides
by Roger Tory Peterson
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
First Book of Birds
by Olive Thorne Miller
School Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-9th grade
1928 Newbery Medal winner
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Have You Ever Heard of a Kangaroo Bird?
by Barbara Brenner, illustrated by Irene Brady
from Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
How Grace Got Her Name
by Alice Elshoff, illustrated by Jennifer Curtis
from Moonglade Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
John James Audubon
Landmark #48
by John & Margaret Kieran, illustrated by Christine Price
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage & Collectible (Location: VIN-COL)
Kiya the Gull
by Fen H. Lasell
from Addison Wesley
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Little Chick's Big Day
by Mary DeBall Kwitz
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Lucky Ducklings
by Eva Moore& Nancy Carpenter
from Orchard Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
My Hobby is Bird Watching
by Mary P. Pettit
1958 Printing from Hart Publishing Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
National Life Federation World of Birds
by Kim Kurki
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
Nest Full of Eggs
by Priscilla Belz Jenkins
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ookpik
by Bruce Hiscock
First Edition from Boyds Mill Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for Birds of America
by John James Audubon
1985 edition from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Ospreys
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, photos by William Munoz
from Clarion Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Our Amazing Birds
by Robert S. Lemmon, illustrated by Don R. Eckelberry
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Owls: Their Natural & Unnatural History
by John Sparks and Tony Soper, illustrated by Robert Gillmor
1979 Reprint from Taplinger
for 10th-Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
Penguin Pup for Pinkerton
by Steven Kellogg
from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 1st-2nd grade
in Clearance: Picture Books (Location: ZCLE-PIC)
Penguins
by Emily Bone
from Usborne
for 1st-2nd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
$2.70 (1 in stock)
Peterson Field Guides: Western Birds
by Noble Proctor, Roger Tory Peterson
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Secrets of Backyard Bird-Feeding Success
by Deborah L. Martin
from Rodale Press
for 7th-Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.95 $14.00 (2 in stock)
Strange Birds and Their Stories
Strange Stories From Nature #4
by A. Hyatt Verrill
from L. C. Page & Company
for 5th-12th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
That Quail, Robert
by Margaret A. Stanger
Eighth Printing, August 1966 from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
The Birds
Life Nature Library
by Roger Tory Peterson
from Time-Life Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tony's Birds
by Millicent E. Selsam
from Unknown Publisher
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Trumpet of the Swan
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Vulcan
by Robert M. McClung
from William Morrow & Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
What Bird is It?
by Anna Pistorius
from Follett
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Whose Little Bird Am I?
by Leonard Weisgard
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
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