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Nature Study & Journaling

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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Active Filters: Reptiles & Amphibians, 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), In-Stock Books & Materials
All About Dinosaurs
All About Books #1
by Roy Chapman Andrews
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Animal Lives: Snakes
by Sally Morgan
from Teacher Created Resources
for 2nd-4th grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Answers Book for Kids Volume 2
by Ken Ham
from Master Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Worldview & Apologetics for Kids (Location: BIBWV-APK)
$6.39
Bolivar
by Sean Rubin
from Archaia
for 3rd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$12.74
Buzztail and Leaper
by Robert M. McClung
from Purple House Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.99
Digging Up Dinosaurs
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Dinosaur - Coloring Book
by Anthony Rao
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$5.09
Dinosaur Bones
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$5.99
Dinosaurs by Design
by Duane Gish
from Master Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$14.39
Dinosaurs for Kids
by Ken Ham
from Master Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$13.59
Dinosaurs of Eden
by Ken Ham
2nd edition from Master Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$13.59
Dinosaurs of Prey - Coloring Book
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-6th
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$3.36
Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
by Barbara Kerley
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
2002 Caldecott Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$16.99
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)
DK findout!: The Living World - boxed set
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Dragons - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Christy Shaffer
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Literary & Fantasy Coloring Books (Location: COL-LIT)
$4.24
Draw 50 Dinosaurs
by Lee J. Ames
from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$9.99
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
2nd edition from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$44.00
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2 (old)
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Science (Old Versions only) (Location: OSCI-AEM)
$22.00
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)
Growing Frogs
by Vivian French, illustrated by Alison Bartlett
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: SCI-REPT)
$4.50 (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)
Jeff Corwin: Snakes
All aboard Reading Level 3
by Jeff Corwin
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-3rd grade
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Little Glass Lake: Turtles
Book 2, Level 2B
by Jenny Phillips
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 1st-3rd grade
in GATB Language Arts & Reading (Location: CUR-GABELA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lizards - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$4.24
Minn of the Mississippi
by Holling C. Holling
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1952 Newbery Honor Book
in BFB Holling Geography (Location: HISCUR-BFG)
$11.04
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)
National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Amphibians
by Brian Cassie
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides: Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: NAT-FG06)
$5.00 (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)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
Peterson First Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians
Peterson First Guide
by Joseph T. Collins, Robert C. Stebbins, Roger Conant
from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-4th grade
in Field Guides: Reptiles & Amphibians (Location: NAT-FG06)
$9.99
Puzzle of the Dinosaur-Bird
by Miriam Schlein, illustrated by Mark Hallett
from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rain Forest River Life - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Water Life Coloring Books (Location: COL-WAT)
$3.36
Reptiles - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$3.36
Reptiles and Amphibians - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Samuel Gundy & Thomas C. Quirk, Jr.
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$5.09 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Reptiles do the Strangest Things
by Leonora & Arthur Hornblow, illustrated by Michael K. Frith
Reprint from Random House
for 1st-3rd grade
in Step Up Books (Location: VIN-STEP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Rocks, Fossils and Arrowheads
Take-Along Guide
by Laura Evert, Illustrated by Linda Garrow
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$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, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.20
Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$11.89
Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$11.89
Slinky Scaly Snakes!
A DK Eyewitness Reader Level 2
by Jennifer Dussling
from DK Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$4.24
Snakes of the World - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$5.09
Sonoran Desert by Day and Night - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Dot Barlowe
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$3.39
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)
Under One Rock
by Anthony D. Fredericks
from Dawn Publications
for Preschool-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Who Lives at the Seashore?
by Glenn O. Blough, illustrated by Jeanne Bendick
from Purple House Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$13.99
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
World of Turtles - Coloring Book
by Claude Thivierge
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Reptile Coloring Books (Location: COL-REP)
$3.39 $2.00 (1 in stock)
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