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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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41 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17), Hardcover, In-Stock Books & Materials
American Eagle: A Photographic Portrait
by John Pezzenti
from Viking Studio Books
for 6th-12th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
American Wild Life
1952nd edition from Wm. H. Wise & Co.
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific States
by Gayle Pickwell
from Stanford University Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Animalium
by Jenny Broom, illustrated by Katie Scott
from Big Picture Press
for 4th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$37.99
Animalium
by Jenny Broom, illustrated by Katie Scott
UK Edition from Big Picture Press
for 4th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Arboretum
Welcome to the Museum
by Tony Kirkham, illustrated by Katie Scott
from Big Picture Press
for 4th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$37.99
Audubon Water Bird Guide
by Richard H. Pough, color illustrations by Don Eckelberry, line drawings by Earl L. Poole
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.50 (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: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Botanicum
Welcome to the Museum
by Kathy Willis; illustrated by Katie Scott
from Big Picture Press
for 3rd-12th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$37.99
Discovery
by John K. Terres
First Ediition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 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)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of Animals
from Fog City Press
for 8th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of Mammals
by Professor David Macdonald, editor
from Barnes & Noble
for 8th-Adult
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals
Peterson Field Guide Series
by Frederick H. Pough
3rd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs
Peterson Field Guide Series
by George A. Petrides, illustrated by the author and Roger Tory Peterson
First Printing from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fungarium
Welcome to the Museum
by Esther Gaya (and other contributors), illustrated by Katie Scott
from Big Picture Press
for 4th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$37.99
Gift from the Sea
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Hand That Paints the Sky
from New Leaf Press
for 3rd-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Hunters
by Dr. Philip Whitfield, illustrated by Richard Orr
from Simon and Schuster
for 8th-Adult
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Insectarium
by Emily Carter and Dave Goulson
from Big Picture Press
for 6th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$37.99
Life Nature Library: The Desert
by A. Starker Leopold
from Time Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$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)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Living Fossils
by Carl Werner
from Master Books
for 9th-Adult
in Evolution: The Grand Experiment (Location: SCICUR-EVO)
$23.99 $20.00 (1 in stock)
Mammals of Grand Canyon
by Donald F. Hoffmeister, illustrated by James Gordon Irving
from University of Illinois Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Moby-Dick
Everyman's Library
by Herman Melville
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$32.00
My First Summer in the Sierra
by John Muir
from Gibbs M. Smith
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.95
Naming of Flowers
by Anne Halpin, illustrated by Rob Proctor
from Harper & Row
for 6th-Adult
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Seashore Creatures
by Norman A Meinkoth
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides: Fish & Water Life (Location: NAT-FG02)
$27.00
Nature Journaling
by Clare Walker Leslie & Charles E. Roth, Foreword by Edward O. Wilson, various illustrators
from Storey Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Notes of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 8th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Our Historic Desert
by Diana Elaine Lindsay
First Edition from Copley Books
for 5th-Adult
in U.S. Monuments & Symbols (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$6.00 (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: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$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)
Smithsonian Natural History
2nd edition from DK Publishing
for 6th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$50.00
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.95 $14.00 (3 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)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-Ups
by Gina Ingoglia
from Brooklyn Botanic Garden
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$15.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Wild Life the World Over
by Frank Shay, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
1953rd edition from Wm. H. Wise & Co.
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Wildlife in Color
by Roger Tory Peterson
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wildlife Portfolio of the Western National Parks
by Joseph S. Dixon
from United States Government Printing Office
for 3rd-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$10.50 (1 in stock)
Wolves: Life in the Pack
from Barnes & Noble
for 5th-Adult
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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