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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67 Items found Print
Active Filters: Adult, Used Books & Materials
1000 Hours Outside
by Ginny Yurich
First Printing from Sunflower House Books
for Adult
in Hiking & Outdoor Adventures (Location: NAT-HIKE)
$8.00 (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)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Animalium
by Jenny Broom, Illustrated by Katie Scott
from Big Picture Press
for 3rd-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Backyard Birds
by Dr. Janann V. Jenner
from MetroBooks
for Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bird Families of the World
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Birds of the Pacific Northwest
by John Shewey & Tim Blount, edited by Hendrik Herlyn
from Timber Press, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$29.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Birds of the Puget Sound Region
by Dennis Paulson
from R. W. Morse Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$9.00 (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)
Born To Be Wild
by Hattie Garlick
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for Adult
in Hiking & Outdoor Adventures (Location: NAT-HIKE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Botanical Painting in Watercolor
by Billy Showell
from Search Press
for Adult
in Painting Instruction (Location: ELE-ARTPAI)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Collector, The
by Jack Nisbet
from Sasquatch Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Compact Guide to Wildflowers of the Rockies
by C. Dana Bush
from Lone Pine Publishing
for 6th-Adult
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Guide to North American Trees
by Carlton C. Curtis and S.C. Bausor
1971 printing from Collier Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Discover Nature in Water & Wetlands
by Elizabeth P. Lawlor, illustrated by Pat Archer
from Stackpole Books
for 9th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Discovery
by John K. Terres
First Ediition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$7.20 (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)
Exploring Nature with Your Child
by Dorothy Edwards Shuttlesworth
from Greystone Press
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Field Guide to Mexican Birds
Peterson Field Guide Series
by Roger Tory Peterson and Edward L. Chalif
from Houghton Mifflin
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$8.00 (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)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Foraging with Kids
by Adele Nozedar
from Nourish
for Adult
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Forest Unseen
by David George Haskell
from Penguin Books
for 10th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Great Alaskan Dinosaur Adventure
by Buddy Davis, John Whitmore, Mike Liston
from Master Books
for 9th-Adult
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$8.79 $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)
Hermit Crabs
by Sue Fox
from Barron's
for 3rd-Adult
in Oceanography & Marine Biology (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Horse Anatomy Coloring Book
from Anatomy Academy
for 6th-Adult
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$5.00 (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)
Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology
by Daniel L. Brunner, Jennifer L. Butler, A.J. Swoboda
from Baker Academics
for Adult
in General Theology (Location: XTH-GEN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Key to the Skulls of North American Mammals
2nd edition from Oklahoma State University
for Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
King Solomon's Ring
by Konrad Z. Lorenz
from Routledge
for 9th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Life Nature Library: The Desert
by A. Starker Leopold
from Time Inc.
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.00 (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 Carl Werner
from Master Books
for 9th-Adult
in Evolution: The Grand Experiment (Location: SCICUR-EVO)
$23.99 $20.00 (1 in stock)
Living Fossils - Teacher's Manual
by Carl Werner
from Master Books
for 9th-Adult
in Evolution: The Grand Experiment (Location: SCICUR-EVO)
$13.59 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Mountains of California
by John Muir, introduction by Edward Hoagland
from Penguin Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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 North American Fishes, Whales & Dolphins
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides: Fish & Water Life (Location: NAT-FG02)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms
by Gary H. Lincoff
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$26.00 $14.00 (1 in stock)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals OSI
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides: Rocks & Minerals (Location: NAT-FG09)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Day and Night
by Richard Adams & Max Hooper, illustrated by David Goddard
from Penguin Books
for 4th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Drawing
by Clare Walker Leslie
Revised from Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
for Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Nature for the Very Young
by Marcia Bowden, Illustrated by Marilyn Rishel
from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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 (2 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)
Outdoor Life of Children
Charlotte Mason Topics Book 2
by Charlotte Mason, edited by Deborah Taylor-Hough
from Unknown Publisher
for Adult
in Charlotte Mason Education (Location: HSR-METCM)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Peterson Field Guide: Mammals - Coloring Book
Peterson Field Guide Color-In Books
by Peter C. Alden & Fiona Reid
from Mariner Books
for 3rd-Adult
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$10.99 $7.00 (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)
Plant Kingdom
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 6th-Adult
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast
by Jim Pojar, Andy MacKinnon
Revised from Partners Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism
P.I.G. series
by Christopher C. Horner
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Environment & Conservation (Location: SCI-ENV)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Predicting with Plants
Stepping Into Science
by Illa Podendorf, illustrated by Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sharing Nature with Children
by Joseph Cornell
from Dawn Publications
for Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Sharing Nature with Children II
by Joseph Cornell
from Dawn Publications
for Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
The Arctic
by Sven-Olof Lindblad with Elizabeth Warner
from Rizzoli New York
for Adult
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Unwrapping Wonder
by Carol O'Casey
from Cladach Publishing
for Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Why Read Moby-Dick?
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Reprint from Penguin Press
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Wild Flowers
by Matthias Hermann, translated by Grace Jackman, illustrated by Redoute, Besler and several sartists
from Galahad Books
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$20.00 (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)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wildflowers of the Columbia Gorge
by Russ Jolley
from Oregon Historical Society Press
for 8th-Adult
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Wildlife in Color
by Roger Tory Peterson
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$8.00 (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)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Wolves of Denali
by L. David Mech
from University of Minnesota
for Adult
in Dog Books (Location: SCI-MAMDOG)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wolves: Life in the Pack
from Barnes & Noble
for 5th-Adult
in Dog Books (Location: SCI-MAMDOG)
$8.00 (1 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)