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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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Nature Study & Journaling
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48 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Trade Paperback, Used Books & Materials
America's Deserts
by Marianne D. Wallace
1st edition
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Avenging the Owl
by Melissa Hart
from Sky Pony Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Berries, Nuts and Seeds
Take-Along Guide
by Diane Burns
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Birds, Nests and Eggs
Take-Along Guide
by Mel Boring
from Northword Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$7.95 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Book of Insects - Student Text (old)
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$9.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 4 (old)
by Paul Lindstrom & Edward Shewan
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
for 4th grade
in Old Edition Reading (Location: OREAD)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dry Bones and Other Fossils
by Gary Parker
7th edition from Master Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Fiddler Crab
Good and the Beautiful Library Level 4
by Mary Adrian, illustrated by Jean Martinez
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd-5th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Forests
Our Planet
by David Lambert
from Troll Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Forests & Mountains (Location: SCI-FOREST)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Guide: Skyguide
Golden Guides
by Mark Chartrand
from Golden Books
for 2nd-7th grade
in Field Guides: Weather & Astronomy (Location: NAT-FG10)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Guide: Weather
by Herbert S. Zim, Paul E. Lehr, R. Will Burnett
1st edition
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides: Weather & Astronomy (Location: NAT-FG10)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Keeping a Nature Journal
by Clare Walker Leslie & Charles E. Roth
2nd edition from Storey Publishing
for 1st-4th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Life Cycles of Butterflies
by Judy Burris, Wayne Richards
from Storey Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$16.95 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Life in the Deserts
by Lucy Baker
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
Life in the Polar Lands
by Monica Byles
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Marine Biology Coloring Book
2nd edition from Collins
for 4th-9th grade
in Oceanography & Marine Biology (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
$24.99 $13.00 (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)
National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Shells
by Brian Cassie
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides: Fish & Water Life (Location: NAT-FG02)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Anatomy
Science Nature Guides
by Julia Rothman
from Storey Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$18.99 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Nature Connection
by Clare Walker Leslie
from Storey Publishing
for 1st-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Study Idea Book
by Mary E. Woodis
for Kindergarten-12th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.00 (2 in stock)
Peterson Field Guide Coloring Books: Mammals
by Peter C. Alden
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Peterson First Guide to Mammals of North America
by Peter Alden
3rd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides: Mammals (Location: NAT-FG05)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Peterson First Guide to Wildflowers
by Roger Tory Peterson
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Field Guides: Plants & Fungi (Location: NAT-FG08)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Planets, Moons and Stars
Take-Along Guide
by Laura Evert, Illustrated by Linda Garrow
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides: Weather & Astronomy (Location: NAT-FG10)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Practical Naturalist
by Chris Packham, ed.
1st edition from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo
Scientists in the Field Series
by Sy Montgomery
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
2007 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, 2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Real Thief
by William Steig
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Sassafras Science Adventures Volume 1
Sassafras Science
by Johnny Congo & Paige Hudson
from Elemental Science
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Sassafras Science (Location: SCICUR-SAS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Science with Plants
Usborne Science Activities
by Helen Edom
from Usborne
for 2nd-5th grade
in Usborne Science Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$5.99 $4.00 (5 in stock)
Seed Is Sleepy
by Dianna Hutts Aston, Sylvia Long
from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Silkworms
by Sylvia A. Johnson
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 4th-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Talk, Talk, Squawk!
by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton
from Walker Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Tikta'Liktak
by James Houston
from Harcourt
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
Tracks, Scats and Signs
Take-Along Guide
by Leslie Dendy
from Northword Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Field Guides: Animals (general) (Location: NAT-FG03)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Trees, Leaves and Bark
Take-Along Guide
by Diane Burns
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$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)
Usborne Animal World
Usborne Internet-Linked Library of Science
by Henderson Corinne
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Usborne Discovery: Birds
Usborne Internet-Linked
by Gillian Doherty
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
by Leslie Colvin & Emma Speare
from Usborne
for 3rd-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
by Emma Speare, Lesley Colvin
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$14.99 $9.00 (5 in stock)
Usborne Mysteries & Marvels of Insect Life
by Jennifer Owen
from Usborne
for 3rd-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Usborne Mysteries and Marvels of Nature
Usborne Internet-Linked
by Elizabeth Dalby
from Usborne
for 4th-8th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Walk in the Desert
by Rebecca L. Johnson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Walk in the Prairie
by Rebecca L. Johnson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Walk in the Tundra
by Rebecca L. Johnson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Wild Cats and Other Dangerous Predators
by Clare Oliver
from Parragon Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Young Child as Scientist
by Christine Chaille, Lory Britain
2nd edition from Allyn and Bacon
for Preschool-4th grade
in Preschool Science (Location: PRE-SCI)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
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