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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: 6th grade (Ages 11-12), 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)
Another Field Guide to Little Known and Seldom-Seen Birds of North America
by Ben, Cathryn, and John Sill
from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$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)
$4.80 (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)
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)
Botany Coloring Book
by Paul Young
1st edition from Harper Perennial
for 5th-9th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Bugs
by Rosie Dickins
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Danger in the Desert
by Roger Cohen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Draw 50 Sharks, Whales, and Other Sea Creatures
by Lee Ames
from Broadway Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$9.99 $6.00 (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)
Encyclopedia of Nature
by DK Publishing
from DK Children
for 4th-7th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$14.00 (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)
Handbook of Nature Study
by Anna Botsford Comstock
from Comstock Publishing
for 6th-9th grade
$20.00 (1 in stock)
How to be an Explorer of the World
by Keri Smith
from Perigee Books
for 6th-12th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
How to Draw Horses
by Lucy Smith
from Usborne
for 4th-7th grade
in Drawing for Beginners (Location: ELE-ARTDRAW)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Jack's Insects
by Edmund Selous
from Simply Charlotte Mason
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$11.00 (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)
Mammals of Small Pond
Level 4
by Phoebe Erickson
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$4.00 (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)
Mystery On Everest
by Audrey Salkeld
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals (old)
by John O. Whitaker
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 5th-10th grade
in Field Guides: Mammals (Location: NAT-FG05)
$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)
National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Fishes
by C. Lavett Smith
from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Sharks & Fishes (Location: SCI-FISH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Study Idea Book
by Mary E. Woodis
for Kindergarten-12th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Nature's Beautiful Order - Teacher Key (old)
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 6th-8th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Penguins: Flightless Birds of the Southern Hemisphere
from Sea World
for 6th-12th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$5.00 (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)
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 (1 in stock)
Pocket Guide to the Outdoors based on My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George with Twig C. George
from Dutton Children's Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
$6.00 (1 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)
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)
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)
$4.80 (2 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)
$7.95 $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)
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 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 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 (2 in stock)
Walk in the Boreal Forest
by Rebecca L. Johnson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Walk in the Deciduous Forest
by Rebecca L. Johnson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Forests & Mountains (Location: SCI-FOREST)
$4.00 (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)
Wildflowers
Peterson Field Guide Coloring Books
by Roger Tory Peterson & Frances Tenenbaum
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-10th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
World of Plants
from Usborne
for 3rd-8th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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