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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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51 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 6th grade (Ages 11-12), Perfectbound
Album of North American Animals
by Vera Dugdale, illustrated by Clark Bronson
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Album of North American Birds
by Vera Dugdale, illustrated by Clark Bronson
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
All Creation Waits
by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. Klein
from Paraclete Press
for 6th-Adult
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
Amazon Rainforest
Good and the Beautiful Library Level 7
by Elizabeth Theurnagle
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 4th-7th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
Animals Up Close
by Igor Siwanowicz
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Birds of Oregon
by Roger Burrows & Jeff Gilligan
from Lone Pine Publishing
for 6th-Adult
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
Birds of the Pacific Northwest Coast
by Nancy Baron & John Acorn
from Lone Pine Publishing
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
Bolivar
by Sean Rubin
from Archaia
for 3rd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$12.74
Can You Track It? Mammals
by Maggie Felsch and Shannen Yauger, illustrated by Tanya Glebova and Abram Felsch
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd-6th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
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)
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 Eyewitness: Arctic & Antarctic
by Barbara Taylor
from DK Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Arctic & Tundra (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (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)
Draw 50 Sea Creatures
by Lee J. Ames, with Erin Harvey
from Watson-Guptill Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
in Draw 50 (Location: ELE-ARTD50)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Endangered Animals Dictionary
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Familiar Seashore Creatures: North America
Audubon Society Pocket Guides
by Stephen H. Amos
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Field Guides: Fish & Water Life (Location: NAT-FG02)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fighters
by Bernard Stonehouse, illustrated by John Francis
from Tangerine Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Garbage: Follow the Path of Your Trash
Build It Yourself
by Donna Latham, illustrated by Tom Casteel
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Exploring Earth: Animals
Golden Exploring Earth
by George S. Fichter, illustrated by Rod Ruth
from Western Publishing
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Great Whales: The Gentle Giants
by Patricia Lauber, illustrated by Pieter Folkens
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Whales & Dolphins (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
$3.00 (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)
Hornets
by Sandra Markle
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of Birds
by Robert Mathewson
Reprint from Price Stern Sloan
for 4th-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
How and Why Wonder Book of Deserts
by Felix Sutton
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Fossils
by John Burton, illustrated by John Barber
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Insects
by Ronald N. Rood, Illustrated by Cynthia and Alvin Koehler
from Wonder Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Trees
by Geoffrey Coe, Illustrated by Cynthia Iliff Koehler & Alvin Koehler
1972 Printing from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How and Why Wonder Book of Wild Flowers
by Grace F. Ferguson, illustrated by Cynthia Iliff Koehler and Alvin Koehler
from Wonder Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in How and Why Wonder Books (Location: VIN-H&W)
How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook
from Stackpole Books
for 6th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
How to Raise Monarch Butterflies
by Carol Pasternak
2020 printing from Firefly Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Nature Journal
by Fiona Biddington
from Cicada Books Limited
for 3rd-8th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
Laws Guide to Nature Drawing & Journaling
by John Muir Laws
from Heyday Books
for 6th-Adult
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$35.00
Life in the Far North
Native Nations of North America
by Bobbie Kalman and Rebecca Sjonger
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Native American History (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Look Up!
by Annette LeBlanc Cate
2nd edition from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-6th grade
2014 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$8.99
Marvelous Mammals From Down Under
by Heather Horn
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd-6th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
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 Explorers Journal
by Amy Atkins
from Kindle Direct Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Nature Through the Seasons
by Richard Adams & Max Hooper, illustrated by David Goddard
from Penguin Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Nature Study & Journaling (Location: NAT-GEN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Night Sky
Usborne Spotter's Guides
from Usborne
for 3rd-12th grade
in Field Guides: Weather & Astronomy (Location: NAT-FG10)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Otters
by Bobby Tulloch
from Colin Baxter Photography Ltd.
for 6th-12th grade
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Planet Earth: Finding Balance on the Blue Marble
Build It Yourself
by Kathleen M. Reilly, illustrated by Tom Casteel
from Nomad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Protecting Earth's Water Supply
Saving Our Living Earth
by Ron Fridell
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rare and Endangered Plants of Oregon
by Donald C. Eastman
from Beautiful America Publishing
for 6th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
Rocks and Fossils
by Martyn Bramwell
from Usborne
for 4th-6th grade
in Geology (Rocks & Minerals) (Location: SCI-GEO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Science Comics: Birds of Prey
by Joe Flood
from First Second
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Spotter's Handbook
by Michael A. Ruggiero, Alan Mitchell, Philip Burton
from Mayflower Books
for 6th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
Stronger Than Steel
by Bridget Heos
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
in Genetics & Microscopic Life (Location: SCI-GEN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Voyage of the Mimi
by Richard M. Hendrick, head writer
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 6th-8th grade
in Theater, Drama & Film (Location: ELE-THEAT)
Watercolor with Me in the Forest
by Dana Fox
from St. Martin's Press
for 6th-Adult
in Painting Instruction (Location: ELE-ARTPAI)
$24.99
Whales and Dolphins
by Robin Kerrod
from Lorenz Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Whales & Dolphins (Location: SCI-OCEAN)
Zoology for Kids
by Josh and Bethanie Hestermann, foreword by the Kratt Brothers
from Chicago Review Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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