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Nature Study

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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47 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Botany & Mycology, New Books & Materials
Book of Trees
by Sean Brooks
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 6th-8th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.35
Book of Trees - Student Guide
by Sean Brooks
from Memoria Press
for 6th-8th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.35
Book of Trees - Teacher Guide
by Sean Brooks
from Memoria Press
for 6th-8th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$19.45 $11.50 (1 in stock)
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Exploring Creation With Botany
Young Explorer Series
by Jeannie Fulbright
2nd edition from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$39.20
Exploring Creation With Botany - Notebooking Journal
by Jeannie Fulbright
2nd edition from Apologia Educational Ministries
for 3rd-6th grade
in Apologia Young Explorer (Location: SCICUR-AEM)
$27.20
Fall Walk
by Virginia Brimhall Snow
from Gibbs M. Smith
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
First Studies of Plant Life
by George F. Atkinson
from Yesterday's Classics
for 6th-9th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$14.95
Forager's Harvest
by Samuel Thayer
from Forager's Harvest
for 9th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$27.95
God's Design for Life - Student Book
by Debbie & Richard Lawrence
Master Books Edition from Master Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Master Books God's Design (Location: SCICUR-MB)
$43.19
God's Design for Life - Teacher Guide
by Debbie & Richard Lawrence
Master Books Edition from Master Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Master Books God's Design (Location: SCICUR-MB)
$34.39 $28.00 (2 in stock)
Herbs - Coloring Book
by Stefen Bernath
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Flowers & Plants Coloring Books (Location: COL-BOT)
$3.99
How Flowers Grow
Usborne Beginners
by Emma Helbrough
from Usborne
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Usborne Beginners (Location: SCI-USBREA)
$4.49 $2.70 (2 in stock)
Katya's Book of Mushrooms
from Living Book Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$12.99
Leaf Can Be . . .
by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija
from Millbrook Press
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Made By God: Poisonous, Smelly, and Amazing Plants
I Can Read Level 2
from Zonderkidz
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99
Miss Maple's Seeds
by Eliza Wheeler
from Nancy Paulsen Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest
by Joe Ammirati, Steve Trudell
1st edition from Timber Press, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$29.99
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest
National Audubon Society Field Guide
by Peter Alden & Dennis Paulson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$27.95
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees: Eastern Region
Chanticleer Press Ed from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$23.95
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees: Western Region
by Elbert L. Little
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$26.00
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers: Eastern Region
2nd edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$24.95
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers: Western Region
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$24.95
Peterson First Guide to Trees
by George A. Petrides
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$8.99
Plant Life in Field and Garden
Eyes and No Eyes #3
by Arabella Buckley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Plant Life in Field and Garden
Eyes and No Eyes #3
by Arabella Buckley
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$8.99
Reason for a Flower
by Ruth Heller
from PaperStar Books
Science non-fiction, illustrated for 1st-3rd grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$8.99
Redoute Flowers - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Charlene Tarbox
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Flowers & Plants Coloring Books (Location: COL-BOT)
$3.99
Redwoods
by Jason Chin
from Square Fish Publishing
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$9.99
Science Vocabulary Crossword Puzzles Grades 4-6
by Noreen Conte
from Critical Thinking Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Critical Thinking Vocabulary (Location: VOC-CTP)
$12.00
Science with Plants
Usborne Science Activities
by Helen Edom
from Usborne
for 2nd-5th grade
in Usborne Science Activities (Location: SCI-EXP)
$5.39 $3.60 (3 in stock)
Secret Life of Trees
A DK Eyewitness Reader Level 2
by Chiara Chevallier
from DK Publishing
for 1st-2nd grade
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$4.99
Seed Is Sleepy
by Dianna Hutts Aston, Sylvia Long
1st edition from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
Seed Is Sleepy
by Dianna Hutts Aston, Sylvia Long
from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$7.99
Smithsonian Natural History
2nd edition from DK Publishing
for 6th-Adult
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$50.00
Spring Walk
by Virginia Brimhall Snow
from Gibbs M. Smith
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
State Birds and Flowers - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Annika Bernhard
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$5.99
Sunflower House
by Eve Bunting
1st Voyager Books Ed from Sandpiper Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
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
Trees and Shrubs
Eyes and No Eyes #5
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Trees and Shrubs
Eyes and No Eyes #5
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$8.99
Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest
Timber Press Field Guides
by Ellen Kuhlmann, Mark Turner
from Timber Press, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$29.95
Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest
Timber Press Field Guides
by Mark Turner, Phyllis Gustafson
from Timber Press, Inc.
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$29.95
Wildflowers, Blooms and Blossoms
by Diane Burns
from Northword Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
$7.95
World of Plants
Great Science Adventures
by Dinah Zike & Susan Simpson
from Common Sense Press
for 2nd-5th grade
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks
in Clearance: Science & Health (Location: ZCLE-SCI)
$9.00 $9.00 (2 in stock)
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