Taking Your Homeschool Outdoors with Creative Nature Study

This school year, one of our more lofty goals has included getting outside for more nature study. Imagine my surprise when I had the opportunity to review The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s eBook Creative Nature Study, what amazing timing! With the new baby, I have often felt it was too hot or too cold or rainy, or what not, to venture out with my tiny little guy. For those of you who may not have been readers when baby Wembley arrived, he was a mere 5 lbs at birth, making extreme temperatures an issue.

Taking my chunky 5-month-old out now seems less daunting as the Pennsylvania air turns crisp. The autumn leaves are now littering the ground and I know it is only a matter of time before winter chases us back inside. With my determination to get outdoors, I began reading Creative Nature Study: Ideas to Jump-Start or Invigorate Nature Study in Your Homeschool.

Within the first few paragraphs, I was surprised by how much the book spoke like me. The reasons I choose to homeschool were laid out in black and white on its pages. I want my children engaged with the world around them. That is exactly what this book strives to do. Creative Nature Study is about connecting children to God’s amazing creation.

The next few chapters talked about some things I had already implemented with the children, like growing a garden and having bird feeders. As a matter of fact you may have seen on periscope, our homeschool room has several bird feeds perched outside for nature study. I was a little nervous that the book wouldn’t give me any new ideas at this point, being the amateur birders we are! Thankfully I was wrong. This book is full of great ideas that include different style nature walks to take, like listening walks or nature at night walks!

The next few sections talked about things I didn’t expect, even touching on nature study with allergies and asthma. Little did The Schoolhouse Review Crew know when asking me to review this, that Boober was diagnosed with mild asthma two weeks ago! This book turned out to be a great asset to our nature study by giving valuable advice for packing a bag, interesting ideas for different nature study activities and how to deal with our new asthma diagnosis.

This eBook also includes a great collection of printables at the end which we look forward to using on our next few nature walks. The book has enhanced the plans I had by diversifying the ways we will be observing nature. Since getting this eBook, I have invested in hunting grade binoculars, enough magnifying glasses for each of us, a sturdy bag for taking on nature study and a few field guides for our outings. I have also added a few project ideas to my list for this year from the book. If you’re interested in bringing more nature study to your homeschool, I strongly suggest this eBook.

Disclaimer: I was given this copy of Creative Nature Study to review for The Schoolhouse Review Crew free of charge. I have written my honest opinion of this book for this review. I was given no other compensation for the review.