Listen here:

SUMMARY

Christy Faith interviews Lynn Seddon, the author of Exploring Nature with Children, about the importance of nature study in homeschooling. They discuss the definition of nature study, its accessibility to children of all ages, and its benefits in developing observation skills, attention to detail, and scientific inquiry. Learn practical tips for getting started with nature study in your homeschool.

TAKE-AWAYS

• Nature study involves the direct observation of the natural world and cultivates a child’s curiosity, wonder, and knowledge.
  
• It is accessible to children of all ages and emphasizes outdoor experiences, exploration of living things, and detailed observations.
  
• Nature study develops skills such as observation, attention to detail, and scientific inquiry, while fostering an appreciation, connection, and responsibility towards nature.

ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST

Lynn and her husband built their home education upon the philosophy of Miss Charlotte Mason: Short lessons, solid habits, good books, authentic learning, and plenty of time out of doors. Lynn is the creator of Raising Little Shoots- an ‘open and go’ nature study curricula to help parents make nature studies a regular part of their own family culture. Lynn, lives with her husband and two young adult children in Lancashire, England. 

Find Lynn here: 

• https://www.raisinglittleshoots.com
• https://www.instagram.com/raisinglittleshoots/
• https://www.facebook.com/exploringnaturewithchildren

SHOW SPONSORS

TRANSCRIPT

Lynn Seddon: It is foundational, isn't it? It involves the direct observation of the natural world, and we're cultivating the child's curiosity, their wonder, and their knowledge. And it this type of study really is accessible to children of all ages.

Christy-Faith: Welcome to the Christy Faith Show, where we share game changing ideas with intentional parents like you. I'm your host, Christy Faith, experienced educational advisor and homeschool enthusiast. Together, we'll explore ways to enrich and transform both your life and the lives of your children. 

This episode is brought to you by a program I've been using going on 5 years now. Cross 7, classically based musical memory work. I've seen firsthand how memory work has benefited my own kiddos, especially as they've grown older and started engaging in more complex homeschool material.

What I love about this faith based program is its dynamic blend of songs, videos, quizzes, and an interactive flashcard system. It's all designed to make learning and retention both fun and interactive. Whether you're already familiar with memory work or just getting started, check out the show notes for information and a free trial of Cross 7. Cross 7 is a family owned company, and they truly are the sweetest people you would ever meet. This faith based memory work program consistently wins awards, including first place in the practical homeschooling reader awards.

Head over to cross7.org for more information. That's crossseven.org, or click the link in the show notes to start your free trial today. Hello, everyone. Welcome to this episode of the Christy Faith Show. You guys know so very much how much I am a proponent of nature's study, particularly in the early years to the extent where my own children have not touched a science textbook because we love nature study so very much.

I reached out to Lynn Seddon to have her on the show because she wrote an amazing curriculum that I have used for years called exploring nature with children. But more importantly, she really is a thought leader in this. She has been in the space of nature study for such a long time. This is gonna be a beautiful conversation of giving you permission and hopefully a little side taste of excitement about the possibilities that you can have with your children when you close that text book and get your kiddos outside, and the benefits are just enormous. I wanna introduce Lynn to you.

Lynn lives with her husband and 2 young adult children in Lancashire, England. She built their home education upon the philosophy of our, of course, our dear miss Charlotte Mason, which is short lessons, solid habits, great living books, authentic learning, and plenty of time outdoors. Her website is raising little shoots.com where she sells open and go nature study curricula to help parents make nature studies a regular part of the family culture. I wanna start today, Lynn, and ask you, what led you to homeschooling?

Lynn Seddon: That's a wonderful question. I have to confess, I didn't really know it was a thing. But when my elder was 4 months old, I came across the idea of home education. I was on a Yahoo group. So that age is me.

Christy-Faith: Oh, my hey, you know what, girl, we're there together.

Lynn Seddon: And it was all about cloth nappies, cloth diamonds, they talked talked about home education and I heard about Charlotte Mason. And so I started to read her books. It was just mesmerized doing her ideas.

Christy-Faith: Wow. So you're one of the OGs who actually have read the volumes. Oh my. Okay. We got we have a true expert here people.

I love that. And so were you just captivated by her ideas?

Lynn Seddon: I really was. The main thing for me was nature study as a child of the seventies in England. I had grown up in an environment that still education was still influenced by Miss Mason's ideas. And we had, we used to have nature walks, we used to have a nature table, All of those things at school, and I really wanted my children to spend time in nature themselves.

Christy-Faith: I didn't realize that in England, that was part of the public school system when you were growing up in the seventies?

Lynn Seddon: Her work was so influential.

Christy-Faith: Wow. That's fascinating. I didn't realize that. So I wanna ask you for our audience here who maybe this is a new concept because we have, a lot of listeners who are brand new to, number 1, homeschooling in general, but also some of these ideas and terms in homeschooling, like living books, nature study, Charlotte Mason, who is this woman? That type of a thing.

Let's start out by simply defining what is nature study, and then I'll ask you some follow-up questions on it. But how would you define it or how did Charlotte Mason define it?

Lynn Seddon: I'm really glad you asked this actually because it is foundational, isn't it? So I think from Miss Mason's perspective, if it involves the direct observation of the natural world, and we're cultivating the child's curiosity, their wonder and their knowledge and it this type of study really is accessible to children of all ages. We're emphasizing outdoor experiences, we're emphasizing the exploration of living things, really detailed observation as they grow all the detailed observation of plants, animals, natural phenomena. They can record this into a nature journal, which is a diary of what they see and what they observe. And I think with, Nature City, our main goal is to develop a sense of appreciation, connection, and also responsibility towards nature while we're fostering skills such as observation, attention to detail, and also scientific inquiry within our child.

And, of course, ultimately, we're looking for this lifelong love of the natural world.

Christy-Faith: Yeah. And you know what? As you were saying that I was thinking I had by the last episode that I filmed I don't know if it will be in order, but I interviewed a friend of mine, Sarah Collins, and she is an occupational therapist. And we were talking about the importance of what is the difference between looking at nature on a screen and actually being out in nature. And she was just talking about from an occupational therapy perspective, the eyes and the brain.

But even more than that, like, if there is one thing Yeah. One thing in the homeschooling space where you could cover so many bases, you know, science, observation, getting outside, vitamin k into your body, and all of those things, a group study where age doesn't really matter because everyone can be challenged at their particular level, it is nature study. And I think that it's a struggle. I was looking up this statistic because research research does show that young children are spending less and less time outdoors in active play and exploring the natural world. And researchers have identified several reasons for this decline.

Number 1 is adult fears about crime and safety, which those things are they're put right in front of us. Right? Because news now, they know they in order to get people's attention, they have to scare you. So we are hearing all of these stories about awful things that happen that makes us scared to let our kids go outside. Also, increased use of television, computer games, DVDs, and smartphones, of course, tablets and digital media, which those things in and of themselves aren't bad, of course, but they can so easily hey.

Listen. I was a mom. I had there was one moment where I had a 5 year old, 22 year old twins, and a 7 month old. And let me tell you the only way that I could keep everyone safe my husband traveled every week. The only way I could keep everyone safe and get dinner on the table was putting on that show.

However, I timed it because I didn't want my kids living in front of the screens. Right? So they're not evil in and those in and of themselves, but it's so easy to let it slip. Let me tell you, it is so easy because you're like, wow, I have a little breather where I'm not a mess isn't being made right now, and I have a moment where I can breathe. So there's that.

Another reason is more time spent indoors in structured activities. And I will add to this. I've said this and I will shout it from the rooftops. Organized sports that are adult led is not play, and it is not going outside and exploring nature. And a lot of people think that that is play, that that that replaces whatever we are talking about today, which is the benefits of nature study and it is not.

And then the last one is loss of natural habitats where it's not as easy to access the nature. Just before the show, I was telling Lynn that I live in a particular area where they have preserved greenways, where right at the end of my street, I have a trail. But that was intentional in this area that I live in and it and but I am from Los Angeles where I would let's see. When I went to go besides going to the beach, which was wonderful, but, of course, hard to get to. You had to pay $30 just to to park.

You know, I we would have to get in the car and really travel to go to a natural place. So I wanted to ask you just about this. What is your heart with nature study, and what are you hoping that parents can learn by getting their kiddos outdoors? Before we continue, I wanna share with you a a program that has been a game changer for our family. At our learning center, we instructed and helped kids through pretty much every program on the market.

So we know firsthand just how important a solid math foundation is for our kids' futures. Finding the right homeschool math curriculum that didn't compromise academic excellence, but also didn't put me and my kids through the ringer was a challenge. Until one day, I found CTC math. You guys, the rest was history. First off, it's a mastery based program, which means your child gets a full grasp of the material.

It's also loaded with mixed reviews, ensuring your kids don't forget anything they've learned. The questions are adaptive too, which keeps students confident and progressing at their own pace. But the best part, all the teaching, grading, and testing, done for you. With CTC math, there is no compromise on excellence. Your child gets a top notch education, and you just made your homeschool life easier. Visit CTCmath.com to get your free trial today. 

Whether you're newer to homeschooling or you've been homeschooling over a decade, the fact is creating a streamlined successful homeschool is hard. The pressure is high, and the weight of responsibility often leads to self doubt, second guessing, and feeling completely overwhelmed with the excessive amounts of opinions and curricula options out there. We love our kids. And at the same time, the stakes are high.

We don't wanna mess this up. So how do we build a homeschool that our kids will thank us for when they're adults and one that you have a 100% confidence in? The first step to pulling all of that off is joining Thrive Homeschool community. Thrive Homeschool Community is where you learn the 8 Step Homeschool Success Framework to build an undeniably successful homeschool. Each year and each kid presents us with uncharted territory.

But when you have a good plan, the right plan, you can rest in the security and confidence that you are doing a great job. The path is easy. Join Thrive. Say a quick hello to your new friends. Start the 8 Step Homeschool Success Framework, and kiss anxiety goodbye.

It's risk free. No contracts. You can cancel anytime. No questions asked. Go to christy-faith.com.

That's christy-faith.com. Enter promo code 'podcast' for $10 off your 1st month. See you inside.

Lynn Seddon: It's just the ideal classroom, I think, really. It's not I think oftentimes, we can view nature study as something a little bit fluffy. Something we just add on to everything else that we're doing. You know, it's it's hard work being a home educating parents and we have, especially if you've got multiple ages, we feel, you know, we've got so many things to do. But Miss Mason believe that we are to spread this abundant feast before our child.

And nature is a huge part of that. We can bring our children together. We can educate multiple ages in nature. They are developing so many skills. They're developing so much of themselves.

Just a part you know, part of what is declining, I think studies have shown is just general eye, you know, children's eyesight is affected. They are not out of doors. And you know, we've got all these close-up screens and what have you and I completely agree with what you said earlier, Christy-Faith , I'm not against screens at all. But we want them to serve us. We're not serving them.

And Neat City is just an open book for us to learn from with our own children. We can we don't have to be expert. We can be there in nature learning right alongside our children.

Christy-Faith: Absolutely. So it makes a lot of parents nervous, especially if you are a parent maybe newer to homeschooling or you were raised in the system itself, whether public or private. It's very hard for us to let go of science not being from a textbook. But what about the facts? What about this?

What about that? I wanna ask you a hard question, and that is, is nature study enough? You know, we reach a point in high school where if your student is college bound, we have to do requirements. But I and and do those classes. But I will let you know that before 9th grade, my kids have not opened a science textbook because I know that if they have the math skills and they have the observational skills and they have the reading comprehension skills and if I know if all of those are in place, they will have no problem with physics because it's really that's what it is.

So let me ask you because it is a little bit disruptive to say nature study is enough. That is a really scary thought. What would you say to that?

Lynn Seddon: So miss Mason said I will answer you with a miss Mason said, consider to what an unequaled mental training the child's naturalist is getting for any study or any calling under the sun, the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for? So nature study is just all of this. It's laying that very, very firm foundation for our children academically, as well as mentally and physically and spiritually is giving them a very rounded education, I believe. And it's a very, very strong foundation for sciences as the child is developmentally ready for those.

Christy-Faith: Absolutely. And you had mentioned earlier that it's appropriate for for all ages. It's very easy to do it with your preschooler and kindergarten, and you just go out and count the rocks and things like that. Can you explain to us what nature study can look like maybe in those upper elementary or junior high years? Flush that out so we can visualize that.

Because it's easy to visualize taking our little kindergartner on a stroll in with a stream and, you know, building sticks or maybe even a little bit older building a fort. What types of things are the older kids doing though?

Lynn Seddon: Okay. I think with all ages, apart from real littles, we want to kind of break it down into, I guess, 4 main parts. So spending the time out of doors, if we think about it in these four ways, spending time out of door observation, reading can be a part of nature today and narration. So we're going to start building those in in the younger years. But I would say with older children, we're going to continue on that.

We want to continue to make observing nature just a part of day to day life. I would, with that age, try and have a weekly nature war reading nature books. And we would also generally introduce what miss Mason would call object lesson. So this is a key part, Mason, nature studies. It's very simply.

She would say, that you draw the the attention of the child to, a nature treasure, a rock patch, or feather, or whatever. And we observe it very, very carefully with them. If we know something about it, we could give them a little tidbits about it. But I wouldn't be intimidated by not knowing anything. Keep a particular phrase that I used myself when homogeneity was, that's very interesting.

Yeah. It buys you a little bit of time and you could, you know, let's find out about this together. You can leaf through the pages of nature guide that can become we saw is do our walks come home, we'd have tea and cake, and we'd look through our guides. And if we brought any treasures home, then we would have a look at those, you know, together with the older ones, I would say, again, keep keep going. So older, as in older than the middle years, keep going with those observation lessons.

It sounds so simple. But it really is key, the short object lessons, it's key, have them keep a nature notebook. This is their science log, essentially, where all they have to do is narrate what they saw what they did. Narration is such an underrated tool, I think. Have the child narrate with words, have the child draw in their nature journal.

If you have a child who is completely opposed to the idea of art, then suggest that they draw a diagram rather than drawing a beautiful picture. You know, I think seeing nature to be as being very artistic and it can sometimes have a bit of a girly edge maybe, I don't know. But we can say let's draw a diagram. Let's get a diagram of that leaf into your journal. Lists are very good with all the children I was I would say, so we're talking 12, 13 plus, Have them make lists of wildflowers, buds, fungi, any category of interest that they have.

They can just keep a simple list in the back of their notebook. It doesn't have to be anything fancy at all. Just the list of what they've seen, the common name, the black have them look up the Latin name, include the date, location that the subject was miss Mason also suggest at this age that they may want to keep a calendar first. She said for the children to keep a calendar, the first oak leaf, the first half hole first cowl slit the first catkin first right black breeze were seen and when. And then the next year they will know when they can look out their favorites and every year be the condition to add new observations.

Think of this asked in the interest, the object which such a practice will give to daily warts and little excursions.

Christy-Faith: The show will resume in just a minute, but first, I wanna share with you an incredible resource that is totally free to homeschooling families everywhere. Have you ever felt like you were on trial for your homeschooling choice when visiting a doctor or another service provider? It's unsettling, especially when someone misinformed has the power to threaten your family. Unfortunately, we have heard countless stories of parents who have felt trapped in offices and met with suspicion rather than support simply because they were homeschoolers. I've been profiled and interrogated myself, and I'm sure many of you have as well.

Enough is enough. It's time we proactively vet service providers before giving them our business and our money. Enter Christy-Faiths-List.com , a directory 100% free to homeschooling families, connecting you with homeschool friendly service providers who promise to support you in your homeschooling choice. We want every homeschooler in America to know about and be using this list. So here's how to make Christy Faith's List a household name.

1, tell all your friends about it. Let's show the market just how powerful the homeschool movement is. Number 2, check Christy Faith's List website before stepping foot into any service provider's office to make sure they are on there. And number 3, if your favorite service provider isn't on the list, make sure to refer them. There's a button on the home page of the website.

It takes only 30 seconds. And that way, we can send them a lovely invite. If you're listening and you are a homeschool friendly professional, we want you on the list. We're eager to connect homeschooling families with you, shout your name from the rooftops, and bring you tons and tons of business. We have plans for every type of business, both small, local, nationwide, and worldwide. Check out Christy-Faiths-List.com today. Hi, mama. If you like my social media content and my show, I'm pretty sure you will love my book, Homeschool Rising, Shattering Myths, Finding Courage, and Opting Out of the School System. My book is for homeschool parents, both veteran and new, and the perfect book to hand any homeschool skeptics in your life so they can better understand why you've chosen this amazing lifestyle. This book will challenge you, empower you, encourage you, and give you solid mindful answers to all those questions you get about your homeschooling choice.

Grab your copy and maybe an extra one for your mother-in-law today. Homeschool Rising is available wherever books are sold. That's so fantastic. You know what came to mind when you were saying that? What by the way, I'm completely starting a journal of firsts.

Oh my god. Thinking, like, not only their firsts, this is the first blank I've observed, but our first snow, our first just all of that. We live in a place that has 4 seasons, which we love. It's what we wanted. It's one of the reasons why we moved here.

We made a list of 25 reasons and we wanted to move somewhere that had all 4 seasons. But there literally is a week where all of a sudden, we hear the birds come back, and it is so cool. And the birds annoy us because they start waking us up. Right? But that was our sign that we need to wake up at dawn and go bird watching at the Platte River very soon.

And so and we make a whole big deal of it when the birds come back and we make a birdhouse. So we put out our feeder and and we when we go and look at the plants we're going to plant because here in Denver, everything dies, so you actually have to buy new plants. It's annoying. I'm from California where nothing ever dies as long as you just give it water. And here in Denver, it's it's rough.

But then, you know, okay. Well, what what flowers are gonna attract the hummingbirds? Let's do that. I also think when we let our kids go, they're just sitting by a river and seeing a current, for example. It's going to spark other curiosities that we can dive deeper in.

And and I think that, you know, we all want our kids to be happy. We all want our kids to be resilient and to be human beings that have deep meaning and purpose in their lives. And I think something that's discounted is that one of those things that makes us happy and fulfilled is having curiosities and feeding curiosities. That's why one of the things they say, like, if you're in a depression is get a hobby. Right?

Because the hobby can lead to, 1, you're learning a skill. 2, often you can do group meetups and things like that. So what's interesting is I have been in nature study groups where I was extremely intimidated because as you mentioned earlier, I agree with you. It's not girly. But what I will say is I was there with my son who was just, you know, running all over the place, all of those boys, and then the were just going crazy.

They were making swords out of sticks and all this. And then the girls were sitting on the the blanket and they were drawing their beautiful birds. And that would never be my son, but he loves birds and he loves going out in nature. And you know what? That's the beautiful thing is we can feed those interests.

So you find out that one of you either your son or daughter is actually interested in art. Well, they can grow their art skills through the nature study. One thing I love that you do that's really helped me is in your handbook for exploring nature with children, you have recommended picture books for each of the themes, and I've really appreciated that. So when we did our bird study last week, we read The Boy Who Droop Birds and then we also read the picture book Rachel Carson. And make no mistake, my oldest snuck out of the room.

I don't require him to do morning time with us, but it's almost a little mind trick because I don't make him do it, but he always comes sneaking around. And then sure enough, we had a beautiful discussion as a precursor to us actually going out at dawn and finding the birds, and we're gonna be reporting what we see. But I love that you recommend both art, fine art to explore, and a picture book to get at the library. And if you love it, I I usually get it from the library first. And if I absolutely love it and want it part of my library for my kids and my grandkids, that's how I ask myself.

Like, would I wanna read this book to my grandkids? Then I end up just buying it used on Amazon or something like that.

Lynn Seddon: Measure.

Christy-Faith: Yeah. I know. Right? So

Lynn Seddon: Now can I just address what you said though? Like, you're a boy. Yes. You're saying, you know, there's all these lovely little girls sitting on their rug. And I always think, you know, I always felt that I was that mum.

You had the rowdy kids. But Miss Mason actually addresses that. And she says, our wise mother arrived, first sends the children off to let their spirits in a wild scamper with cry hello and hullabaloo and any extravagance that comes into their young heads. And she advised us to send them off for an hour or 2 just to play before bringing them back for nature study. So she did address that Because I know nature to the groups can be quite intimidating if you think there are all these perfect little children who are going to fit and just start observing.

And children generally aren't like that.

Christy-Faith: That's so true. I have a couple of Charlotte Mason quotes here. She said there is no education without nature.

Lynn Seddon: That's a beautiful one.

Christy-Faith: Yes. I love that one. An observant child should be put in the way of things worth observing. What is this power of observing? And that will lead into I wanted to ask you about wonder as well.

And that's okay if that question leads into this because I think that something our culture has lost is the value of wonder in and of itself as the end. We always we we tend to view accumulating knowledge as the end of an education, but that is a rather new concept. That concept is really only about a 150 years old. I talk about this in chapter 3 of my book where I go through the history of compulsory education. But before this time, before the last 150 years, knowledge accumulating knowledge of things was not the purpose of an education.

So how can you reframe that mindset for us? Like, if we go out in nature, the wonder if I have my kids wonder, just wow, and talking to themselves about that bird and this bird, then that is the end, isn't it? That's the purpose. And why?

Lynn Seddon: Oh, so many ideas. I think the heart of Charlotte Mason's philosophy is the idea of, well, ideas

Christy-Faith: of Yes. Yes.

Lynn Seddon: And you're so right. Everything is getting more and more and more fact driven. I think so miss Mace? Miss Mace had said, of Eagles' modern education, there are few worse than this than the perpetual cackle of his elders. The poor child, not a moment of time nor an inch of space.

As home educators, we we have time, time is our friend. When we study nature, when we read a poem, when we observe a piece of art, we can really encourage wonder, I would say, you know, I would always say what what what do you see here? What what if we're looking at a piece of art? Or if we're looking at a flower, what do you see? What does it remind you of?

That was always my favourite question. Because children will come up with the most amazing connections. And it does allow them to make connections between different ideas and different subjects that we learn. That was a big thing, I think, Charlotte Mason's, you know, she didn't do unit studies, did she per se, because she was just for the children making their own connections. So we can ask them what they see, what does it remind them of.

They can build their own connections. They're forming their own relationship with this subject. They've got time to think about it. And then, what do they want to know? What do they want to find more out about?

They can think. They can spend time with the idea. They can really contemplate it.

Christy-Faith: If you're enjoying the show and you don't wanna miss out on future episodes, hit that like and subscribe button and show us some love with your comments. Those 5 star reviews really do make a difference. Yes. And she was about this feast of ideas because when we ask ourselves what we want for our kids for their education, ultimately, it's the cultivation of a human being. Because when you look at reality, can you possibly teach your kid everything they need to know before the age of 18?

No. No. And then they're gonna go into all these specialized fields where they actually know nothing about it, and studies are showing that because we're in the 4th industrial revolution, we can't even fathom the jobs that are gonna exist in 10 years. We can't even fathom what those jobs would be. So how do we prepare kids?

How do we prepare our kids for a future that we have no idea, no idea what the jobs will look like, how they're going to be making a living? It's not by what our school system is doing right now, which is regurgitation of facts. And then by the age of 18, okay. Now you're prepared for college. Right?

Are you, though? And then what does this have to do with what you're gonna be doing in your life? But if we can go back to what the ancients believed, what Charlotte Mason believed, and this is that exploring ideas, creating a love of learning, which is done through leaning into those curiosities which can happen through nature study and having those ideas change us. This is why she was such a proponent of living books as well. I'm a trained historian.

I have 2 degrees in history which basically means I was taught how to make history totally boring and for kids to hate it. And what's funny is I really had to deschool myself when I started homeschooling because I went to a couple of workshops and read a couple books on, wait. What? No textbook for history? You know, the how dare you?

When in reality, I really started to question what I loved about history. What did I love? Why was I interested in it? And, ultimately, it was because I got to chew on really big, sometimes heavy, heavy ideas about human nature, yeah, about human nature, why we do things to ultimately learn from other people's mistakes and be changed and become better people. So when you think about education, when you can extrapolate that to other things, when you think about education in that sense, it's really profound because it becomes less about the things to check off your list and more about this development of the mind, which is what Charlotte Mason said in her volumes, like this cultivating of the mind and curiosities.

And that is where you find that love of learning. I often encourage parents just ditch what they're supposed to know. I mean, you're a great homeschool parent. You're an intentional homeschool parent. Lean into those and, yes, do they need foundational knowledge?

Absolutely. Absolutely, they do. But it's not the end all. It's the number one way to make your kid hate learning. I wanted to ask you, for those of us who were raised in the system, unlike you, I didn't realize that England was influenced through the seventies early eighties with Charlotte Mason philosophy.

That's pretty great, but we weren't. We were not. We were raised that you sit, you crack open that science textbook, you have 30 minutes to memorize the water cycle, and then you close the book. You didn't even observe it. It could have been raining outside, and the teacher didn't even draw attention to that.

So how would you encourage us? It seems so big. It can nature study can seem huge and scary. And where do I even begin, especially for those of us who aren't used to it or accustomed to it? What would you recommend a way for

Lynn Seddon: Spend time with a toddler. If you don't do you have the word toddler, actually? You said toddler? No. Yes.

I would say start with a toddler. If your children are a bit older than that, borrow a neighborhood toddler because they will slow you down. You know, you walk anywhere with a toddler and they're looking at the cracks in the pavement and they're what's this and what's that, they will slow you down. And that is the wonder that we want in our t young adults, isn't it? So just as you say, it doesn't need to be a big thing.

We can go for a short walk, 5 minutes out of doors. Just observe, spend time, try to stop thinking about the to do list you have in your mind. Just I know it's very sounds very airy fairy, but try to just be present in that moment. What do you see? What do you notice?

What's the weather like? What shapes are the clouds? Where is the sun in the sky? If we come out 3 hours later, is the sun in the same position? Perhaps you walk past a tree every day.

Become friends with that tree, get to know it. You don't need to know what it's called. Observe it through observe it through the year, see how it changes. Maybe by the end of the year, you will know enough about it to be able to discover its name. Just I think often, as parents, we want to do things so well.

And so perfectly. We're so earnest that we are learning and researching and what do we need to buy? What we need to do. And we we almost don't do the thing because we're too busy trying to do it perfectly. Nature study is just taking a walk and observing, and maybe looking up at a field guide when you get home.

Christy-Faith: Yes. Yeah. It's like it's like if you're going on a a walk and your goal is to get, you know, to the end of the street and back and you're rushing your toddler along, right, just to get to the end of the street and back, and you miss the whole point. You miss the whole point of following that that toddler looks at that ant and is following that little ant. Like, just follow the ant.

What's the ant doing? And but we want to I know we don't need to buy all these fancy schmancy, you know, unit studies and and all of this. You can simply go outside. And then with Internet on our side, when your kid has curiosity, you can find a book for it or, you know, even a YouTube video, right, about this thing. Now something now I this is shameless, and I'm just gonna say it.

What I love about this curriculum that you have built is that it truly is open and go. I just wanna yes. I just wanna share why it's my favorite. It's truly open and go. And for a parent who is new to nature study, you guide us through what to do.

You guide grab these books. This is a great piece of art you can look up on the Internet, show your kids questions to talk about it, a poem, which is wonderful because I love reading my kids' poetry. I think it's an important part of reading comprehension with concept imagery. So you include a poem, and it goes by the week of the month, which is really cool. Now, we talked about this before we went on air.

I told you our birds come later than what is in exploring nature with children. We were just joking about I mean, generally speaking, you have to follow it by the tea, by any stretch. But, hey, when you hear those birds come back, I just went to whatever whatever week was with your birds and then boom, we were there and pulled out my books and and all of those things. And I love that it's year round because we should be going outside in the winter. We should be.

And because there's really cool things to observe then. So I know that was a little bit of a shameless plug for your curriculum, but I really do. I really do love it. I really do. And I think it's great and I think it's a way for it's reasonably priced too.

And it's a way for parents to just get outside and start doing it. You could even do that use your curriculum for a little nature study group. Do people do that?

Lynn Seddon: Yes. We have Yep. Thousands of there are thousands of groups. I've heard from thousands of people over the years who write to me to say that they're using exploring nature as their group curriculum. I also hear from parents who are using it as their own.

You know, perhaps their children are no longer home educated, and they use it as their own study, which is amazing. I love that.

Christy-Faith: Oh, that really is beautiful. I could see myself doing that when you can just slow down. So I printed mine out when I started homeschooling. So I don't wanna say how long ago it was, but it was a long time ago. Has there been anything new?

Lynn Seddon: It was last updated in August 2020.

Okay. Lists were were updated. Oh. I went I

Christy-Faith: don't have those.

Lynn Seddon: Such a long time. I'm paying the book list. So if anybody already has a copy of exploring nature, do not fear. Just download it again with your original link, and you'll have the new book list. And what I did was I also put the book list into a separate PDF.

So if you already have the original printed out, so you can just print off the separate PDF of the booklets.

Christy-Faith: Okay. And I'm so curious why you wrote this in the first place?

Lynn Seddon: I met so many people in real life homered groups and online, who really wanted to study nature, but they just felt so overwhelmed with it all. And so I wanted to make a resource, because it is very easy for me to say, we'll just go outside and look around. But I want to make a resource that help people's hands that they could just let you say open and go. And it would just hold their hand and it basically teaches you how to do the object lesson, sharp Mason's object lesson. You have a topic each week, and then it's holding your hand through the object lesson for that theme.

Christy-Faith: Yeah. Which I do think we need, especially the way most of us were educated, where we were not taken outside and and things like that. Well, thank you so much. We're gonna put a link to exploring nature with children or any and your website and all of that in the show notes for mamas to check out. I was the type that printed it out.

I have a close friend who just kept it on her computer as a PDF that she scrolled through. So this is a down it's a what do we call it? A download? Yeah. Like a printable.

So it's not necessarily something that gets mailed to you, which is is actually really great because the price is very reasonable, I think. Yeah. So and where I'm just so excited about what you've done with this. I think it's a beautiful job and it has stood the test of time. So I clearly need to get the updated book list because mine is very, very old.

Yes. And I'm not gonna reprint it because it's my binder's this thick. So, yes, thank you so much for being on the show today and talking about nature study. This was a treat.

Lynn Seddon: Thank you so much for having me, Christy-Faith. It was a real honor.