I hope that this Nature Note finds you well!
If you’re new to Exploring Nature with Children, jump right in! There’s no need to begin at a certain point in the year. If you began in September, my hope is that you and your child are enjoying your studies, and learning about the natural world around you.
“We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”
Miss Charlotte Mason
Use these wise words from Miss Mason to both guide and encourage you as you study this month. If you are here reading this post, I am sure that you do care for the “the marvels of plant and animal life“, and indeed you care that your children care! We are each called to be naturalists, each in our own degree. If you do not know the name of something that you find on a nature walk, see it as a gift rather than a hindrance. Observe it closely over the coming weeks, and you will come to be acquainted with this living thing, and will learn to recognise it, and eventually you will discover its name. You will more likely be the richer than if you had just found out the name straight away.
For those of you who are using Exploring Nature With Children, the weeks fall as follows:
4th ~ 10th Week 1: Fungus Study Week
11th ~ 17th Week 2: Moss Study Week
18th ~ 24th Week 3 Lichen Study Week
25th ~ 1st Week 4: Weather Week
There’s a free calendar for the year to download here.
As always, please work the weeks to suit your own circumstances best; these are just my own suggestions!
If you’re over on Instagram, do pop over and say hello! The Instagram page is very much about community; think of it as your virtual home school co op! Our community uses the #exploringnaturewithchildren hashtag, & also specific weekly hashtags to enable you to connect with other families working through ENWC this year
Seasonal notes:
5th Nov Guy Fawkes Night is the anniversary of the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. If you’re building a bonfire, then do keep in ming the safety of hedgehog and other small mammals that may see it as the perfect place to hibernate. Ideally, build the bonfire on the afternoon that it will be lit, moving the wood, and/or leaf pile to be certain that no creatures have chosen to settle there.
Here’s a good recipe for Bonfire Toffee
10th Nov Remembrance Sunday “At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them.”
11th Nov Remembrance Day / Armistice Day Marking the day World War One ended in 1918 at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month. A two-minute silence is held at 11am to remember the people who have died in wars.
24th Nov Stir Up Sunday The traditional day to ‘stir up’ the Christmas pudding, falling at the end of November, the Sunday before Advent begins. The name comes from the collect that is said on that day in the Anglican church: ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people…’.
Here’s to a happy November. Happy exploring!