One of the gifts of a Charlotte Mason education is that it teaches us not merely to look, but to truly see.
When a child spends time out of doors, returning week by week to the local park, hedgerows, garden paths, or the small corners of their neighbourhood, they begin to form a relationship with the world around them. They notice what is changing, what is returning, and what is particular to this month, in this place. The first bluebell. The last blackberry. The curl of a fern. The colour of the sky before rain.
This is part of the deep value of nature study. It is not only about gathering information, but about cultivating attention. A child learns to observe carefully, to remember, and to delight in beauty. One of the loveliest ways to support this habit is through keeping some kind of record of their studies.
A nature journal need not be elaborate. In fact, it is often better when it is kept simple. A sketch, a date, a few notes about the weather. Perhaps a copied poem or a brief written observation these small things. Faithfully kept, these records become part of the fabric of a child’s education. Over time, they form a testimony to days spent noticing.
For many families, however, the difficulty is not in seeing the value of such a record, but in finding a way to form the habit of keeping it regularly. Our days are often busy and full. It can be helpful, then, to have something that gathers the different threads of nature study into one place.
Exploring Nature With Children: A Guided Journal was created with this in mind, as a companion for your child to use alongside the Exploring Nature With Children curriculum.
The journal follows the rhythm of the curriculum through the seasons and months, offering 48 weeks of guided journaling. Each week includes a themed prompt, space for sketching, a place to record the date and time, and a weather box, as well as poetry copywork, an art study page, and pages for written or sketched responses to the extension activities. At the back, there is also a Calendar of Firsts, where a child can note the first signs of the season that they observe, and pages to record the nature books read throughout the year.
What I especially love about this resource is that it gives shape to our lessons without becoming a burden. It offers a framework, but still leaves room for the child’s own encounter with what they have seen and known. It helps to make the habit of keeping a record more natural, and perhaps more sustainable, over the course of the year. And of course, when such journals are kept over time, they become more than just a part of lessons, they become a treasure: a record of seasons gone by, poems learned, art works studied, and the slow growth of a child’s powers of observation.
In a world that often urges haste in education, nature study invites us to go more slowly: to pay attention, to get to know a place well, let learning take root through direct acquaintance and quiet reflection. The Guided Journal can be a very simple help in that work.
For those who are using Exploring Nature With Children, I am currently running a special offer on the companion guided journal for children. If you have been wanting a gentle way to help your child keep a more regular record of their nature study, this may be a lovely time to add it to your plans.
Use code: GJ20 for a 20% discount on your Guided Journal purchase.
Happy exploring!
