We've kept nature journal for years, but they don't flow as naturally as other areas in our homeschool days. I desire to embrace nature, but I'll admit that I have issues with weather (the bitter cold, the exhausting heat, or the relentless winds), bugs, snakes, and even fear, after losing a family friend on a hiking trail just last year. An innocent hike, turned deadly and took the life of a mom and her sister, but spared their teenage daughter. It's an area of prayer for me daily, coupled with my own health struggles that hinder a simple walk at times.
This school year we had an amazing road schooling adventure that took us on many paths. Paths of dirt, paved walkways, and sandy shores, but we took finding beauty outdoors for weeks at a time. I will always treasure those moments with nature and my family as magical. We didn't have a manual, or field guides, nature journals, or even a plan - - we just went outside and looked and listened. It was amazing and we really learned a lot.
I think sometimes we put too much emphasis into research or even the journal part of our nature adventuring, and we lose a little of the freedom in exploring the beauty around us. I'm trying to find a balance in our upcoming school year that allows for the feeling of freedom and still fills our nature journals with pieces of this beautiful life growing around us.
“We all have need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life.”~Charlotte Mason
May I be trained to see, and embrace that joy, despite the obstacles that have kept us indoors.
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