Nature Study: Developing the Habit of Observation by Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins

Welcome to our first Blog! This is an exciting opportunity to apply thoughts from the writings of Charlotte Mason to our technology today. In this article we will focus on the aspect of observation in nature study. My daughter, HollyAnne, and I teach nature study classes to the first and second grade classes at Perimeter School. After devotion, we begin each class with a nature walk if the specimen is on campus, then a time of observation and sharing. A first grade teacher commented that she has noticed her class observes nature more and more carefully. Recently one of our Enrichment Day dads made this comment, “I can’t draw anything, but by studying nature I found I could paint flowers that actually look real!” HollyAnne says that the most important minute of the hour is observation.

My assignment is to find what Charlotte Mason says about observation in her writings. I began by reading in Home Education, Volume 1 from the chapter titled “Out-of-Door life for the Children.” Charlotte Mason says that she trains the powers of observation and expression by sending children on an exploring expedition. Children are sent out to see who can see and tell the most about yonder hillock or brook, hedge or copse which is an exercise that delights children. By degrees the children will learn discriminatingly every feature of the landscapes with which they are familiar. She says that scenes must be fully seen to be remembered. In our classes children and parents spend a full minute observing the specimen then share their observations with the class. For that minute, they are not allowed to let their eyes wander but must see “fully and in detail.” When students share from their observations, it is important that all classmates and adults engage in the art of listening. Charlotte Mason says that “all this is stale knowledge to older people, but one of the secrets of the educator is to present nothing as stale knowledge, but to put himself in the position of the child, and wonder and admire with him; for every common miracle which the child sees with his own eyes makes of him for the moment another Newton.”

In our classes, the Enrichment Day parents participate in observation and sharing along with the students. For every nature study specimen, HollyAnne and I have shared our own observations with one another prior to class. We are all nature study learners in every aspect. An Enrichment Day mom said, “Attending nature study is a great experience for parents because it gives us an opportunity to slow down and look closely at the details of God’s creation.” We believe that a true nature study begins with keen observation skills then follows with the opportunity to paint with watercolors in the sketchbook.

Greetings! HollyAnne here! I want to share some examples of things that our nature study students and their parents have shared with us this year.

Parents (ponderings on observation):

“As a result of his nature studies at PCS, my son has become much more observant of God’s creation outside the classroom. Many PCS parents agree that their children tend to notice nature and appreciate it more than they used to.” ~Mrs.Crawford

“As a busy parent of four children, I seldom have time to sit quietly for anything, much less to paint the details of nature. This is a very relaxing, enjoyable experience and makes me wish I had time to take up painting. I love it!” ~Mrs. Dimock

“Today was my first ever nature study. I was so impressed with the detail and thought the children put into attempting to reproduce part of God’s creation. It really requires them to pause and observe the beautiful art of our Father!” ~ Mrs. Thornton

Students (observations from class):

“It’s like the sky was crying brown on it.” ~Trace, on brown spots on a Red Maple leaf

“It’s got a bud that’s almost opening, and if you look close you can see a stamen that’s almost out.” ~Rebecca, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“It smells like cherries!” ~Jared, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“I noticed on these things [stamen] that all of them are green except for one.” ~Henry, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“I was looking at the little petal, and I noticed there are some dark pink lines on it.” ~Gracie, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“The petals fall off easily!” ~Hailey, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“I noticed on the tips where the pollen is there are a lot of brown spots.” ~Megan, on Okame Cherry Blossoms

“The bud looks like there’s skin on it.” ~Lauren, on Camellias

“Right here it sort of looks like a bud, and this leaf is curled up. There are three small holes in it.” ~Charlie, on Camellias

“On my flower bud it looks like there’s a little bit of silver. And on the leaves there is a little yellow strip.” ~Anna, on Camellias

There are zig-zags on the ends of my leaf.” ~Amanda, on Camellias

“When I was trying to smell this, it smells bad; but when I was touching the bottom, it feels good.” ~Kristine, on Camellias

“It’s soft, like a pillow and a blanket.” ~Kristine, on Dandelions

“I was looking at my flowers, and I noticed that every one is different.” ~Kaitlin, on Dandelions

“It has some fuzzy stuff on it. Wanna see it?” ~Caroline, on Dandelions

“In the middle it’s got little dots where the pollen is.” ~Alexa, on Dandelions

“The edges aren’t flat.” ~Andrew, on Lilies

“These [the stamen] are very pollen-y.” ~Henry, on Lilies

“These [the stamen] look like cattails.” ~Gracie, on Lilies

“Part of the pollen has gone on the stigma.” ~Caleb, on Lilies

“There are lots of colors. Green, white, brown, yellow, and pink. That’s five!” ~Trace, on Lilies

“This one looks like it’s about to bud, and this one looks like it’s still working on it.” ~Rachel, on Lilies

As I am sure you have noticed, Mom and I are very passionate about nature study. We believe it to be an incredibly valuable tool in teaching children to see, study, learn, and appreciate. I love watching the eyes of our students twinkle with delight with each new discovery in class. I am constantly amazed at the details they notice and the comparisons they make. Their comparisons tend to be very accurate, might I add.
Something I have learned from them is that everyone sees things differently. When we study flowers, some of the children are enamored with the soft petals; others are fascinated with the details of the stigma and stamen. Each specimen and each student is unique, as is the way each student observes the specimens. This uniqueness adds to the joy of discovery, the joy of nature study, and the joy of learning.
Have fun with your next nature study. Remember, even if you do not have time to sit down and do a full painting, just taking the time to observe a specimen, even the common dandelion, offers a wealth of learning, joy, and experience!

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“The Higher the Fewer” by Laurie Bestvater

“People are naturally divided into those who read and think and those who do not read or think…” CM Vol.6 p.31

The day I graduated high school from a small south eastern Ontario village, my drama teacher took me aside and very seriously told me, “Remember, the higher the fewer.”  Puzzled though I was, he would give no further explanation. He was a little “weird” as teachers go (he once won a school-wide bet with another teacher over who could resist washing his person for the longest period of time…I’ll leave you to extrapolate!) so I wasn’t terribly worried not to understand his advice but I do have to admit that it has stayed with me all these years.

Beginning with the university graduation address which assured the class of ____ that we were in the top 1% of the world intellectually, over time this saying began to take on a personal meaning somewhat akin to: the higher your education, the fewer people you will find as peers. While I can not condone the elitism coming out of this secular education, I do affirm a profound loneliness in following the advice of people like Mason or Benjamin Disraeli who said, “Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go any higher than you think.” (Was he educated in a CM influenced school?)

Isn’t it dangerous to think “great thoughts?” I sometimes feel that if we are educating with the “goods of the gods” relying on Mason’s observations of atmosphere, discipline and life, they are gifts that the majority of people no longer or rarely want. If the goal is children who can live for Truth, Goodness and Beauty, participating in the Great Conversation, it can seem often as if they will be speaking mostly monologues.

Two men at our church were overheard commenting on my daughter’s unusual (to them) academic abilities and future prospects at university: “too bad she’ll probably come back over-educated.” They said. A friend has shared that even amongst her peers she is considered too idealistic in her understanding of education to be “practical.” In working with other Christians in various educational settings I have also been seen as suspect, my CM views “unorthodox,” perhaps even heretical. Many of us have tried to explain this wonderful “new” understanding of education we’ve found only to find that words can not easily do it justice before our listeners’ eyes glaze over or their brows furrow in hearty concern.  Is this a case of the higher our understanding the fewer opportunities we have for true community?

Jack Beckman’s article,” Charlotte Mason College (1938-1960)–The Struggle Stateward” in The Charlotte Mason Educational Review this spring points out that the counter-cultural aspect of Mason’s paradigm was, if not always, then eventually (and might I say inevitably,) under fire.

“… circumstances of economy, population, and
State pedagogy conspired after 1934 to open the
way for a trajectory leading to the College’s
ultimate dissolution in 1960 as a vehicle for
Mason’s educational gospel.

Although we are not deifying Mason, there is a sense that we who have been “converted” to her way of seeing and can never be the same, are “missionaries” with this “good news” in a post-Christian culture bent on suppressing such a radical simplicity.  As such, it seems to me that two major sets of questions arise for those of us concerned with the spread of her ideas, as they must have in Mason’s time and shortly after:

How do we bring the “good news” to a population with no felt need thereof?

And what kind of things do we do to be community to each other along the way?

I realize that each of us will answer these questions in personal and individual ways but I think it is really invaluable to have venues like this blog and the ChildlightUSA conferences in which to share our various paths and strategies. Perhaps I have assumed we are a “movement” erroneously, from my own experience in moving from a personal to a more global desire.  I began with home schooling, a microcosm, because of the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with the state’s paradigm.  I grew to realize that I cared for more than just changing the lives of my children who often also felt isolated; the only ones to answer in Sunday school class, ridiculed for their large vocabularies, searching for peers even in university classes etc.  I committed to facilitating a study group leading others to explore Mason’s wisdom.  I taught small groups of children when I could. A few of us “co-oped” in a book club that included recitations and Shakespeare and eventually debating and worldview classes. I used Mason to teach ESL and all the while have struggled with whether this could be a call to earn “certification” in order to have a wider influence.  For the moment, I am exploring how CM and classical education interrelate as some in my community wish to start a classical school.  In short, I am committed to understanding as much of Mason as I can and sharing it in all the ways I can.

What is your story?  If we could sit around a table at Gardner-Webb, this is what I’d ask you.  Is this your experience, “the higher the fewer?” What do you wish to see happen with Mason’s ideas?  How do you see us best positioning ourselves to do this effectively?  Do you sense a movement reawakening? Do you feel isolated or as part of a strong “we?”  How have you managed to find “kindred spirits” for the journey–for your children’s journeys?

Since I graduated high school (and university) before Internet and Google, this phrase, “the higher the fewer” had no context until just recently I clicked “search” and found that it is really part of a so called “non-sense riddle” that has been floating around our culture for a long time. Originally it was, “Why is a mouse when it spins? Because the higher the fewer.”  Further research indicated that there is actually a sensible answer. “The meaning had to do with the centrifugal governor on an old steam engine-the weight was called the mouse, and as the engine rpm increased the mouse would rise due to centrifugal force. But as the mouse rose, the arm would force the steam valve in the more closed direction, thus reducing the rpm, that is, the higher (the mouse,) the fewer (rpms.) So for a given setting for the mouse on the arm, the engine would run at a constant speed.

Perhaps the riddle of our efforts in Mason is like this; what we may perceive as isolation and an almost futile mouse-like “orbit” all our own, will turn out to be an integral part of great engine that is already picking up speed and will change the face of education the way the steam engine changed North America. We ought not “despise the day of small things,” as scripture says.

“To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where He is not, into the light and warmth and comfort…of the presence of God, is, no doubt, the chief thing we have to do in the world.” CM Vol.2 p.50

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