- How to do nature study when it is cold outside.
(light music)
I'm Sonya Shafer with Simpy Charlotte Mason.
I don't know about you but usually
when I think about nature study I picture
a beautiful spring day with a lovely breeze
and gorgeous sunshine, really nice weather.
We're all happily walking down
a lovely path, smiling at the flowers
and the trees and the little bunny rabbits
are frisking about, or something.
It's not realistic, but that's where my mind likes to go.
I don't usually think of snow, and ice,
and freezing temperatures when I imagine nature study.
Maybe that's one of the reasons
that it's so difficult sometimes to get outside
during the winter days.
When the weather isn't very inviting.
But Charlotte Mason encouraged us
to do nature study all year round.
Even in the middle of winter.
How do we do that?
Well, my friend and coworker Karen Smith is here
to give us some ideas.
Karen, you've got some great ideas for this
because you live up north.
I'm in Georgia and our winters, it still gets cold
but not like up north.
What's winter like where you live?
- Snowy, slushy.
- How snowy are we talking here?
- Not as snowy as where I used to live but.
(chuckling)
- Which was way up north, Michigan.
- Yeah, so now it's much better.
- Yeah, you love the cold and I love the heat
so it's a good thing we live on different ends
of the country.
- Where I live we might get a few inches at a time.
And sometimes it'll melt before we get more
but not always.
So there might be a foot of snow on the ground
any given time during winter.
- What kind of temperatures are we talking?
- Very cold.
Often in January we will be single digits or below zero.
- And the wind sure cuts through.
- Wind blows a lot and it's gray and it's cold
and it's snowy and it can be kind of dreary.
- And so do you really just get excited about going outside
to do nature study when it's like that?
- I do.
(laughing)
- Why, what is there to see?
Or more than see, I guess.
Give us some ideas for nature study in winter.
- Oh there's plenty to see.
As usual, everybody has a sun and the moon.
Actually the moon, the winter time
is a great time to observe the moon
because it gets dark earlier.
And the moon rises.
I mean, over the last several weeks here
in November I have noticed the moon
when I take the dog out.
And it's been full and I've been watching
the phases of the moon.
And so you can see those at an earlier time
which is great for children.
- Yeah, especially younger children.
- Yes, they won't have to stay up too late
to see the moon or the stars.
You can always track the weather.
But some of the things that you can do
that you don't do in the warmer weather
is you can see the shapes of the trees now.
You can notice the bark.
You can see the buds and watch them throughout
the winter and see how they change.
The buds are on the trees for next spring already.
- Really? - Yes.
Watch how they change during those cold weather months.
- Now I wanna go outside.
- You can catch snow flakes on dark fabric
and look at them with magnifying glasses.
Do it outside so they don't melt.
- I was gonna say, are they gonna melt?
Yeah, but if you stay outside they won't.
- Yes, you can do that.
You can put out a heated bird bath
so that you can watch the birds along
with your bird feeders, it gives one more thing to do.
- Okay, how heated are we talking?
Because I'm seeing little birds in a hot tub.
- Oh, just enough so it doesn't freeze.
I have one, it's got an electrical cord on it
and you plug it in.
And it just keeps it from freezing
and the birds love it.
- I suppose.
- They'll be snow all around it and the birds taking baths.
It's fascinating.
You can notice how the wind drifts the snow.
- Hm.
- Have you ever noticed that? - Mm-hm.
- The way it looks.
- When I grew up we lived in the country.
And we had a gravel road in front of us
and depending on where the trees were,
there was a line of trees, evergreens,
and the snow would always just drift like six feet
right there because the wind would just push everything
to that location and block the road.
I never thought of that as nature study.
- Oh it's nature study because you're studying
the wind and how it effects things around you.
- Yeah.
- You can look for tracks in the snow.
Not just tracks but birds will leave wing prints
in the snow, also.
- [Sonya] Really?
- Yes, when they take off or when they land.
So there's all kinds of things you can look for in the snow.
You can look for seed pods on plants.
You can look for insect egg sacs or cocoons
and things like that.
- Those are around in winter?
- Oh, definitely.
Some insects their eggs over winter
or they over winter in their cocoons
and they emerge in the spring.
You can collect rocks in the warm weather months
and save them for examining in the winter time.
- So you would do that in your house?
- Oh, definitely.
- You can do nature study inside?
- Yes, you can.
(laughing)
You can sprout seeds and watch them grow.
You can force flower bulbs.
There's even kits you can get to do that.
- Yeah we did an amaryllis one winter.
- You can do that and you can draw it
in it's different stages and observe it everyday.
You can watch the bird feeders in the bird bath
from the window without even having to go outside.
Change the bird feed, or put out different feeders
and see what kinds of birds you can attract
and how they're different.
And what their preferences are.
- Yeah, some birds like the sunflower seeds.
- Mm-hm, some like peanuts.
- Some like suet. - Mm-hm.
- Okay.
- So, there's all kinds of things that you can do.
- Would you recommend a pair of binoculars
at the window to observe the birds, or what do you think?
- If your bird feeders are not right next
to the window, like mine are, yes.
- Okay, or they have the ones that you can attach
right to the window.
- Yes.
- Do those work in the winter as well or?
- Yes, definitely. - Okay.
- No, birds go wherever there's food.
You can look to see, watch and observe
if there are any mammals that come to your feeders
in the winter time, also.
- Oh, squirrels.
My mom is always talking about
the squirrels stealing the bird feed.
- I actually have shrews that come and eat the seeds, also.
But you have to watch for them because they tunnel.
- Oh wow.
- And so you have to notice where their tunnels are.
But all that is part of observing what is happening outside.
- Now observing those types of things
would take some time.
- It could take a lifetime.
- Well, yeah but even, I mean if you're gonna see
these holes or watch the shrew.
If you're outside in the winter trying
to take your time to look at the buds
on the trees or something like that,
it can get very uncomfortable out there
when it's so, so cold.
- [Karen] Yes.
- I looked it up and it was interesting
to me that Charlotte Mason lived in Ambleside, England.
And their winters were averaging between 32 and 42 degrees.
- Yes, they're very mild there for as far north as they are.
- Yeah, somewhat.
But they would also get rain more than half of the days.
So we're talking probably very cold rain
and probably good winds because, you know,
you're out in Ambleside, you're out in the lake district.
Not in the middle of town.
So you've got wind and rain,
and still not that warm compared
to Georgia, of temperatures.
Do you have any tips or advice
for people who need to go out
to do nature study in those less than ideal conditions
just to stay comfortable?
You can stay outside much longer
if you're not freezing to death, you know.
- Correct and yes, I do have advice.
- [Sonya] Oh good.
- Dress appropriately for the weather.
I have a young mom who's my friend
and her young children are outside
in all kinds of weather because she goes by
the Swedish proverb that there is no bad weather
but there is bad clothing.
- So how do you, what kinds of things
do you recommend and is this expensive?
- It does not have to be expensive.
If you're in a colder climate like I am,
warm winter jackets and hats or gloves and mittens
and all that type of thing.
- Layers are.
- Those are a must. - Yeah.
- And of course, if it's 10 below outside
with a windchill that's colder than that,
don't stay out for an hour.
- Yeah, yeah, some conditions are life threatening.
- Know the limits.
Maybe you can only go out for a few minutes.
That's okay, observe something while you're out there.
You know, if you live where it might
be rainier in the winter time, get rain coats.
Take the kids out.
You can still layer underneath them.
- That's true, if you just have like.
- Boots.
- Those ponchos and good rubber boots for rain.
- So you can stay dry and warm, in my climate.
You know, dress appropriately.
- What do you do with nature notebooks
when you're outside all bundled up
and your hands are in the nice warm mittens?
What do you do then?
- Observe what you can while you're outside.
If it's a milder day, you can bring your notebook out there
and maybe that's the time that you look
at the buds on the trees so you can draw a sketch.
- Okay.
- Maybe you take a picture while you're out there real quick
and then bring it in and draw.
- [Sonya] Yeah, that would make sense.
- While you're inside.
You don't always have to draw, either.
You can just remember some of the things
that you saw and make notes of it in your nature book.
- Once you get back inside? - Mm-hm.
- That makes total sense.
So, do you have any encouragement
for a homeschool mom or dad who's
just feeling completely unmotivated
about getting outside during the winter
to do nature study?
- Open your eyes and see what is out there
in your area to see.
Don't keep wishing you lived where it was warmer
or where there were more nature things to see.
But see what's in your area and enjoy it.
- Thank you.
If you enjoyed this podcast be sure to subscribe
through iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
or your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode.
You can also subscribe to the audio version
or read the blog post on our website
at SimplyCharlotteMason.com.
All of those links will be in the notes.
Thanks for joining me, I'll see you next time.
(light music)