- We're having a great time answering your questions
about nature study.
This week we're going to talk about preschool.
What does nature study look like in the preschool years?
And as always, we're going to bring our nature study
go-to person, Karen Smith, in on this discussion.
So let's get started.
Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason Podcast.
I'm Sonya Shafer.
Joining me today is Karen Smith.
Nature Study go-to person.
Thank you.
Today, the question is all about preschool.
And here is the question as it was submitted.
So let me read that for you.
What does nature or outdoor time look like
in the early years before formal lessons begin at age six
or seven, and specifically for children two and under?
I've read Home Education, so I know what Charlotte says,
but I'm wondering
if SCM has any specific details or suggestions
for families who come to Charlotte Mason very early.
So, preschool years.
What's that look like?
- Lots of outside time.
Children love being outside.
I know it's hard for moms sometimes
because there's so much to do inside.
- Yeah, I have got laundry
I've got to get all this stuff done.
- And the children are still young enough
that you can't send them out on their own.
They need supervision.
And so you need to be purposeful
in making some time that you can be outside
and your child can be outside exploring nature
even in just in their own backyard or front yard
or if you want to take them to a park.
But that downtime is good for mom too.
- That's true.
I can still remember the times when I had
preschoolers sitting at the park, watching them play
or interacting with them.
I mean, often we would be there together.
with our preschoolers. - Yes.
I remember that.
We would take a picnic lunch. - Yes.
And we'd spend all morning and then have lunch
and then go home and put them in bed, you know?
So, yes.
Lots of time.
That's so important.
- And I remember just being at home
I would just take a lawn chair and sit on the deck.
We followed the shade.
So in the morning they would,
they would go out front so I could sit
in the shade and in the afternoons they would go
out back and I could sit there
and I could watch them and interact with them from my chair.
And, but I could also observe some
of the things with them too.
So they had plenty of time to get out there and run
around and experience being in nature,
out in the the fresh air surrounded by our grass,
the few trees we have,
any flowers we might have had planted.
Those sorts of things.
There's always insects buzzing around
and birds and squirrels going through the yard.
So all of those things, your child notices.
- And it's funny
because when you talk about, I'm thinking, okay, the yard.
Yeah, grass.
Yeah, squirrels.
Yeah, insects.
Yeah, trees.
It's like, I've been seeing them for 50 plus years.
What's the big deal?
- Well, they're all new to your child.
- Exactly, that's what Charlotte says.
- The child hasn't experienced those.
- Yeah.
The feel of the grass on the bare feet.
Or even just observing the different blades
of grass and how they grow.
There are different types of grass and many
of us have more than one kind of grass growing
in our lawns and weeds and all sorts of things.
And those are all new to your child.
- And it's not like they're going to go out there
and just sit in one place and stare at the grass.
Some of them might for a little time.
- Yes.
- But they're also the, I think the nature study
in those early years is combined
with the physical action and learning about gravity.
- Yes, I was just thinking that I fell down.
- Yeah, all kind, and climbing and getting their muscle.
You know, learning about how their body works too.
I think it's combined, isn't it?
- Yes and giving them plenty
of time to explore and experience those things
is what preschool nature study is all about.
Everything is new to them.
They don't have those experiences that you have.
They're forming those now in those early years.
- And it's going to take a lot of time
because you can't dictate when a squirrel
is going to show up.
- Right.
- You can't dictate, we have an appointment,
we're going to be out there for these 15 minutes
and the robin will appear during those 15 minutes.
You can't do that.
- No, they don't do that.
No, you could go out and say,
"Well, the flowers are blooming."
They're not going to run away.
- Thankfully, yes.
- So, so you do have that.
But many things in nature,
the wind that they might,
the wind through their hair or just on the face
or you have to walk against,
sometimes you get those really strong winds
and you have to walk against those.
What does that feel like when you're walking
into the wind or when you're walking the same direction
that the wind is blowing?
It's two different feelings.
And your children are experiencing that
and they're learning about that.
Now you may think, "Oh, wind, I've got to walk against it."
It's going to mess up my hair,
but your child isn't thinking.
- Go back inside kid.
- Right, your child isn't thinking that.
- And they need to experience those things.
- So give them plenty of time to observe and experience
and just to grow in those connections that they are making.
- As Charlotte said, never be within indoors
when you can be without. - Yes.
- Rightly be without, yeah. - Yes.
And she lived where it rained a lot.
- Yeah, and it wasn't very warm.
- Right. - It was, yeah.
The weather was not real cooperative in England.
So, good point.
- So one of the things that you can do that can
make nature study a little bit more formal
in those early years, we don't want lessons
for the children for those preschool years.
But if you find something that is interesting
to you or you think might interest your child
feel free to draw your child's attention to that.
Look at this acorn.
I like the way the cap is on it.
What do you like about it?
- Boom, that's it. - That's it.
- So you snuck a little tiny bit of vocabulary in there.
- Yes. - That it's a cap.
That's just what you call it.
Which is what you would do
if you were talking about any other thing.
Like the dog, you would talk about.
- Right, he has a tail.
He has ears.
- Yeah and an acorn has a cap.
So it's not, like you said, it's not a formal thing
but you can call things by their rightful names.
And you only said one sentence about it.
- I said what I observed about it.
- Yeah, one thing you observed.
- And then I invited the child to tell me
what he observes about it.
- And maybe he will, and maybe he won't.
- He might say the same thing that you just said
and that's okay because remember, it's still new to him.
- Yes, yes.
- And he's making those connections.
Whether you see the evidence
of that or not, he's internalizing that information.
- And it could be that he's not real interested
in the acorn right now
because he just noticed something else.
You know, a ladybug on the grass down here.
- And that's fine too.
Let him go with the ladybug.
The acorns will be there waiting
for him when he's ready for them.
- So just gently mentioning what draws your attention
and inviting the child.
I like that term, inviting.
We're not requiring. - Oh no.
Now you must give me an observation.
We're just inviting it. - Yes.
In order to, what does that do?
That helps them grow in their observation skills.
- Yes, it helps them to notice things.
It helps them to think about them in different ways too.
Oh yeah, it's an acorn.
- But it has parts to it.
- Maybe you're dealing with a five-year-old.
"I've seen that before, mom."
But if you can draw the attention to,
"What do you notice about it?"
Now they have to look more closely.
- So it's almost like what Charlotte was talking about
the mental gymnastics that you can do
with different pieces of nature.
That you can just point out one other thing.
Like, let's look at the texture this time.
- Yes.
That's a good example.
- Look at the color this time.
Or you know, so there are different aspects
that you could draw out
of the same object over different days.
- And you can even ask your child,
"What does this remind you of?"
And it might be something that is not nature related.
And that's okay because they're making that connection.
When I see this certain thing, it reminds me of this.
And I know that I can name that thing
because it reminds me of this other thing.
And I've made that connection between those.
That's my, that's how I remember.
- So you're teaching them how to make those associations
for themselves.
It might be totally different for you.
- Oh yes, because we're all individuals.
- Yes, but as you said, also, this is not structured.
We must do this all the time
until the child grows weary of it.
- No, we go back to give your child plenty
of time to explore an experience on his own.
And you can draw gently his attention to things that you
think he might be interested in or things
that are new to you.
But don't make it a big lesson.
Just very gently do these things.
- Now for the older kids, we have nature notebooks
where they can record their observations.
I'd like you to talk a little bit
about what SCM has created to encourage younger ones
and so that they feel
like they have something special like their older siblings
but that doesn't require as much as a nature notebook.
All right. - Yes.
Yeah, tell about, I'll grab it.
You tell about it.
- Okay, so we have a preschool subscription kit,
comes out every month.
And one of the elements in that is a nature hunt notebook.
Now the child gets this notebook
and then every month they get two nature stickers.
- I've got three here for an example.
A tree, a squirrel, and a fish.
- Yes, so they get two every month.
And the the idea is that you help your child
when your child's outside to look
for those things, those stickers, what came on the stickers.
And when they find them, they can put them
in their notebook, wherever they want to.
If they want to tell you something
about it or try and draw a picture, that's fine.
You can write down what they say
and record it in that notebook.
And it's just a way
for them to have a connection with nature and to give you
as the mom something to look for if you really
don't know what to do when your child's in nature.
So it gives you a starting point.
- Yes, and I like, well the inside of this book
is just completely blank.
- It's just blank.
- Which is, so as you said, they can put their stickers
anywhere they want to and they don't have to
tell you anything extra. - No.
- As they get older, we've seen this with our grandkids.
As they get older and are used to doing this, every month
we're looking for these two nature things.
They start noticing other things as well
- And more things about what they're looking for.
- Yes, and then mom writes down what they want to say
about where they discovered it
and what happened when they discovered it.
And what they noticed about it and all of that.
If they want to, but they don't have to.
Another thing I love
about this idea is they get two stickers
and maybe one of those stickers,
they're not going to see that month, like a rainbow.
I think one of the stickers is a rainbow.
They might not see it that month, but you know how
kids will remember things that are important to them.
And this will help teach them patience
and delayed gratification.
- Yes. - In a very gentle way.
- And that every time we go out into nature,
we don't always see what we were hoping to see.
- Yes, and that's an important lesson
for all of us to learn.
And then when they do see it, the joy is just multiplied.
- And sometimes the connection is better
because they've been waiting to see it.
And so when they do, it makes an impression on them.
- Yes, yes.
So I think this, our preschool life nature hunt, we call it,
because they're just hunting for these things in nature.
I think it helps the children open their eyes
and notice what's around them intentionally.
- Yes.
- They do that anyway, but they,
we don't always make that connection.
So I think it's a good thing for parents and for the kids.
- Yes, yes for both. - Yes.
So that's our preschool life.
We'll leave a link in the show notes
for people who might want to learn more about that.
Anything else you want to say to encourage parents
in those early years with the little ones?
I noticed a lot of what you said had the word time in it.
- Yes, really relax.
Your child has a lifetime to learn.
Your child does not have to learn everything
in those preschool years.
Give them that growing time.
Let them experience, let them make their own connections.
There's plenty of time for formal lessons.
- That's a good word.
And when you said they make their own connections,
that's going to vary even between siblings.
- Yes.
- I mean, you had four children in five years.
- Yes.
- So you had a lot of preschoolers altogether
and I bet they each noticed something different.
- Yes, and some were more interested than others.
- Even in that younger age.
- Yes. - Yeah.
So you're going to see the child's personality
coming through as well.
- Yes, very much so. - That's great.
Thanks so much.
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If you're interested in learning more
about our preschool life, the monthly subscription box,
check the show notes for a link.
Thanks for joining me.
I'll see you next time.