Homeschooling in the Natural World

Some of my greatest childhood memories are of jumping in leaf piles that we had just gathered, night swimming with my family and racing to the end of the pool, picking strawberries and leaving the field with stained lips, planting flowers for our front porch, singing with my mom in our jeep with the top down, creating my own imaginative world to explore with my brother, carving pumpkins, gardening with my dad, and swinging in the hammock with my mom in the crisp fall air.

The fondest memories as an adult are those I have spent in nature with my own family.

Hiking 15 miles through the Redwood Forest to the Ocean, observing wild elk, kayaking in Northern California over an abandoned town, exploring the desert floor, learning and foraging native plants, weaving Yucca fibers, creating handmade gifts, learning to dye fabrics naturally, creating a medicinal herb book with my son, creating Earth Art, experiencing the beauty of Colorado, exploring Joshua Tree, traveling across the country together, studying the moon with our telescope beside the fire, swimming in the rivers of North Carolina, mountain biking as a family, reading books to my little boy under our eucalyptus tree, creating our garden, and spending time truly feeling the sun on my face.

We owe it to our children to teach them the wonder and the magic that nature holds.

We usually don't even have to teach that part, it comes naturally. All we have to do is give them the opportunity to experience it.

Fresh air and sunshine are just two reasons to take your homeschool outside.

Spending more time in nature, breathing fresh air and soaking in the sunshine will build your children's immunity, reduce anxiety, stress, depression and other mental health issues. Homeschooling in nature also increases creativity and promotes a feeling a relaxation, and this is of course what every parent wants for their child.

Homeschooling outside has been proven to increase overall academic performance

and made it easier for children to maintain focus.

Being in nature boost energy levels for you and your child, making it much more enjoyable to create and work together.

Expanding your school room walls gives a sense of freedom to children, which in turn will encourage them to be more receptive when learning new information. It allows them the freedom to move, which makes learning more fun, helps the lesson stick and improves overall health.

Spending your days outside will encourage your children's relationship with the world around them, developing an appreciation for nature and creating lasting memories for both of you.

I love to include a Nature Study of some kind all year long.

Sometimes this falls into our science or math lessons, and sometimes it is purely for the joy of learning about our world or acquiring a new life skill.

The joy of being outdoors is something that my whole family shares.

As my Son has grown older I have been able to observe him expanding his interest in the natural world. In his free time you will find him whittling a sculpture or tunneling a burrow for his guinea pigs, creating bow and arrows or climbing a tree. He has grown to love creating a sacred space outside for when he wishes to have some alone time, he knows he can find peace with himself outdoors.

We both keep a nature journal that we made from old books. This is a place where we freely sketch, scribble our thoughts, write weather observations, take notes of new information, jot down herbal remedies, press flowers, scrapbook memories and appreciate all that this world has to offer us.

Let us encourage our children to be free, to blossom and to grow in whichever way feels best for them.

It doesn't matter what type of homeschool approach you take, or what your structure looks like, we can all benefit from immersing our day in nature.

God's Creation is of the most beautiful. He intended for us to be apart of it, and it a part of us.

I would love to hear how you approach your Nature Study and how it has benefited your homeschool and your family!

What you are doing is something to be proud of.

All my Love,

Carlie Anna Humble

Here are some quotes that bring me inspiration, and serve as sweet reminders for what we all know deep within our hearts.

"If the schools were perfect, I would still homeschool my children-- because it isn't about school. It's about families taking their children back and educating them as they see best. It's about giving birth to a child and loving that child enough to want to nurture him and be a part of his life until he no longer needs you. It is the natural thing to do. School is only a substitute for the real thing." -Kathleen McCurdy

"The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living- hands on, exploring, in active relationships with life." -Vince Gowman

"Encourage your child to have muddy, grassy or sandy feet by the end of each day, that's the childhood they deserve." -Penny Whitehouse

"Children more than ever need opportunities to be in their bodies in the world- bicycling, jumping rope, stream hopping, and fort building. It's this engagement between limbs of the body and bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge." -David Sobel

"The ultimate gift we can give the world is to grow our tiny humans into adult humans who are independent thinkers, compassionate doers, conscious questioners, radical innovators, and passionate peacemakers.

Our world doesn't need more adults who blindly serve the powerful because they've been trained to obey authority without question.

Our world needs more adults who challenge and question and hold the powerful accountable." -L.R. Knost

"They're not just playing in nature, they are: Learning, Creating, Sensing, Believing, Relaxing, Exploring, Observing, Wondering, Connecting, Discovering, Appreciating, Understanding, Experimenting...." -Penny Whitehouse

"Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives." -Thomas Berry

"Children are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for Nature. Properly cultivated, these values can mature into ecological literacy, and eventually sustainable patterns of living." -Zenobia Barlow

"Don't just tell your children about the world, show them." -Penny Whitehouse

"It is vital that when educating our children's brains we do not neglect to educate their hearts." -Dalai Lama

"Teaching is not about answering questions but about raising questions -opening doors for them in places that they could not imagine." -Yawar Baig

"Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves."

-Stephen Moss

"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us, that clear eyed vision, and true instinct for what is beautiful, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood." -Rachel Carson

Keep scrolling down to comment, I would love to hear from you!