24 | Charlotte Mason Nature Study Comes Alive: Using What's in Your Own Backyard (Or Bird Sanctuary) as Your Homeschool

When you slow down to notice nature with your children—a diving pelican, a singing bird, the way the seasons shift, nature study becomes more than curriculum. It becomes sacred observation that feeds wonder, attention, and a living faith. Charlotte Mason understood that feeling comes before facts, and a good living book deepens what you've already seen.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why observation matters more than identification in nature study
• How to use living books to deepen what your children naturally notice
• The three simple observation prompts that unlock curiosity ("I noticed... I wonder... It reminds me of...")
• Permission to keep messy nature notebooks (because appreciation, not perfection, builds habits)

Go be the peace God created you to be.

 — The Catholic Grandma

SCRIPTURES REFERENCED

• Psalm 8:3-4 — "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers..."
• Proverbs 22:6 — "Train up a child in the way they should go..."

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Come Again, Pelican by Don Freeman
• Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary (Bolivar Peninsula, Texas)
• Nature notebook (any blank journal works)
• Field guide (optional; use after observation, not before)

KEY QUOTES

• Rachel Carson: "It is not half so important to know as to feel."
• Charlotte Mason: "Children are naturally apt to wonder about the mountains, the seas..."
• Charlotte Mason: "Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life."
• Mystie Bestvater (CM modern): "Even more important, students learn to know and take pleasure in objects from nature like they do in the familiar faces of friends."

RELATED EPISODES

• Episode 7: Living Books vs. Twaddle
• Episode 15: Dreaming of a Peaceful Homeschool
• Episode 18: Want a Simpler Homeschool Day?

CALL TO ACTION

 Formation Guide for the Domestic Church (free resource)

 Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms (Facebook group)

Transcript

Nature Study Begins With Noticing

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you think nature study requires a fancy field guide, a spotting scope, and a weekend trip to a nature preserve, you're already overthinking it. Your kids don't need you to be a scientist. They need you to notice. And here's the beautiful part. Nature study isn't a curriculum you buy. It's something that happens when you slow down enough to watch pelicans dive into the ocean. And then you have a living book waiting on your shelf to deepen what you already saw. That's when learning becomes sacred. Are you a Catholic mom trying to build a homeschool that feels peaceful, faith-filled, and actually doable, but you're exhausted from piecing it all together? Then you're in the right place. Welcome to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling. I'm a Catholic grandmother, namely my mom. Lifelong educator and the mother of a homeschool mom. Scripture tells us to stop performing to the world plate and let God transform it from the inside out. But when it comes to homeschooling, the world play is often the only matter. I watched my daughter's quick. So in turn, I decided to dog differently. Together we discovered that people aren't just a different boat. They're the life we're actually. This show is for the mom who Arnie knows that in her moment and just needs someone to walk beside her. But grab whatever's left of your morning coffee and co-hide in the bathroom if you have to. And let's do the hard, holy work together. By the way, if you're feeling this, you're not alone. Come join us in the Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms Facebook group. It's where we're having these conversations in real time, sharing what's working in our homes, and supporting each other through the messy middle. The link is in the show notes. I can't wait to share this episode with you.

Pelicans And The Power Of Living Books

SPEAKER_00 1:59

A few weeks ago, we were driving down to our beach cabin on the Texas coast, and the grandchildren were watching pelicans dive from the car window. Just watching. No lesson, no clipboard, just noticing how the pelican's whole body becomes an arrow pointing down, how the water explodes and how it surfaces again. Later that afternoon, we drove down to the flats, which is a shorebird sanctuary, and the kids were primed. They wanted to see what they'd already noticed, so they spotted plovers, sandpipers, herons. Every bird they'd watched from the cabin suddenly had a name, and it had a story. A few weeks ago we were driving down to our beach cabin on the Texas coast, and the grandchildren were watching pelicans dive from the window. Just watching. No lesson and no clipboard. Just noticing how the pelican's whole body becomes an arrow pointing down, and how the water explodes and then how it surfaces again. Later that afternoon we drove down to the flats, which is a shore bird sanctuary, and the kids were primed. They wanted to see what they had already been noticing. We walked down to the flats and spotted plovers, sandpipers, and herons. Every bird they'd been watching from the car window or from the cabin suddenly had a name and had a story. That evening we sat on the porch, and I pulled out Come Again Pelican by Don Freeman. It's not a field guide, it's not scientifically rigorous. It's a story about a pelican, but reading it after they'd watch real pelicans, something shifted with them. The book deepened what they'd already seen in the illustrations, and the illustrations made sense. The pelican's personality matched what they'd observed. That's nature study. It's not a curriculum you buy. It's noticing something that makes your child stop. Then because you want to see it again, understand it more, you go seeking and you find that sanctuary. And you watch a little longer, you ask questions, and then they do the same. And when you come home with observations burning in their mind, the living book arrives like the answer to a question your child didn't know to ask. It connects everything, it deepens everything, and makes it all make sense.

Wonder Before Facts With Kids

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Now this is foundational and it changes everything about how you approach nature study with your kids. Because feelings come before facts. Rachel Carson wrote, It is not half so important to know as to feel. Not half as important. And what does this mean? It means you're not gathering facts. You're preparing the soil. You're creating an emotional sensory experience that will invite learning later. So before facts, watch the pelican dive, because the feelings will be awe and amazement. And notice the bird's color and shape to have the feeling of curiosity and wonder, and sit quietly and listen to the shore. And that feeling will be peace and belonging. Then facts can come naturally through a book, through a conversation, through time. So an example of this would be maybe your child spots a blue jay. Well you don't need to say blue jays are corvids, part of the Corbidae family. Instead, wow, look at the color of that blue jay. I've never seen exactly that shade before or listen to that sound. What does it remind you of? Or even I wonder why it's so loud. Charlotte Mason emphasizes sensory gymnastics. And this is training the senses to notice deeply. Because when a child senses or awake, the facts stick and when you skip the feeling, the facts are just lists. So you don't need to know all the names of the birds to do this. Your job is to notice with your kids, not to teach at them. Now, here's what happens when mothers realize this. Everything changes. Because your children will learn to observe by watching you observe. You are the model, not because you know everything, but because you notice everything. So when you're on a trail, you stop and say, Hey, I notice the sand is different here. It's wetter and darker. Or I wonder why all the birds are facing the same direction. Or even this reminds me of the beach when I was your age. And some of the Charlotte Mason observation props I would use with your children are I notice, I wonder, and it reminds me of. Because these three sentences are the entire framework. You are not analyzing, you're narrating what you see. And when kids watch you bend down to look at a shell and pause to listen to the ocean, or even ask genuine questions, they learn that observation is valuable. It's not rushing to the destination. It's not checking off a list. It's just being present. And Charlotte Mason states, children are naturally apt to wonder about the mountains and the seas, but they need to see an adult who wonders first. And the honest truth is if you're stressed about getting this just right, your kids are gonna feel it. They'll feel rushed. But if you're genuinely curious, what's that bird doing? Let's watch. They'll slow down, they'll notice, and they'll become observers. So you don't need binoculars or expertise. You just need curiosity and permission to stop and observe. I also

Keep A Messy Nature Notebook

SPEAKER_00 7:21

want you to know that it is important to keep a notebook and that it does not have to be perfect. So here's where nature study breaks down for overwhelmed homeschool moms. The notebook becomes another performance. Should I sketch? Should I label? Should I use a filled journal template? Should my kids make a nature portfolio? Absolutely not, because a nature notebook actually is a place to remember what you notice. And that is all it should be. Charlotte Mason teaches the teachers are careful not to turn these nature walks into an opportunity to give science lessons. A nature walk is not a data collection mission. So Bess Vader says even more important students learn to know and take pleasure in objects from nature like they do the familiar faces of friends, and appreciate rather than produce. So this reframes everything. Prevader says even more important students learn to know and take pleasure in objects from nature like they do the familiar faces of friends. And appreciate rather than produce. So this reframes everything. The notebook is about appreciation. It is not about production. So get each one of you, including yourself, a notebook. And what I want you to do is create simple sketches, such as we would have made a simple sketch of the pelican, not realistic, just what we remembered. And then write one sentence. The pelican dove so fast. Maybe even glue a shell to the page. Write the date, the location, and that's all you need to do. And this matters because when kids aren't worried about perfect sketches or correct labels, they can actually remember. And the notebook becomes a conversation. Remember when we saw this? Or what did we notice when we went to the flats that day? Charlotte Mason said, let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed, which will be a source of delight through light. A habit of noticing, not a portfolio, a habit. Messy notebooks are the goal. They mean your kids are noticing, not performing.

Living Books That Make It Stick

SPEAKER_00 9:24

And remember Don Freeman's Come Again Pelican book that I read to my grandchildren? That was our bridge. It was not a field guide, it was not educational in the traditional sense. The pelican in the story was a character who was lonely, hopeful, and waiting. The illustrations showed us the real detail of how pelicans move, how they dive, how they rest, and when your children have watched a real pelican like my grandchildren did, this book lands differently. So after you have observed, not before, find your living book, and let them connect to that living book because that's what they saw, and ask them, what did we notice that matches the story? Don't quiz them, just receive the book together. And this matters because the book says, and that observation was enough, and that author thought it was enough too when he observed pelicans, which caused him to write about it. So you may be thinking, but I don't know anything about birds. And you don't need to, because your job is to notice, to wonder aloud, and then come home and find a living book. Now if you want to learn the birds' names later, a field guide becomes useful instead of overwhelming because you're looking something up you actually saw and cared about. And Charlotte Mason says, We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree. Not experts, naturalists in your degree. For you that might just mean noticing, and that will be enough. Now you

Nature Study Anywhere You Live

SPEAKER_00 10:49

may not have access to a sanctuary, but you do have a backyard or a park or even a sidewalk. Nature study isn't about exotic locations, it's about noticing what's already there in front of you. So if you have a window, you have a nature study. A bird feeder in your yard also can be your nature study. The squirrels running in your yard, the clouds in the sky, seasons changing, and insects on the ground are all nature study. So the principle holds no matter where you're at. And what you need to do is just notice, then wonder, and finally find that living

Nature Study As Faith And Formation

SPEAKER_00 11:22

book. Now some of you may be thinking this feels too unstructured. And after years of buying curriculum with lesson plans and checking boxes, noticing can feel like you're doing noticing can feel like you're not doing anything. But what actually is happening is sensory awareness, which is your science. The observation skills is attention. Narration practice is language arts, wonder is faith, and habit formation is virtue. So it's not unstructured. It's structured around the children's natural curiosity instead of a textbook's demands. And once again, Charlotte Mason says, the Christian family is the first place for education and prayer. Nature study done this way is prayer. It's also attention and it's gratitude. Psalm eight says, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them? This is what happens on the beach. This happened when my grandchildren watch the pelicans, and without you saying it, they're encountering the vastness of creation and their small, beloved place in it. And one of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 22. Train up a child in the way they should go, the way nature is calling them, the way their senses are waking, and the way their observation is sharpening. And that is the way to train up your child.

Next Steps And Helpful Links

SPEAKER_00 12:39

If you haven't downloaded our formation guide for the domestic church, it walks you through slowing down enough to notice what's already in your home and your world. You can find the link in our show notes. And also don't forget to join our Facebook group where we share what we've been observing. The link is also in our show notes. And

Small Steps And Closing

SPEAKER_00 12:56

as always, small steps, faithful days. That is how this beautiful thing gets built.