“Mum, I actually found quite a bit more information about nature journaling.”
“Oh great. “
“I can send you the links if you want. There’s a lot here about a woman named Charlotte Mason. It looks really good. I think you might like it.”
“Ah, ok. Great. Yes, I’ll have a look at the links. I’m familiar with Charlotte Mason.” 
“Oh, you are?”
For the amount of digging into home education I’ve done over two decades, my kids aren’t that familiar with lingo or distinctions among philosophies or styles, but I think maybe that’s another post!
This past winter my daughter had come to me with the idea that she wanted to do “something called nature journaling.” She had been wondering about ways to capture and document the things she noticed and wanted to deepen her learning about. When she researched online, up popped nature journaling and Charlotte Mason.
She asked if I thought I’d like to give it a try. I responded that I didn’t really see myself doing much drawing or labelling, but that I’d like to keep track of things I saw and make a list, adding any questions or comments to it.
She set about finding a notebook for herself. She didn’t see any that she felt could support the range of art media she wanted to use so she made her own. For example, she wanted both sketching paper as well as watercolour paper and maybe some lined paper. Late into the night, she carefully tore out certain amounts of paper from various art pads, sketch pads and note pads. She measured them to fit and made a book cover from cardboard, carefully covering it with patterned scrapbooking paper she found in a box. She sewed the binding along the spine of the book and was good to go. Just for interest’s sake, I don’t craft or sew, but she does. I have deep respect for crafting and sewing, but I support and encourage rather than model or teach.
With great anticipation, we set out on our walk through the fields and woods. We observed tons and had a record birdfeeding day – chickadees, nuthatches and two downy woodpeckers fed from our hands and cardinals followed along, trying to muster the nerve to come closer for seeds. Winter berries and dogwood contrasted the snow with their vibrant red. Evergreens were covered in snowy designs and deer tracks never seemed far away, but it was too cold and snowy to sit and take our mitts off to record anything. No matter, we thought – we’ll record everything when we get home. We didn’t though. Our hands were cold and we went straight to hot chocolate.
And that played out a few times throughout the winter and early spring. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I noticed the plants were really coming to life again and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. She did and as we were walking, it occurred to me that the idea of nature journaling had kind of been dropped. I suggested we could take our journals (her carefully crafted one and my basic notebook with lined paper) to the backyard table once we got home.
We spread a wipeable table cloth, took a few very simple supplies out (just a pen for me!) and got to work. We were treated to a big rabbit eating violets and tulips, a tiny bunny hiding behind a piece of wood, two black squirrels, a large bumble bee and several robins and mourning doves, but we stuck to our observations from our walk. She has added more through the week. I’ll likely ask if she’d like to spend some time in the backyard tomorrow evening and if so, I’ll get my book back out.
Will I get my book out if she doesn’t? I don’t know, but maybe. Would I have recorded anything in a notebook if she hadn’t shown an interest? If she hadn’t directly invited me to? I don’t know. Probably not.
There’s something about joining certain kids at certain times that seems to be the best way to support an interest and if we think about it, I’ll bet we all have things we wouldn’t have done if our kids hadn’t shown interest, but there’s a part of us that ends up enjoying it.
A few things stand out about supporting her process:
Not worrying that the initial zest wasn’t followed through with right away. Maybe it won’t end up being followed through with much at all. There’s nothing lost from kids (or people of any age) getting interested in something, doing research and then not being as involved as they thought they might be.
Not being afraid to suggest getting the nature journal out. When we have an established, connected relationship, suggestions are often easily accepted, even appreciated. It’s a shift from the assumption some hold about self-directed learning that every idea has to originate from the child and the parents need to step back and not suggest.
Giving it a try myself, but in a way that works for me. It’s so much fun to join my kids in things they are loving and want to share, but we don’t have to do every single thing or do it in a way that doesn’t work for us. We can bring our real selves and limitations. We are simply doing life together after all.
She is an older teen and yet just getting interested in something that the Charlotte Mason philosophy would have introduced in much earlier years. There is no right age for nature journaling or for most other things for that matter. When something is intrinsically chosen, it naturally arises and the learner takes ownership over it. Fun fact: The same week that L began researching nature journals, I was at a conservation area in another region and saw a poster for a nature journaling workshop series for the public, so any age, but most likely geared to adults.
Finally, somehow self-directed learning found its way to an aspect of the Charlotte Mason philosophy. Subject matter doesn’t belong to any particular framework of education. The processes are different but the content can be very much the same because it’s all just part of life itself.
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