Nature Notebook

With school about to start again, I'm in "nesting and gathering" phase. Our playroom/schoolroom got the purge-and-clean treatment, new books and supplies have been purchased, and I've been using free time to write lesson plans.

We're Charlotte Mason lovers around here, so "living books," art and nature study are a big deal to us. A friend and I were recently discussing our plans for Nature Notebook times. It has proved difficult to find a suitable nature art journal. It needs to have blank pages, be large enough to draw and paint pictures, and add observations, and be spiral bound, so it can be laid flat. Spiral bound ones are hard to come by. I've decided to go back to using a binder for this purpose. It might work better for the kiddos to remove pages while they draw or paint. Watercolor often warps paper (especially when little ones use too much water!), but if you wait until it dries, and then press it between the pages of a large book, it becomes sturdy and flat again, and you can add it back into the binder.

This is great for impromptu Nature Notebooking, also. When we're out hiking, I always have my handy pack with me, with extra paper and pens, binoculars, camera, etc. If the kids decide to sketch and label, I can just punch holes when we get home and add it into the Nature Notebook, to save and study.

A shell found at South Padre.

I'm curious what others have used for this purpose. Any other ideas?

Does the idea interest you?

The first time I read Charlotte Mason's biography, I knew it was the way for us. With so many options and curriculum choices now, it's a huge burden off of me to have this path laid out.