My three year old Littlest took his crayons outside the other day. It was a beautiful sunny day. And you can probably guess the results. The big kids ran inside to let me know about this goopy crisis occurring outside.
I’ve been praying about and preaching to myself about reacting less. Pausing in those messy moments. So I set aside the lunch dishes to inspect.
But rather than a mess, God allowed me to see art. Art just waiting to be made. And so we made it: a big beautiful mess.
I love nature study. I love teaching the wonder of God’s creation to my kids. I love trying to learn about what is around us. I love the skills of observation that it teaches.
It thrills my soul to see the kids with their nature notebooks and colored pencils. But lately, I feel that I’m having to coerce them more. Perhaps because it’s been a little while since we’ve studied nature; we’ve been all wrapped up in earth layers and volcanoes. Perhaps it’s because we’ve moved from 25 acres of country to a backyard in the city.
As I was mulling over this problem (and reading Charlotte Mason’s thoughts about children learning from an atmosphere, the ideas that rule MY life), I decided that maybe they would do better with less coercing and more example. Confession: I had not yet started a nature notebook for myself.
And so, with much trepidation and embarrassment, I began. I pulled an unused journal from my shelf and started. I can’t tell you how hard it is to share these pictures. They are not nearly as splendid as I’d like them to be; a fourth grader could probably do better. But my one consolation is that perhaps I will encourage another untalented mother to step into an unknown realm for the sake of her children.
The result of leading the way? It’s worked!
The kids are now eager to see what I have in my notebook, eager to copy what I have drawn and discover for themselves, eager to bring in the outdoors for more study.
Even Littlest grabbed a book and “pen” the other day for his trip outside.
We’ve been learning about the fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic Empire, and some church history over the last few weeks. St. Patrick, St. Valentine, and St. Augustine are a few of the names we’ve read about. And for art, we’ve explored the printed books the monks would work on.
We read Caedmon’s Song, a beautiful book about a shepherd who became a monk and wrote songs. Then the kids colored an illuminated letter. But I thought it might be more fun to go a step further.
We cut out our illuminated letter, glued it to some brown card stock, and experimented with calligraphy markers. I did help them with the actual writing, holding their little hands as they wrote so that they could keep the right angle. But to see their eyes light up as they saw the beautiful letters was worth a little intervention.
Then we hole-punched the pictures and threaded some twine for hangers. It was a fun way to explore the work the monks would do and the perfect craft as we head into the Thanksgiving season.
