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On a warm day this fall I strolled out to my garden to pick some Swiss Chard. As I was folding back the leaves I noticed something large and black, swinging around as if floating in mid-air. As it swung toward my hand I pulled back before it brushed against me. Horrified, I realized it was a large black and yellow spider. Between her body and legs she was the size of a golf-ball.
I rushed across the gravel (as quickly as you can run barefoot across gravel) yelling to anyone within earshot “come and see what I found in the Swiss Chard!
I grabbed my copy of The Handbook of Nature Study, turned to the bookmarked page for “Common Garden Spider” and ran outside with my boys. Spiders were our special study topic for nature that term, and we had just read about the common garden spider and the beautiful orb web she weaves.
Equipped with my handbook, I tiptoed back across the gravel with my boys. They stared in horrified amazement at the large spider occupying our Swiss Chard. The large, sturdy leaves made a perfect scaffold for her web, and the fennel next door attracted insects that we suspect were her favorite meal.
As my boys observed I asked questions from the book. Then they asked questions — “I wonder if she’s venomous?” “Is it a girl or boy? How can we tell?” After observing and asking questions we went back inside to record our observations in our nature notebooks.
We went out every morning that fall to check up on her. We saw her mend her web, slurp a paralyzed wasp, protect herself from a praying mantis (“do praying mantis eat spiders? Or do spiders eat praying mantis?”) until one frosty morning she was simply gone.
That is a nature study object lesson — picking a special study topic and taking 10 minutes to observe and wonder.
How to Teach Object Lessons
In her volumes on education, Charlotte Mason mentions “object lessons.” In the past, these lessons were common in all public school in Britain and the U.S. An object lesson is a dedicated time to observe a specific plant or animal. The important thing is that you study the real, living thing, either at home or in its natural environment. You then ask questions to direct the child’s attention to the object. Encourage them to ask questions (write them down, if you can!). This ignites wonder and curiosity, which we know is essential for meaningful learning. For lesson material, I reference The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock. This book is a manual written for teachers to teach nature, so the lessons are well organized and easy to use. It has information on the plant or animals as well as lesson ideas and questions.
The special study topic should be native to your area and seasonal. For example, you don’t want to study nuts and fruits in March, or monarch butterflies in winter. I’ve found it easier to make a list of birds, wildflowers, trees, and other creatures that we are most likely to see during that season. I pick one and study one for as long as we want to before moving on to the next. For example, in December we may do a couple lessons about evergreen trees (one on the pine, the next week on Norway Spruce). If the kids and I are interested in learning more about evergreen trees, we may do a couple more lessons while reading chapters from Trees Every Child Should Know. After a few weeks we may put out some bird food and see which birds come to the feeder (chickadees and cardinals) and choose to do an object lesson on those birds. My form 1 kids (grades 1-3) get an introduction to plants and animals instead of specific species. They read an introduction to birds (like Birds of the Air by Arabella Buckley or Can You Hear the Trees Talking? By Peter Wohlleben) and observe birds in general while their older siblings do object lessons with specific species, like cardinals or chickadees.
For small creatures, like fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians, it is best to create a little “home away from home” (an aquarium or terrarium) and bring them inside to study. For many moms this will be difficult, but researching the best season, place, and time of day to find the creature (and then actually catching it) is an important part of the lesson! I challenge my kids to safely catch and bring home our special study topic. This requires them to research the type of habitat we need to make and food we need to collect. Once you’ve brought the animal inside and made a comfortable home, you can study it for a couple days before letting it back into the wild.
For plants, trees, large animals, and birds, you must study them as best you can in their natural environment. I bring my Handbook of Nature Study guide with me when my family goes on our weekly nature walk. I have the special study topic bookmarked so it’s easy to find if we happen upon our special study topic. I can’t overstate the importance of doing some research as to when and where certain animals and plants can be found! While studying owls I learned that the color of their eyes tell what time of day they’re most active. So we scheduled our nature walk for dusk and saw two Barred Owls!
Once you’ve found the specimen you can conduct an “object lesson.” Before the lesson I try to read the section in The Handbook of Nature Study written for the teacher so I have some basic knowledge of the plant or animal we’ll be studying. I aim for one object lesson per week and schedule it for every Wednesday. It’s best not to force an unwilling child, they can always stay behind and do extra copywork or math lessons if they don’t want to participate 😉 While looking at the plant or animal I ask the questions from the Handbook of Nature Study lesson. You should definitely read over them beforehand in case there is some vocabulary or wording you need to adapt. Lessons should last between 10-20 minutes. They should be short, sweet, and to the point. Encourage your children to ask questions, like “I wonder why, I wonder how, I wonder what, etc” and write them down, if you can, so they can research answers later.
The questions are not meant to “drill” the child, but to help them see all those details that have something to do with the life of the creature studied. It helps them make connections and form relationships (e.g. “Where is the sycamore tree growing?” “by the stream.” “Do you always see sycamore trees growing by water?”).
After an object lesson we pull out our nature journals and record our observations. My next blog post and podcast episode will be all about nature notebooking (AKA nature journaling).