Welcome to Our Nature and Outdoors Homeschool Science Course

Getting Started with Our Nature and Outdoors Homeschool Science Course

The Nature and Outdoors homeschool science course helps students appreciate the wonders of nature by keeping any type of nature journal that works for the individual student. Homeschool science lessons are presented for two different climates, generally in groups of four weeks for each pair of topics. Included are science experiments, art, crafts, journaling, photography, and more to encourage learning and a love of nature. These Nature and Outdoors homeschool science lessons can be taken in any order, so homeschool students may explore the topics that interest them most or that fit with other materials they may be studying.

Overview

• 14 units/54 weeks
• Includes text-based lessons, journaling assignments, activities, links to additional information, and suggested book lists
• Grades 1-8

Supplies Needed

Corresponding lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com; nature journal; basic art supplies; camera (optional, but helpful for journaling); binoculars (optional); magnifying glass (optional); additional items as identified in specific lessons

What to Do

Go to Class Lessons and download the lesson plan and files for the chosen unit. Follow the instructions on the lesson plan for each unit and check them off when completed.

Course Sample for Our Nature and Outdoors Homeschool Science Course

Hello and welcome to these lessons for the family, and all ages, on exploring the outdoors!

For this first month, we’re going to look at Evergreens (if you live in a colder climate) or Sand (if you live somewhere warm). And we will also get our nature journals ready for all the things we’ll be putting in them.

A few books you might like to take out of the library for inspiration:

Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie
How to Keep a Naturalist’s Notebook by Susan Leigh Tomlinson
Draw Real Animals! by Lee Hammond
Drawing From Nature by Jim Arnosky

The first thing you need to do, if you don’t already have a nature journal, is to think about what kind of journal you want. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and it’s a very personal choice.

Some people like to get a sketchbook and draw or write directly into it. Some people like a composition book with a blank space above and lines to write below. I use a three-ring binder. I always have a sketchbook and camera with me, but when I get home I like to punch holes in the sketch page, print the photos, and add them into my binder. You might even (with a parent’s permission and supervision) post your photos and observations on a blog instead, and have the whole thing printed at the end of the year.

A nature journal does not have to be full of drawings. I can’t draw very well, but I love to take photos. So I always try my hand at a sketch for practice, but I like to add in photos, poems, maps, comments, and information about what I saw.