Nature Study – It’s Elemental

I came across a wonderful summer bucket list a teacher made for her students encouraging them to experience all nature has to offer this summer. My artsy kids were inspired to take the framework of her sketch and make their own list to which we continue to add more ideas. The four element categories remind us to broaden and balance our study of the natural world and incorporate more aspects of it into our summer days. I should clarify that our love of the natural world does in no way verge on the magical in a religious sense. We simply believe the Creator made a rich, multi-faceted world for us to enjoy. A feast for the senses.

I have also been thinking about some ideas Donna Simmons had years ago about therapeutic or healing education and addressing the full spectrum of needs in a child versus focusing solely on the intellectual. Her thoughts would be echoed later by Kim John Payne in Simplicity Parenting. It's a big busy world. Who of us does not feel a tangible peace spreading when we light a candle before dinner or at church, when we gather around a campfire, when we run a warm bath at the end of a hectic day, when we dig in our gardens, or feel a little rush as the kite tugs back on its string? We are on top of to do lists, academic goals, lessons, meetings. Why not also be intentional about incorporating those simple things that ground us and brings us back to that quiet place where we can regroup and shore up again? Peace, it's a good thing.

Some ways we checked off the bucket list lately….