The Living Page- Nature Notebooks and Scrapbooks

Late again to the discussion but I'm sure that's alright. This time the discussion is over pages 17-25 in The Living Page*. If you came here first and haven't been to Wildflowers & Marbles, I would suggest you go there {now or later; not trying to get rid of you *smile*}. She has some printables that are useful with nature study. Lists that are simple, and pretty too.

We all have a need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life. ~Charlotte Mason

This entire chapter, Gallery of Forms, is a "catalogue, incomplete to be sure, of the various notebooks that appear in Mason's writings. (p. 17)" I especially like the last sentence in the paragraph where Laurie says there is undoubtedly more to come. I very much hope so! 

And so we start with Nature Notebooks. You can see some of my personal nature notebook pages as I've put them on a page of my blog. 

I found it to be quite interesting, but really not terribly surprising, that Mason was in some way responsible for many of Sir Robert Baden-Powell's ideas for the Boy Scouts. Before Mason though was Gilbert White and his use of nature journals. He's quite famous over in England. I think I've seen them on Gutenberg and they are straightforward, much like the example Laurie gives on page 20. So nature journals needn't be extreme or complicated. This is something that perhaps people get caught up on. There are notebooks that people keep that are quite wonderfully done; illustrated beautifully. It doesn't necessarily have to have illustrations. 

The nature notebook is a dated observation of the progression of the seasons week to week, including drawings, prose, and information gathered on a need to know basis. It can include geology, geography, the course of the sun, behavior of clouds, weather signs and many other observations. (p. 21)

The Scrapbooks/Collections is "less about amassing finds than ensuring this personal connection" (p. 24, emphasis mine)" And Laurie quotes a Parents' Review article, "A Few Words About the P.N.E.U." by M. Reppman, of which I put a small portion here:

Every year, in May, during the annual conference, there is an exhibition of the works made by the young members of the club {the history clubs are talked about more in Jen's post}, which consist in collections of dried plants, drawings of flowers, plants and insects, which are often accompanied by personal descriptions, remarks and observations of the young explorer. (quoted on p. 24, emphasis mine)

Here is a page from both of my kids' nature notebooks. They are different but both perfectly acceptable. 

The next discussion is over pages 26-38, a lot more of the notebooks mentioned in Mason's writings. I'm really interested in "The Enquire Within” or Household Book.