Looking forward to getting back to the mainland, specifically the Midwest! Nature study (ocean stuff mainly, though some tropical forest too!) here has been nice, and a once in a lifetime thing probably, but I do miss some of the "regular" stuff (haven't seen a squirrel in YEARS!)

Anyway, I just came home from the library. one of the books I picked up today was
THE SENSE OF WONDER by Rachel Carson.

I've not read it through yet, but thumbed through all the pages and wow,
this seems to be a really nice book. From the pages I did read, it seems to
be a "this is how we enjoyed nature." And has wonderful color and black &
white photographs.

While I wouldn't break my neck to buy the book, but if you enjoy a good
nature study book, particularly one that gives an insight as to doing nature
study with children, this might be a good one to hunt down  in your library
system or thrift shop.

The edition I've been looking at is copyrighted 1965, but Amazon offers a new edition. It doesn't allow you to see the images from the book, but you can read an excerpt from the book at least.

Another book I got from the library is titled COLLECT, PRINT, AND PAINT FROM NATURE by John Hawkinson. (copyright 1967 for the edition I have.) It is a LOVELY book telling and showing you step by step how to make prints from and how to paint nature stuff! He explains how to hold your brush, move your wrist and fingers, etc. Topics in the book are as follows:

• Prints from Leaves, Cattails, Moss, Stones
• Spatter Printing
• Painting Leaves, Tree Trunks, stems, flowers,
• Painting Nature in the City
• Painting the Wayside
• Painting the Oak Forest
• Painting the Beech-Maple Forest
• Painting the Beach
• Painting the River
• Painting the Swamp
• Painting the Mountains

I liked this book so much, I hunted it up used online and just bought it as well as the follow up More to Collect and Paint from Nature by the same author. I can't wait to get them in the mail.

And finally, a recent purchase of mine was for the book A Field Guide to the Familiar: Learning to Observe the Natural World by Gale Lawrence. This will be a perfect companion to my treasure Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock. Or, for those Charlotte Mason style homeschoolers that just can't yet find it in them HOW to use the Handbook of Nature Study, feeling it is too overwhelming or dry, I'd suggest the book by Gale Lawrence as at least a starting point.

Whether you own any or have access to any of the aforementioned books, I challenge each of you to get outdoors (with your kiddos) and just be with nature. Taking a backpack with some water bottles and sketch paper and pencils for everyone is an added bonus. Add a couple magnifiers and you're set! If you have a field guide for your area, throw that in too! Just commit to getting outdoors once a week if that is all you can manage. That's fine! Just stick to and and enjoy it!