Nature Studies
The study of nature is appealing to people of all ages. It is easy to incorporate nature studies into your homeschooling approach. Some homeschooling methods focus very strongly on nature studies, including the Charlotte Mason method. Learn why it is so important and some great approaches to learning from nature.
Things to See & Do in Kansas
Sedgwick County Zoo
Located in Wichita, the Sedgwick County Zoo offers numerous animal exhibits, educational programs, and special events.
California National Historic Trail
The California Trail carried over 250,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840's and 1850's, the greatest mass migration in American history. Today, more than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen in the vast undeveloped lands between Casper Wyoming and the West Coast, reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of early American travelers and settlers. More than 240 historic sites along the trail will eventually be available for public use and interpretation. The trail passes through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California.
Sunset Zoological Park
Nestled within 52 acres in the heart of the Flint Hills in Manhattan, Sunset Zoo is home to more than 397 animals representing 84 species, including chimpanzees, red pandas, Siberian tigers, snow leopards and maned wolves. Sunset Zoo is open 360 days each year and hosts 13 special events throughout the year.
Science City at Union Station
Learn about science at this collection of interactive exhibits. Includes a sever weather center, nature center, echo cave, tree house, high wire bike, astronaut training center, and more. Located in Kansas City.
Lee Richardson Zoo
The Lee Richardson Zoo is located within the 110 acre Finnup Park. The population of animals hails from far away places such as China, Japan, Australia, Africa, and South America to name a few. Approximately 300 animals representing nearly 100 different species inhabit the 47 acre zoo. A professional staff cares for animals ranging from the tiny Pekin Robin to the immense African Elephant.
Rolling Hills Zoo
Located in Salina, Rolling Hills Zoo is located on 145 acres of pristine Kansas prairie. Sixty of these acres have been transformed into a beautifully landscaped park setting and are open to the public. The Zoo is home to more than 80 species of animals, housed in spacious, naturalistic habitat settings. Zoo residents include many animals that are rare or endangered in the wild, including chimpanzees, leopards, orangutans, white tigers, and two species of rhinos. Guests enjoy the Zoo on their own to be sure that each visitor can explore at a comfortable pace. The paved walking path is approximately 1.5 miles long, or there is a narrated tram that guests can ride for an extraordinary view of the zoo and its many inhabitants.
Emporia Zoo
Naturalized exhibits with a blend of native and exotic birds and animals presented in an area noted for extensive landscaping and horticultural features.
Topeka Zoo
Learn whild visiting animals at the Topeka Zoo. Filled with animal exhibits, the Zoo also offers educational programs and special events.
Hutchinson Zoo
The Hutchinson Zoo serves as a quality recreational, educational and animal rehabilitation facility to provide an atmosphere where nature's gifts, both plant and animal can be appreciated. Features special exhibits and educational programs.
Resources
Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-watching, Shore Walking
With Jim Arnosky as your guide, an ordinary hike becomes an eye-opening experience. He'll help you spot a hawk soaring far overhead and note the details of a dragonfly up close. Study the black-and-white drawings -- based on his own field research -- and you'll discover if those tracks in the brush were made by a deer or a fox.
In his celebrated style, this author, artist, and naturalist enthusiastically shares a wealth of tips. Jim Arnosky wants you to enjoy watching wildlife. He carefully explains how field marks, shapes, and location give clues for identifying certain plants and animals wherever you are. He gives hints for sharpening observational skills. And he encourages you to draw and record birds, insects, shells, animal tracks, and other finds from a busy day's watch.
Nature Studies Homeschool Curriculum
Considering God's Creation
Life science truly comes alive with this 270-page lap-book style notebook for 2nd-7th graders. A Charlotte Mason type discovery approach is easily implemented with creative activities, music and topical Bible studies, making this program a perfect choice for a homeschool family or a classroom. It may be used as a stand-alone science course or as an invaluable supplemental resource for any other program.
Nature Studies Activities & Experiments
Arbor Day National Poster Contest
Join over 74,000 fifth grade classrooms and home schools across America in the Arbor Day National Poster Contest. The theme chosen will increase your students’ knowledge of how trees produce and conserve energy. The free Activity Guide includes activities to use with fifth grade students to teach the importance of trees in producing and conserving energy. These activities correlate with National Science and Social Study Standards. The Guide also includes all of the information you need for poster contest participation.
Handbook of Nature Study
Based on Charlotte Mason's method of education, this website offers ideas and resources for incorporation nature study into your homeschool.
How I Teach a Large Family in a Relaxed, Classical Way: Science
Family style learning is a great way to tackle lots of different subjects, including science.
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Featured Resources
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Noah Webster's Reading Handbook
This is the historic text (originally called the Blue-Backed Speller) that has been updated to teach phonics/beginning reading. The blends and words in this reader are arranged to correlate with the sequence in which the special phonics sounds are taught. This reader is an invaluable teaching tool for children who need extra practice in the application of phonics rules. Find out more here.
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
In this brilliant, lively, and eye-opening investigation, Tom Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots. Tr...
Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days: Share a Day With 30 Homeschooling Families
From a bedroom community in Nebraska to a farm in Vermont, from families who rely on workbooks to those who have sworn them off, this in-depth examination of the lives of homeschoolers covers a wide range of people and methods. When author Nancy Lande started homeschooling more than 10 years ago, this is the book she wanted that didn't exist. What better way to create your homeschool than reading about others and picking and choosing the styles that appeal to you? Lande has corralled a variety o...
Not So Fast: Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving
Most driving literature for parents focuses on how to teach a teen to drive, without explaining why teen driving is so dangerous in the first place or giving parents a plan to preempt the hazards teens face. By contrast, Not So Fast empowers and guides parents to understand the causes and situations that most often lead to teen crashes and to take specific, proactive steps—before and each time a teen driver gets behind the wheel—to counteract them. This authoritative guide tackles hot button iss...
Catholic Homeschool Companion
Here’s your one-stop resource for information, insight, and inspiration about every aspect of educating your children at home — written by those who understand it best: homeschooling parents themselves! Would you like to teach science or phonics better? Introduce your child to Latin, piano, or great works of art? Try new classroom approaches that other parents find effective? In these pages, you’ll find helpful essays from more than forty veteran homeschooling parents to help you do all this and...