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Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature, to help me have a better relationship with nature and encourage that relationship in my children. I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here. Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!
The book is divided into four sections. (Find my notes on Part One here.) Part Two contains Chapters 3, 4 and 5 and is called “Essential Elements.”
Chapter 3: The Way of Coyote
…nature mentors value the natural world and demonstrate it as much through actions as words. They regularly marvel at nature’s wonders, seek to deepen their own awareness and connection, and probe mysteries that catch their interest. (p.76)
Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
- I have the privilege of being a mentor to my children. Nature mentors have three roles, with an emphasis on the last two:
- Teacher: “a person who conveys information”
- Questioner: “the one always seeking to ask that next query to pique curiosity and engagement”
- Trickster: “the clever Coyote who hides in plain sight, able to leverage a child’s longings into stretch edges”
- Regular time outside is the best way to experience nature. Unstructured play is perfect for little ones, but bigger kids might benefit from other activities like a walkabout or a sit spot. Our property is perfect for both!
- A new question to add to the dinner table: “What’s the coolest thing you discovered outside today?”
- Food for thought from Jon Young: “The antidote to Nature Deficit Disorder may be this simple: get people to spend time in nature, and when they return, be there to ask good questions and catch their stories.”
Chapter 4: Hitched to Everything
Let’s step back for a moment and imagine some of the qualities we might want to see in a reinvented, truly student-centered learning environment. Such a setting would celebrate students’ autonomy and individuality, building on strengths and interests to drive curiosity. It would foster (rather than choke) inspiration and engagement through plenty of active, real-world experiences, many of them beyond the classroom walls. Emphasis would be on character development grounded in fundamental values, like beauty, truth, and goodness. And, if truly successful, this system would engender a deep-seated, resilient sense of wonder that, in turn, would translate into a lifelong love of learning. (p.104)
- Having had experience in both the homeschool and public school realms, I found this chapter sad but also inspiring. Sampson argues for dramatically changing our education system from one that is careerism-based to “place-based.” While I can’t imagine such a change in our current public schools – a group of parents and teachers fought the school board for over a year just to increase recess time by 15 minutes – it does make you stop and wonder.
- We need to grow a garden! “Gardens are almost magical in their capacity to lift the curtain on our alienation from nature.”
- To try with the kids: ask the children to find as many examples of nature’s interrelationships as they can (ie. trees get their energy from the sun, the bird eats the worm)
- Roles: solar energy grabber, plant eater, animal eater, decomposer
- Relationships: competitive, collaborative
Chapter 5: Mothers All the Way Down
In our digital world deluged with isolated bits of information, it’s easily forgotten that as a species, we were raised on stories. For all but the past few thousand years, an eyeblink of humanity’s tenure, oral storytelling was the primary means of sharing not only information, but meaning, values, and a sense of place in the cosmos. For our oral ancestors, stories were lyrical encyclopedias, repositories of practical knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries, even millennia. Passed from generation to generation, myths and tales offered instructions on how to live in a given place: when, where, what, and how much to hunt; how to express gratitude for a successful hunt; which plants to seek and which to avoid; where to find water in times of persistent drought. (p.127)
- Food for thought: “…whereas cyberspace is placeless, seemingly everywhere and nowhere, oral culture is inherently local.”
- Where to find nature stories?
- My own experience
- Traditional nature-based myths and tales
- Adult-aimed nature writings from authors like Thoreau, Abbey, Mowat, etc.
- Interesting tidbits in books, documentaries or the news
- While we disagree in some areas of evolutionary theory, I appreciated Sampson’s view that without the story of where we come from, there’s a significant disconnect in our life.
- This article was helpful and clear about the Catholic Church’s stance on these things. “Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things the of the faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.” (CCC 159)
I must get this book! thank you for sharing it with all of us. Gosh, I was nearly tearing up about that last quote and how important stories have always been. gah, two of my favorite things – nature and stories!
I love your commitment to being outside and the dinner table question about pushing their intentional observation to nature. so good! this week, our kids have been tirelessly working on weaving paths in the weeds near our house to build a maze to various trees and cut outs. We've been doing thorough tick checks (ugh! 7 so far!) and making them clean up all their tools, but trying to be really good at just letting them have it and let nature and their creativity guide them.
"…let nature and their creativity guide them" – I love that! We've been doing the same sort of thing. So fascinating to see nature through their eyes.
Don't be overwhelmed by the idea of a garden. Even picking just one thing can be amazing. Wyatt's favorite thing we grew was, hands down, pumpkins. They are so fun to watch grow. I think your kids would love them, and you'd probably grow enough for each of them to have one for Halloween!
Corn is another one that's fun to grow because it gets so tall and then you can eat it!!! My kids couldn't believe we actually got to eat the corn we grew!
Oh I love hearing about what you guys grew! We are still at the planning stage (our biggest problem is figuring out how to keep away the deer!) but we can't wait to start.