Nature Notebooks & Ft. Ben

Today we enjoyed the beautiful weather and took a family hike at Ft. Benjamin Harrison State Park ("Ft. Ben"). It was our first time there and we plan to go back sometime this summer. They have hiking and a paved trail for biking. I recently purchased some artist's sketch books for the boys to use as "Nature Notebooks" for our summertime adventures. The idea for these notebooks came from Isaac's school, which is partly based on Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy. You can read about her take on Nature Studies here. I read the book For the Children's Sake, which further explains Charlotte Mason's philosophy and reviewed the book here. The boys loved the idea of Nature Notebooks, even though they usually do not color much at home. We are excited to take our Nature Notebooks to the park and on hikes several more times this summer!

Asher and his Nature Notebook

We all enjoyed sketching in our notebooks during water breaks:



Here are a few more snapshots of our fun afternoon!