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Learning from the natural world this summer

July 10, 2015 //  by Rachel Turiel//  10 Comments

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Written by Rachel Turiel of 6512 and Growing

“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

In the summer we take our school outside. We jump into this fleeting season where every living thing seems to sing its own resounding song. We camp, hike, garden, frolic in the yard, and turn the kids loose in the mountains to explore the ancient relationship between a columbine flower and swallowtail butterfly.

I trust that in the natural world there is an education for all.

Not an education to strive for or manage, but to sink into, to allow. We shelve the workbooks and trust in the collaborative learning tools found at the river: water, sand, sticks, rocks, innovative minds and busy hands.

How our family benefits from unstructured time outside:

1. In the balance of an ecosystem, children come to understand that everything is connected.

Those red fire ants parading under the pine trees are food for the woodpeckers … the same woodpeckers who make homes in dead trees … the dead trees which are used by 30 percent of forest animals at some point, and will someday crumble to sawdust and mulch, nourishing the soil from where they came, feeding new trees … trees through which red ants will parade.

If we learn the names of the plants and animals, they enter into our greater community. And if we’re willing to count primroses and wood ducks as our friends, we’re never really alone.

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2. There is enough quiet stillness in nature to allow for children (and adults!) to hear their own voice.

The noise of the media fades and we recalibrate to a slower, saner pace. In the absence of societal pressure, we become free to, as Oscar Wilde said, “be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

3. Left to their own devices in a world rich in connections and layers, kids’ curiosity naturally blooms.

I’ve seen kids of all ages gather together to build dams across creeks.

Here they encounter velocity, flow, erosion, water storage, and the nature of impermanence as every stick eventually gives way to the force of rushing water.

4. If we come to know and love the natural world, we may be called to care for it.

If children can retain their wonder at a swallowtail butterfly unfurling its tongue to draw up nectar from a patch of queen anne’s lace, perhaps they will learn to speak for the voiceless, the disenfranchised, the vulnerable creatures of this Earth.

In a place where every sandy, rocky, sagebrush treasure belongs to all and yet to no one, kids can experience true collaboration, letting go of squabble-causing notions of ownership. (I’ve seen this happen: 4 kids on a camping trip playing with sand and rocks and sticks, and not a conflict for three days).

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5. Forays to the woods can rewire our neural circuitry, tamping down our modern anxieties.

In an environment where every living thing has everything it needs, we can glimpse the true nature of our simple, ordinary, satisfied human selves, which is to say, our best selves.

Our minds becomes calm; our hearts satisfied. Those worn out neural pathways that get stuck traveling routes of “if only…”  may naturally return to, “this, right now.”

Enter here, the wild world seems to say, and I will show you who you really are. Our summer lifestyle is so rich and affirming, it feels like a whole stack of doubts has fallen off a wobbly shelf in my mind.

What are we doing with our lives? Living.

Is the natural world part of your curriculum this summer?

Category: family time

About Rachel Turiel

Rachel Turiel is a freelance writer, managing editor of Edible Southwest Colorado Magazine, frequent contributor to NPR Earth Notes, and longtime parenting columnist for her local paper. She grows food and a family at 6512 feet, and writes about it at 6512 and growing.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shelly

    July 10, 2015 at 9:36 am

    From the very first time that it hits about 45 degrees, then through the summer and up until it begins to get cold again, my kids are outside almost every single day. They are all nature lovers, and this is where most of their learning comes from. There’s so much for them to do- even just out in the backyard. Finding slugs and worms. Collecting spiders then running in the house to look up what kind they are. Finding baby birds that cannot fly and trying for days to care for them until they are strong enough to care for themselves. (This is the most heartbreaking aspect of outside play but so full of lessons about caring for God’s creation.) Digging through the dirt to collect rocks and trying to identify them. There’s so much more that I could say, but suffice it to say that access to the outdoors can be the most natural way of learning there is.

    Reply
    • Rachel @ 6512 and growing

      July 13, 2015 at 12:47 pm

      Sounds like your kids have got the “learning from nature” education all figured out. 🙂
      Rachel @ 6512 and growing’s latest post: By the way

      Reply
  2. v

    July 11, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    Yea! I love seeing you here. (Just caught up on your two most recent posts at 6512 and growing.)
    We’ve spent a little of this summer marveling at the rain (flash floods) and hail that have been visiting us quite often and unexpectedly here in Northern Nevada.
    v’s latest post: soul-soothing stacks

    Reply
    • Rachel @ 6512 and growing

      July 13, 2015 at 12:46 pm

      Rain-marveling a much-enjoyed pastime here in Southern Colorado this summer, too. A nice change. Thanks for finding me here and there on the web. 🙂
      Rachel @ 6512 and growing’s latest post: By the way

      Reply
  3. Sarah

    July 11, 2015 at 11:34 pm

    So well said! My kids are still in the preschool years, but I love getting them out in the yard, the garden, and more wild areas as much as possible. I love to see how they immediately can find some way to play and learn, no parental input required — making “soup,” getting excited about birds, plunking rocks into water. Who needs to spend money on toys? 🙂 I bought a tree identification card during a recent trip to the sierras, and my three year old lived looking at the “tree map.”

    Reply
    • Rachel @ 6512 and growing

      July 13, 2015 at 12:46 pm

      Lucky, lucky kids, leading the way beautifully!
      Rachel @ 6512 and growing’s latest post: By the way

      Reply
  4. Emma Cummings

    July 12, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    Love this! We won’t be camping this summer- I’m 8.5 months pregnant, so slightly limited, and there won’t be much in the way of hiking. But planning to pack summer with as many outdoor, wild adventures as possible. My 6 year old has developed a fascination with identifying animals, and plants, so I’m thinking a lot of natural learning will take place this summer 🙂
    Emma Cummings’s latest post: Our Sunshine List aka Bucket List!

    Reply
    • Rachel @ 6512 and growing

      July 13, 2015 at 12:47 pm

      oh yes, the backyard is always a good place to start.
      Rachel @ 6512 and growing’s latest post: By the way

      Reply
  5. mb

    July 14, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    a nice summary, rachel. and yes, nature is part of our summer curriculum, but then it’s a part of it in every season! xo

    Reply
  6. Catherine

    July 20, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    I just love when we are in nature and I can just let the kids do their own thing. I don’t have to tell them, “no,” or stop them from touching certain things (except maybe poison oak), and we all feel a lot calmer.

    Reply

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