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Nature Study Week ~ What is Nature Study?
Nature Study is exactly what its name implies: a study of nature. At the same time, it is much more than simply watching grass grow. In terms of True Education, It is making a conscious choice to spend time in nature, discovering and gaining a deeper understanding of the wonders of creation and our Creator.
Busy modern life does not make much room for time in nature. Time exploring out-of-doors has been crowded out of our busy schedules. It is amazing to think that many children (and adults!) have no real understanding of the natural world around them. They may know the basics of how plants grow or that leaves change color in the fall from science textbooks, but they do not have an intimate personal knowledge of these processes. Hands-on nature time is more of a novelty than the norm. Sadly, there are many who have no idea what they are missing from not spending time in nature.
Nature study is much more than simply science. It is mathematical expression, a record of history, and inspiration for literature, music and fine art. Nature study is an opportunity to sharpen the powers of observation, to enrich and broaden our homeschool studies and most importantly for us as Seventh-day Adventist families – to draw our hearts closer to our Creator.
This week is Nature Study Week on the AHE blog. Please join us each weekday for ideas, inspiration and resources that will help make nature study a valuable part of your homeschool program. Tomorrow: The Spiritual Importance of Nature Study
Motivation Monday
“The young should not be suffered to learn good and evil indiscriminately, with the idea that at some future time the good will predominate and the evil lose its influence. The evil will increase faster than the good. It is possible that after many years the evil they have learned may be eradicated; but who will venture this? Time is short. It is easier and much safer to sow clean, good seed in the hearts of your children, than to pluck up the weeds afterward.”
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, pg 139
Motivation Monday
“Parents, who are the responsible agencies in the home life, should set their children a godly example, learning daily lessons of duty and obedience to God’s requirements. They should themselves become missionaries. They should consecrate themselves entirely to God, remembering that the greatest work that devolves upon them is to train their children to be Christlike, faithful soldiers. This should be the essential work of their life, and, by training their children, they will be constantly repeating the lessons they have learned in their youth, and thus the wise, God-fearing parents will diffuse an influence from their own home circle to that of others that will act as did the leaven that was hid in three measures of meal. Home missionary work is the highest service that parents can render to God.”
The Signs of the Times – September 17, 1894
Motivation Monday
“If children and youth seek to be kind and courteous at home thoughtfulness will become an abiding habit. Every-day politeness will cause them to be always polite. Home is the very place in which to practice self-denial and thoughtfulness to each member of the family; thus it is with the family in heaven, thus it will be when the scattered families of earth are reunited in the heavenly home.”
The Youth’s Instructor, April 14, 1886.
Hymn Study Ideas and Resources
The study of hymns is an interesting way to add music to your home school curriculum. Hymn study can be made simple or detailed – tailored to fit your family. Getting started with a hymn study is very simple.
* Choose the number of hymns that you would like to study for the year. Some families choose just one for the month, others like to focus on two or three at one time. Perhaps you want to focus on the hymns of one particular author or follow a particular theme. You could select the hymns sung by church pioneers or choose to learn new hymns to add to your family’s worship repertoire.
* The elements of your hymn study do not always have to be the same. There are so many elements to study:
Author of the hymn
Composer of the music
History of the tune if is a traditional tune
Scriptural reference that goes with the tune
Date and circumstances behind the hymn
The hymn as poetry
Memorize the hymn
Learn to play the hymn on whatever instrument you choose
Object lessons that the hymn may teach
Using the lyrics for handwriting practice/copy work
Listening to both instrumental and vocal versions of the hymn
* Gather resources. In addition to the church hymnals that are available through the Adventist Book Center, there are lots of other resources that are helpful to preparing a hymn study.
Adventist Book Center – Don’t forget there is a companion book to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal that gives background information for each hymn. There is also Early Advent Singing, which includes a history and story about each hymn from early Adventist history.
The SDA Digital Hymnal website is a collection of midi files and other resources based on the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal.
TheCyber Hymnal website contains over 8,000 hymns. It is an excellent hymn study resource with lots of author and composer biographies.
Hymns for Kid’s Heart features free sheet music as well as free mp3 files for a nice selection of hymns. You can also purchase the full-featured book that includes author biographies and a devotional for each hymn.
The best free hymn study resource that I’ve found on the web is the Squidoo lens by blogger and homeschooling mom, Jimmie. She shares some great free hymn study note booking pages that she created, as well as a web page full of good ideas.
Here is a printable/downloadable .pdf version of this post to add to your notes: Hymn Study pdf
Daniel and his friends “Momma’s Sunshine”
From the comparative simplicity of their Jewish home, these youth of royal line were taken to the most magnificent of cities and into the court of the world’s greatest monarch. Nebuchadnezzar “spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace. . . .
“Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ” Seeing in these youth the promise of remarkable ability, Nebuchadnezzar determined that they should be trained to fill important positions in his kingdom.
They were acquainted with the history of Nadab and Abihu, the record of whose intemperance and its results had been preserved in the parchments of the Pentateuch; and they knew that their own physical and mental power would be injuriously affected by the use of wine.
Daniel and his associates had been trained by their parents to habits of strict temperance. They had been taught that God would hold them accountable for their capabilities, and that they must never dwarf or enfeeble their powers. This education was to Daniel and his companions the means of their preservation amidst the demoralizing influences of the court of Babylon. Strong were the temptations surrounding them in that corrupt and luxurious court, but they remained uncontaminated. No power, no influence, could sway them from the principles they had learned in early life by a study of the word and works of God.
Patriarchs and Prophets
Thank you Tonya, for sharing inspiring parenting insights. You can read more at Tonya’s blog, Momma’s Sunshine.
Motivation Monday
“True education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary; we are called to the service of God and our fellow men; and to fit us for this service should be the object of our education.
This object should ever be kept in view by Christian parents and teachers. We know not in what line our children may serve. They may spend their lives within the circle of the home; they may engage in life’s common vocations, or go as teachers of the gospel to heathen lands; but all are alike called to be missionaries for God, ministers of mercy to the world.”
Ministry of Healing, 395
