Our Nature Study Specialist

I arranged for a new teacher to do Nature Study with the kids.

I'm really excited about what he has brought to our curriculum. He is super excited about the opportunity (he even volunteered to do it!) and is so engaging and creative and fun.


Besides all that, he's tall and handsome and happens to be my husband and the father of those schoolchildren of ours.

One night he peered over at my ever-growing homeschooling TO-DO list, and offered this: "Would you like me to do Nature Study this year?" I had to think about it for about a quarter of a second before I agreed.

I can't even tell you how fun this has been for the kids. Each week on Mark's day off he's taken them on a field trip and/or planned an activity for them- concentrating on a certain subject. Then later that week, before their next "lesson" with daddy, they are responsible to do some drawing in their notebooks (generally items they collected on their walk or trip). So- that makes twice a week for Science around here.

I knew Mark would be great, but I had no idea just how in line with his gifts this was. Seriously. People think I'm the creative one of the family but that is just not true.

See example #1, over there, to the left?

That was Week One or Week Two, when they were studying the parts of a tree. It's like a work of art, I tell ya. I had a difficult time erasing it.

I keep telling Mark I want him to do some guest posts here on the blog about what he's teaching. The man has even less free time than I do, so I don't know how often that will happen, but I'm going to try to record what he's doing with them. If we're lucky, he might actually write from time to time!

7 comments:

  1. before I even got to the part about what Mark had done--I saw the picture and said to myself, "Oh my goodness--he drew that?!"

    Amazing job!

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  2. WHOA - what a drawing. So glad you snapped a pic!! Glad you have such a great co-teacher! :)

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  3. Okay so first of all, when I first started reading this post the thought crossed my mind, "Is it strange that Stacy is having another man come into her home during the day to do nature studies with her children?" It seemed un-Stacylike on a couple different levels. Not the brightest bulb today, apparently! ;)

    Second, WOW! Way to go, Mark! What a great way to infuse some fresh inspiration into your homeschool. It's funny, nature study is probably the subject I get most excited about, and yet the one I do most inconsistently. Good work, you two! :)

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  4. Yes! Yes! Guest posts by Mark! Guest posts by Mark! {I'm chanting and pumping my fists, btw.}

    It would be a tremendous blessing to many of us, Mark. Please. Please? :)

    My hubby is wonderful, I must plug for him while I'm here, lest it appears that I am dissatisfied with my current co-teacher. He wakes my boys early two days a week and takes them to the gym for basketball and swimming. And he teaches them Greek (which has trickled down to Eliana chanting the Greek alphabet with her brothers! So cute!) on his day off, and takes them for hikes whenever he can. And so much more. He's amazing.

    We are so blessed, aren't we Stace? {Guest posts by Mark! Guest posts by Mark!} I'm just going to keep doing it until he agrees.

    :) Love you! xoxo

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  5. Thanks, girls! (And, you're so right, Jodi: that would be VERY un-Stacylike! :) I love Nature Study, too- but when it was on *my* schedule, it always seemed to get put off until... never. Or, very, very rarely.)

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  6. Thanks, sweet Elise. I read your comment out loud to Mark and I think he will bless us all with a guest post one of these days. :)

    I love it that Kevin takes the boys early to the gym. That is PERFECT. Nevermind the Greek (!) Wow.

    And yes, so, so blessed to have such great men in our lives!

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  7. WOW - neat drawing!

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