Customer Reviews

A Kid's Fall Ecojournal

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Excellent book...I love Fall and often use natures' best to connect lessons as a counselor. I used this with my 7 year old granddaughter and she and I went on several nature walks in addition to the backyard lessons to fill this journal with information about fall. Thanks Sharon

I was looking for something for nature study for my lower elementary boys this year. I wanted them to get outside this fall and do the typical woods, backyard, forest stuff with leaves, bugs, etc. And I wanted something that would keep them encouraged to stick with the subject when they were tired of the typical nature walks. This was it!

This is a nature journal that has both text and activities in it. It's like a mini Fall unit study. The activities in are not superfluous like so many other science books and are 75% completely doable with little preparation. Think Rod and Staff simplicity--capture a spider, make a nest box for an owl, start some compost. There are a couple that are more advanced: make a mushroom collection shelf, create fall potpourri decorations, dissect an owl pellet. But about every four days, between Sep 1 and Dec 1, you'll have the kids outside with something to get them going.

If you're a Christian homeschooler, know that this isn't religious, and it has two Halloween-related activities, but it is very modest and simple in its formula with no secular ideology in there either. It's particularly good for my boys who are old enough to write some observations or a few sentences but on their own probably wouldn't do it... or like going outside but feel overwhelmed by huge empty pages, or activities that require lots of reflection. There are approx. ten lines for them to write on (one small paragraph) with example entries below, and information about the topic, so they can get the idea of writing every couple days about different Fall subjects.

My only critique is that it is visually unexciting. No color and there are no blank pages at all, which is too bad considering it is a journal. I was hoping my kids could make lists/record birds they saw, or sketch things right in the book, but it's not spaced out like a Charlotte Mason or activity journal for lots of writing or coloring. There is text on the backs of all pages, and there is actually quite a lot written on each page. So if you're looking for a resource that is going to encourage your child because it is so fancy or beautiful, this isn't for you. It's like a manual--you get it for the content, not the visual.

Worth the purchase for kids or parents enthused about jumping into nature but uninitiated about how to go about it.