Book Review- Nature Smart

Year 1 of our Homeschooling Adventure:

Eagerly I comb the bookshelves looking for inspirational books that I can use in our homeschool. The children are small and getting out in nature is important to me as I want my little ones to love learning under the big blue sky. I see our days filled with exploring God’s world, learning, laughing, exploring and picnicking under the heavens. I feel that an education is far more than just books, a full education must include time out in and reading about the natural world.

My hands stop on the spine of a thick book which looks like it could hold some of the adventures that I wish to share, I pull it from its place – the cover suggests that it is filled with fun projects to make and do, and spend the next 10 minutes exploring it’s pages, the excitement mounting with the turn of each page. I’m in love! This book is EXACTLY what I have been looking for! I check it out and even renew it a few more times as I am loathed to relinquish it. ‘It’s a ‘must have’ for the home library,’ I determine and begin to search for the book online. Disappointment fills my heart as I see it is an import and costs much more than I could ever justify. For the time being, I will have to be content with checking it out of the library. I do so for the next 5 years.

Year 6 of our Homeschooling Adventure – Current Time:

I have been unable to find a copy of said favourite book in our local library. This forces me to once again look to see the buying options online. JOY! Now that we are living in England, with a stronger currency and a more central location to everything, the book is no longer out of my price range! I am pleased that I happened upon the wonderful site AbeBooks. I have found so many of my favourite books for a fraction of the price, even if a few of them are posted from the States.

Finally, on my bookshelf, THE BOOK:

Nature Smart is just jam-packed with hundreds of projects to make. Most supplies can be sourced around the home and from nature itself. There are loads of seasonal, environmental and themed projects. The instructions for each project are clear, perfect for children to tackle on their own (not that you would want to be left out)!

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Not only is it filled with fun to make projects, but it also has pages filled with interesting facts on all sorts of things. We recently did a ‘snow’ study using the information from this book and then chose one of the activities to do alongside it.

There are stories of children who have made a difference for nature. These stories are sure to inspire your young naturalist on to greater things. They help young and old realise that you are never too young to make a difference.

This book reaches out and grabs you, engages you and urges you into action. A PERFECT living book. It is beautifully illustrated. All projects are photographed with children executing the projects which inspires my children to get stuck in themselves.

5 years has been a long time to wait, but for such a gem, the wait has been worthwhile! This is one of those books that will never have to make room for another.