It’s here! My super short and simple garden school guide. I have a free printable guide, materials, and 6 week outline if that’s your jam. It’s full of booklists, poetry, picture study and nature study guide! I tried to make sure everything included were materials and activities that we use in our own informal garden studies over the years.
In the guide I share all these topics, but today I thought I’d share a bit more in depth explanation & go through some of my favorite books, and walk you through the other topics.
Poetry
In the guide you will find 6 garden or spring themed poems that are perfect for your copywork (aka handwriting), recitation, memorization, or pure enjoyment. This need not be the end of your poetry exploration. There are a myriad of garden themed and spring themed poems out there, and even entire poetry books that focus on gardening. Here is a simple one, A Poem for Every Spring Day, and who doesn’t love Robert Louis Stevensons A Child’s Garden of Verses. There are many more too! We love to just read a poem a day and enjoy them, but once a week we also use them for copywork.
Picture Study
Also included in the study are three paintings to use for picture study. We love picture study, especially those that are garden themed. The pictures included in this packet are in Public Domain, and you can print them at home or at your favorite printers. Picture study only takes about 5-10 minutes, but is a favorite part of our week.
Nature Study
We can’t miss nature study in our garden study! We always include nature study as the primary component of our garden units but we keep it super simple. We like to simply adopt a plant and use that as our focus for the garden season. So from seed to fruit we start visiting our plant weekly and updating our nature journals. Taking time to give focused attention to the plant, spend some time observing it and the area around it, and think a little deeper about our plant baby.
In the guide I also include some object lesson ideas. Object lessons are not my forte, but we are working to include them more throughout the days. I give some samples in the guide, and here is a YouTube video up to go through this in more detail.
Booklist
As you know, for any Charlotte Mason mama, books are a passion of our home school. Today I share a short list of a few of our favorite garden themed books. There are so many great choices. These books are my personal favorites from our home library and our local library. You may have some of your own favorites -use what you have!
Let me share my personal favorites from the list:
The Keeper of the Wild Words is a fun and beautiful book about a young girl with her grandmother walking through the world and learning to name the natural world around them. I love the relationship of family, and the relationship of one with nature and enjoying its beauty. It’s a sweet story with simple illustrations. It is hands down one of my favorites! If you can’t get hands on the books here is a video of it being read.
A Seed is Sleepy is a lovely story about seeds and their homes. Several beautiful watercolor illustrations bring you along as the author presents seeds and their habitats and the plants they grow into. This is a great little read aloud, but if you can’t get a hold of this book check out this reading. This book is packed with extra little notes about the seeds and images.
Miss Rumphius is a crowd pleaser. If you love flowers and creating beautiful spaces you will love this amazing timeless favorite that follows a young woman who makes her part of the world little more beautiful. Again here is a video to watch the story if you can’t get ahold of this one because this is not one you want to miss! I even found it in Spanish!
From Seed to Plant is a simple but beautiful book that illustrates the story of a plant from start to end. You can’t go wrong with Gail Gibbons as she shares scientific specifics in a simple way for children of all ages to understand. Technology makes it easy for everyone to enjoy this one in video form.
Up in the Garden & Down in the Dirt is part of beloved series. Again we follow a story of a young girl and her grandmother in the garden. This one gives glimpses of what goes on below the ground as well as above. With gorgeous illustrations this is a favorite with everyone. Here is another video to watch if you can’t get your hands on this book.
The Night Gardener is a favorite more for it’s illustrations. The story is great, but The Tan Brother’s illustrations are phenomenal. In this story we follow a young boy who wakes each morning to find more topiaries throughout the town. It is a short story coupled with amazing art work that touches on a part of gardening we don’t often thing about. You can find a video of it being read here, but highly recommend getting this one in your hands.
Read Aloud
While there are a plethora of picture books for the garden study to enjoy, don’t forget to choose a read aloud. Whether you choose an audiobook or use a family read aloud, don’t skip this part. We love to choose a simple chapter book to read aloud together for the garden season. Last year we enjoyed the classic The Secret Garden. This year we are going to be reading Tom’s Midnight Garden for something a bit different.
Have I convinced you yet that this guide can be a blessing in your home? Head over to my shop and download it for free. Pick and choose from the guide to find the resources and activities that would work best for you and your family!
Happy Gardening!
Wholehearted Homemaking 