How many of you moms keep your own nature journals?

[Sophia]

I was reading Jessica's blog and I saw she had made an entry in her nature journal.
Maybe because I'm always running after babies and toddlers during nature walks, it has never occurred to me to keep a nature journal of my own.
However, I can see where it would really encourage my dc to draw and write in theirs if they saw me keep one.
Plus it sounds like fun!
So, do many of you keep one?

[Tina in WA]

I am going to do this. I am sure not every time, but from time to time. I do enjoy drawing so I think this will be fun.

We have never done a nature study. Though I have planned on doing one for YEARS, but it never got off the ground. I have my own notebook and my own sketch book. I am all set to draw away with the kids. :)

~Tina

[GreenKitty]

I have for a very long time. :)

[Sue G in PA]

I'm excited. I love to draw and the kids love nature and one of my dc love to draw...so I'm going to try to encourage the others by keeping my own. I just haven't figured out what to use for a journal yet! Any ideas?

[Sue G in PA]

I know there was a thread that had some good ideas. My dc will probably just use sketch books OR sketch paper made into a homemade book. What about for me? I want something a bit more, shall we say, sophisticated for mine? Those of you who keep Nature Journals, what do you use? TIA...Can you tell I'm very excited to start!? :)

[Tutor]

I don't keep a book-type journal, but I take nature photos and samples regularly. I frame the photos I like or frame the samples into small collections and write the information about the photo or specimens in the back of the frame. If I want more info than I can fit on a small piece of paper, I make a little booklet that I put in an envelope on the back of the frame. We encourage our kids to collect various samples for framing or displaying as well.

[King Alfred Academy]

I'm starting mine this week! I plan on doing some drawings, labeling, writing in poems or quotes, attaching samples of leaves and such, pasting in pictures, and what ever else tickles my fancy! I am very excited about this and hope to be a good example for my boys as they start theirs.

[Damselfly]

I'll be the first to admit I can *not* draw :rolleyes: (although I plan to learn alongside my children once we start lessons this fall). My passion, however, is nature photography. So in a sense I "journal" what I see around me only it's through a lens and not with a pencil (except for the quick "what, why, where, when and how" I jot down in a little spiral notebook to help me remember the details of each photo later on). I am also an avid scrapbooker and have many layouts using my photos along with poems, quotes, and memorable stories/histories. Most of these are just scattered throughout family albums because it's all part of what makes us who we are. :)

[BizyPenguin]

I just blogged about this very thing yesterday! The link is below if you want to know more. My nature journal is a work in progress and is more of a photo journal.

[Pster]

I thought about doing nature sketches and drawings when I go out with the kids to do it. (we'll be starting soon) I enjoy drawing and haven't done it in ages - and how better to lead than by example? :D

[Jennefer@SSA]

but I did set up a blog to use a photo nature journal of sorts. The blog is set up and ready to go and I even have a folder of beautiful nature photographs I've taken. I told myself that I would try to post one photo a week as I identify what plant/tree/rock/etc... it is. Hasn't happened. Sigh.

[Tina in WA]

I use a spiral bond sketch book and keep a 3 ring notebook with notes. :)

[Lorna]

We all keep a nature journal (including dh) but they get done mainly during the summer. We find we get cold if we sit for too long and draw.
During the winter I take photos of flowers, mainly, but sometimes fungi, and then identify them when we get home. We also take twigs with leaves on home to identify. This isn't anything I have ever considered formal nature study - it is simply curiosity.
My daughter knows many more plants than I did at that age as a result. It is curious I learnt so little about nature as a child because my mother knows a great deal and we lived in the countryside. We children made up our own names for plants and animals. I still don't know what a 'rainbow beetle' is in real life :rolleyes:

[paula j]

I know there was a thread that had some good ideas. My dc will probably just use sketch books OR sketch paper made into a homemade book. What about for me? I want something a bit more, shall we say, sophisticated for mine? Those of you who keep Nature Journals, what do you use? TIA...Can you tell I'm very excited to start!? :)

My dc and I belong to our conservation dept's Frontiers group so we keep a nature journal to keep track of all our activities. I bought us each a binder and into this I put:

Our Frontiers book
notebook paper
some pretty notebooking pages made for a nature journal
sketchbook pages
some 3-hole punched pockets

This way we have our pretty pages for regular journaling, notebook pages for longer writing projects, sketchbook pages for drawing, and the pockets for collecting things like leaves and also to keep a pencil or two in. This has worked out really well for us. Oh, and yes, I keep one too - mine is lavendar.:)

Blessings
Paula

[Jennefer@SSA]

Can you tell me more about your Frontier Group? Is it basically an organized Nature Study type group?

When I read your post it just got me thinking about how we might be more consistent with Nature Study if we had a small group to meet. I was wondering what your group is like!

Thanks so much

[Jeanne in MN]

I pretty much take it when we go camping or hiking. I keep it in my nature backpack. I sewed a cool book cover for my nature journal, I take drawing pencil and colored pencils, my field guides, etc. Sometimes we walk through our grove and just draw. Each of my kids have their own nature journal too that are kept in the backpack.

[Nan in Mass]

It marks the passage of time for me. When my son was in Japan for 3 months, I kept one, just jotting down a few things I saw daily. It recorded the passing of a season, the length of time he would be gone, and helped me see that the time was indeed passing as we got towards the next season. I've (almost) always lived in New England and think of time in terms of the seasons, so this works for me. I've also kept a nature journal, a more extensive one, less regular one, at other times.
-Nan

[kdeno]

MY drawing skills are horrendous~ stick figure-esque but I love nature journaling. I do take pics sometimes or press flowers. I enjoy looking up what we discover and identifying it. I also put poems and Bible verses in my book. I would never show it to anyone but I love the process.

Kari

[Daisy]

Chiming in here late but we do it My Father's World style. I buy a ream of good quality heavy copier paper and we use that. We clip several sheets to our clipboards and we are ready. When they have finished a sketch it goes into a sheet protector and into their 3-ring binder. I started this when my Type-A DD would have a melt-down about messing up her notebook. This way, we can throw away ones we don't like and keep the others. I do the same thing. And yes, I always draw with them. They learn a ton by listening to me draw. I verbalize what I am doing like this..."Hmm, do you see how that side of the leaf is darker than the other side because the light isn't reaching it? How shall I draw that? Or do you see how bumpy that is? Maybe I can make my paper look bumpy if I do this..." DD has learned every bit of her perspective drawing by simply listening and watching me. I'm a decent artist. Nothing special but I can make a recognizable copy of whatever I'm looking at. :p