Why Study Botany

“…every wild flower that grows in their neighbourhood, they should know quite well; should be able to describe the leaf––its shape, size, growing from the root or from the stem; the manner of flowering––a head of flowers, a single flower, a spike, etc. And, having made the acquaintance of a wild flower, so that they can never forget it or mistake it, they should examine the spot where they find it, so that they will know for the future in what sort of ground to look for such and such a flower.”  

~Charlotte Mason, Home-Education

“The Sense of Beauty comes from Early Contact with Nature.––There is no end to the store of common information, got in such a way that it will never be forgotten, with which an intelligent child may furnish himself before he begins his school career. The boy who can tell you off-hand where to find each of the half-dozen most graceful birches, the three or four finest ash trees in the neighbourhood of his home, has chances in a life a dozen to one compared with the lower, slower intelligence that does not know an elm from an oak––not merely chances of success, but chances of a larger, happier life, for it is curious how certain feelings are linked with the mere observation of Nature and natural objects.” Charlotte Mason, Home Education

“Every Natural Object a Member of a Series.––Now take up a natural object, it does not matter what, and you are studying one of a group, a member of a series; whatever knowledge you get about it is so much towards the science which includes all of its kind. Break off an elder twig in the spring; you notice a ring of wood round a centre of pith, and there you have at a glance a distinguishing character of a great division of the vegetable world. You pick up a pebble. Its edges are perfectly smooth and rounded: why? you ask. It is water-worn, weatherworn. And that little pebble brings you face to face with disintegration, the force to which, more than to any other, we owe the aspects of the world which we call picturesque––glen, ravine, valley, hill. It is not necessary that the child should be told anything about disintegration or dicotyledon [two-leafed], only that he should observe the wood and pith in the hazel twig, the pleasant roundness of the pebble; by-and-by he will learn the bearing of the facts with which he is already familiar––a very different thing from learning the reason why of facts which have never come under his notice.” 

Charlotte Mason, Home Education

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How to study botany:

“Not that more is taught at an early age, but less, that time is taken- that the wall is not run up in haste, that the bricks are set on carefully and the mortar allowed time to dry.”
Lord Stanley

You study Nature in the house and when you go out of doors you cannot find her.
Professor Louis Agassiz

Advice from 1882 which applies just as much, or even more today:

“Through the liberality of the publishers the book is well supplied with diagrams. It will not do, however, for the student to trust to these alone. No science can be properly studied from mere book-work(emphasis added) and this is especially true of such a science as Botany, which deals with various forms of natural objects. The student is strongly urged from the first to carefully examine specimens. A sharp penknife and a simple lens, which will only cost a few shillings, are all the apparatus required for dissecting and examining most flowers, and the commonest plants around us will well serve the student’s purpose.

For some parts of the subject, as for instance the examination of Cellular Tissues, a microscope is needful. …The student should also especially accustom himself to writing out descriptions of plants according to the model given at the close of the book.”

Elementary Botany, by Henry Edmonds, Brighton, May, 1882

“As regards the science itself, it seemed to me to be very badly dealt with in the schools. In many it is not taught at all, and in others it is regarded as a kind of superfluous side study, of such secondary importance that it matters little in what way it is treated. And so it is subordinated to the school routine and pursued in a hurried and desultory manner by books and recitations and by memorizing second hand information. It is perfectly well known that in institutions of all grades students often go through the botanical text books without giving any attention whatever to the objects they describe, or, if they do so at all, it is generally in an incidental and irrational way, perhaps by attacking the most complex part of the plant first, and picking flowers to pieces so that the pupil may quickly indulge in the shallow pedantry of giving them their technical names. All this is unjust to the science. Like arithmetic, Botany is only to be acquired by first mastering its rudiments. And, as in arithmetic the student is compelled to exercise his mind directly upon numbers and work out the problems for himself, so in Botany, if worth pursuing at all it should be studied in its actual objects. The characters of plants must become familiarly known by the detailed and repeated examination and accurate description of large numbers of specimens. The pupil must proceed step by step in this preliminary work digesting his observations and making the facts his own until he becomes intelligent in regard to all the common varieties of plant forms and structures.”

from Second Book of Botany: A Practical Guide to the Observation and Study of Plants, Book 2, by Eliza Ann Youmans
published by D. Appleton, 1874

This was true in 1874 and it is still true today. Science tends to be 'taught' via books, rote memorization of terms which mean little to the young memorizors, and parroting of second hand information.  However, of all subjects, science ought to be learned as the students directly observe and examine the real thing and making first-hand, personal observations as much as possible, that is a program largely about passing a test, not learning about the beauty and wonder of the science. It may be school, but it isn’t education. Let the children study and observe for themselves what the author later calls ‘the order and truth of the things around us.’

Eliza Ann Youmans also quotes Dr. Whewell, once Master of Trinity College at Cambridge: “There are perverse intellectual habits very commonly prevalent in the cultivated classes which ought ere now to have been corrected by the general teaching of Natural History. [i.e. science, esp life sciences]. …In order that Natural History may produce such an effect it must be studied by the inspection of the objects themselves and not by the reading of books only. Its lesson is that we must, in all cases of doubt or obscurity, refer not to words or definitions, but to things. The Book of Nature is its own dictionary; it is there that the natural historian looks to find the meaning of the words which he uses.”
Incidentally, William Whewell coined the term scientist, and he was an Anglican priest and devout believer.

“To attempt the study of Botany without the practical examination of plants is futile. Students of plant life must look at plants…
Elementary Botany, by Percy Groom

More from Charlotte Mason (volume 6, which is mostly about education in high school):

They keep records and drawings, make special studies of their own for the season with drawings and notes. 219

Form III (12-13): study habitats, the work of one term enabling them to “make a rough sketch of a section of ditch or hedge or sea-shore and put in the names of the plants you would expect to find.” “write notes with drawings of the special study you have made this term.” What do you understand by calyx, corolla, stamen, pistil? In what way are flowers fertilized? How could you find the pole star? Mention six other stars and say in what constellations they occur.

They study six or so books on natural history, botany, architecture and astronomy- they observe and chronicle, but are not dependent on their own unassisted observation. 220

Study of Natural History and Botany with bird lists and plant lists continues throughout school life, other branches of science are taken term by term. 220

1.How and where to begin:

Begin at home and confine your lessons at first to such plants that grow in your neighbourhood, and with which children are all more or less familiar.

Manuals of the Science and Art of Teaching, ADVANCED SERIES No VI HOW TO TEACH BOTANY, London, 1880

Suggestions:

First spend a great deal of time looking at plants, noticing the things they have in common, the details.  Let this knowledge amass over time.

Point out the stems, leaves, roots, flowers, buds, and note that some plants are flowers, some are shrubs or bushes, some are grasses, some are trees.  

Petals- how many, what shape, what colour?  What other plants have petals the same shape or formation, or same number?.

Leaves: how do they grow on the plant? How are they arranged on the stem? What shape are they? What do the borders or margins or edges of the leaves look like?  What are the veins like?

Stems: Shape, length, pattern of stems or leaves?

Other flower parts- you can learn the names over time- sepals- how many, what colour and shape?

Stamens and Pistils- how many, how long, is there a pattern? Colour, style, size?

Try finding members of the mustard family.  Ask a farmer or a gardener.  Look in the herb department of your grocery store.  This one is great because it grows almost everywhere.

There are a couple of very helpful plant I.D. groups on facebook. Join one of them. Take pictures of the plants you want to identify, post them on the FB group and tell where the plant is (your location and a description of the sort of place it's growing shade, sun, sand, Philippines, city lot, wild patch of woods....).

Do not stop with the answer.  Note the answer, but google it. Find out more. Write it down in your nature notebook next to your sketch.  Ask around and find out the local common names.  Make a note of it in your calendar of firsts- a calendar on which you write the 'first' plants and birds you see each year.  IT's a sort of a diary of your nature discoveries through the year.

Again, take your time.  This skill will develop as your knowledge grows, and it's okay for this to happen cumulatively, over time, with steady attention.  It doesn't matter that you don't know a thing about it now. You are going to learn and your children will learn with you.

Other reasons to study Botany:

Consider the lilies, how they grow.... Can you consider the lilies and how they grow if you do not even know what they are?

The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

God cared enough about creating the world of plants in all its glorious variety.  It is the glory of kings t0 discover the secrets God has hidden in His creation.

The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

Do you know what these trees are? 

"I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert Together with the box tree and the cypress, That they may see and recognize, And consider and gain insight as well, That the hand of the LORD has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Isn't it interesting that God takes the time to name specific species? If He thinks it matters, why do we think it's boring to know?

Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices—   These are all plants.

Botany is part of the natural world around us. It is part of the proper focus of study in a living education of human beings, who deserve a wide and generous curriculum, rich with variety and beauty.

To know is a delight.

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For further study:

P.R. article by Professor Geddes on the development and study of modern botany: "Leave for a moment each shelf of books, close every appalling dictionary of information, and ask, What is Linnaeus' secret, what Cuvier's, Goethe's, Von Baer's? Their results are infinite, are endless; but their method simple. Each opened a treasure-house of new ideas too vast for any man to carry; but this with the very simplest key, which is henceforth at the service of each and all. In all Linnaeus, what it the secret--the logical principle--the key? Only this--isolate your organism, observe its outward form, describe and name it, catalogue and index it; as far as possible also preserve and draw. But practice upon our common flora is all we need to do this, right through the world. Would we next descend to Cuvier's plane? What have we? First, the Linnaean secret over again applied to the parts of the organism instead of the whole--isolate, observe, describe, and record as before, but now with the addition, compare as well. This, too, can be soon adequately learned in practice, and we are henceforth comparative anatomists in a special group or field."

 P.R. article on value of botanical gardens in education "First, set aside a piece of ground in garden or adjoining field; the more the better, but a small piece will serve. I once laid out for some girls in their fathers' garden, a border against a wall, twelve by three yards in extent, and put into it more than a hundred plants. Divide the beds not less than two feet wide, severed by paths eighteen inches wide, of gravel or of ashes, not of grass. This is a minimum; give rather more width to both if you can afford it. Then put in your plants two feet apart; be sure that all are named on labels eight inches long, writing the names, Latin on one side, English on the other, from the blunt end of the label, and mark with larger labels the beginning of a fresh order. Now get Oliver's Elementary Botany, and Anne Pratt's Flowers of the Field. The first will tell you, with much more besides, the genera which each order contains; the second will identify flowers gathered in your children's walks. "

  Flower Teaching by Dorothea Beale "There is surely nothing in Nature of greater educational value than flowers. Children take a wonderful delight in them. I know one who was taken to a Zoological Gardens when she was about three. She was a London child, and had never seen growing daisies. She could not be induced to look at the strange animals, but threw herself on the grass, crying: "Daisies, daisies!" and to this day, more than half a century after, the memory of those first flowers which she gathered and brought to her home is a delightful memory. To her the first sight of the delicate crane's-bill, of a magnificent spike of black mullin, are like Wordsworth's vision of the "cloud of golden daffodils." The love of flowers should be fostered in all--there is a kind of botany suitable for every age. The shape, the colour, the ever-changing form of the plant, first develops the love of the beautiful, later the observing faculty is cultivated, and the sense of order when the child is led to count the petals, stamens, &c., and to form classified collections, to name the different kinds of leaves, and to trace their shapes. It it important, however, not to weary children with hard names, but let them learn the popular ones which appeal to the imagination, as the foxglove, the columbine, &c."

  The Charm of Nature Study * Nature study as a subject is one which should be approached with great reverence, for in dealing with birds, animals, flower and all other forms of natural life, we are perhaps, nearer to the Creator than in any other branch of science; for the natural world is the expression of God's personality in a form that is within the reach of all of us to comprehend in some measure. And is not the natural world one of the greatest proofs that there is a God? The secret of having reverence in all branches of Nature Study lies in reverence for Life in any shape or form. In speaking of this reverence for Life, Miss Mason says, "Reverence for Life as a wonderful and awful gift which a ruthless child may destroy but never can restore, is a lesson of first importance to the child." "Let knowledge grow from more to more. But more of reverence in us dwell." Years hence when children are old enough to understand that science itself is in a sense sacred, and demands some sacrifice, all the common information they have been gathering until then, and the habits of observation they have acquired, will form an excellent ground work for a scientific education. In the meantime let them consider the lilies of the field and fowls of the air.

  Psychological Order of Teaching With Special Reference to Natural Science by Dorothea Beale, Surely the world of flowers is specially suited for teaching the little ones. How the colours and forms delight them--has not the first sight of a flower remained with many of us through life, "a joy for ever." It is for us to teach how to observe, so that the memories shall be not mere vague impressions, but clear-cut, accurate, lasting: all the senses must combine to give unity and completeness to the sense --concept, so that the child may feel the beauty, enter into loving sympathy with Nature, and perfect that "inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude." Children should be led to form collections, by which the first observations may be repeated and fulfilled; they should also learn to draw, so that not merely the individual, but the essential, the typical, may be brought into clearness; we should, too, encourage in them the desire to co-operate with Nature in making the earth beautiful, and call out the affections towards the Unseen Giver of all good things.

  PR article with a lesson on the periwinkle or vinca major- this plant grows in gardens in North America, the Philippines and Mexico, to my firsthand knowledge. Likely it grows in many other places as well.

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For sale, proceeds support my family's work.  When creating these things,  my constant thought was 'What might readers like to know or think about? What will help our Charlotte Mason parents and families?  What will give them something to think about, something to love, something to grow on?'  I hope you can tell. 


$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.  
   
 $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal,   Feed Your Mind!  This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.


 $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!  Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation.   Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.

Picture Study!  Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00

Common Kitchen:  What's for lunch?  Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families?  What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing?  How can I accomplish all those things at once?  We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income.  I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world.  These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids.  Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions.  I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00

Indoor Botany: Nature Study Ideas

Children are natural scientists, always wondering, asking why, touching, exploring, feeling, poking, noticing, watching, and finding things out. Sometimes the process is messy, isn't it?

While the academic world focuses on 'STEM' activities, it often actually undermines true STEM activity in the child's mind by using scripted lessons, pencil and paper work, and rote memory crowd out the more meaningful real world observation and first hand experiences.  As John Holt noticed, for young children learning comes as naturally as breathing.  So for the early years, in particular, the best approach to science and most other topics is to give them scope to apply those natural skills.
Among the skills young children already display that will be useful for formal science learning later include observing, noticing, wondering.  In fact, consider this checklist from the book Inspiring science in the early years: exploring good practice  and compare it to the sort of life and education that naturally follow a Charlotte Mason education: 


"Practical skills of observation: noticing, and looking closely and in a
sustained way (sustained and focused observations helps children to pay
attention).
Being curious and asking questions.
Reasoning and thinking skills: thinking about what will happen; explaining
what they have seen.
Noticing similarities and differences in order to sort and classify to support
the development of ideas.
Measuring: how high the bean stalk has grown, which car goes the furthest.
Testing and finding out for oneself.
Communication skills: speaking and listening, discussing, describing and
recording observations, using correct vocabulary.
Social skills of cooperation, negotiation, leadership, following instructions."*

An important part of being a parent of young children, whether you are going to use Miss Mason's ideas or not, is your own attitude and what you communicate.  The same book tells us that children are better served when parents and teachers model:

Wanting to find out an answer to a question, being excited about what will be discovered, feeling awe and wonder, persevering, and having a caring attitude toward living things.  Does this describe you?  It's not too late to develop a sense of curiosity, a deep and abiding interest in as many aspects of creation as possible.

Miss Mason noted something similar in volume 1 of her 6 volume series:

"The child who sees his mother with reverent touch lift an early snowdrop to her lips, learns a higher lesson than the 'print-books' can teach. Years hence, when the children are old enough to understand that science itself is in a sense sacred and demands some sacrifices, all the 'common information' they have been gathering until then, and the habits of observation they have acquired, will form a capital groundwork for a scientific education. In the meantime, let them consider the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air."

G. Dowton of the House of Education wrote in 1930: "There is no kind of knowledge to be had in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves, of the world they live in. Let them at once get into touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things."

And of course, Miss Mason had been saying that already for decades: 

"Nature Knowledge the most important for Young Children.––It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things."

And again: 
"Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasp, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragon-fly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way."

Our job is to see to it that such things *do* come their way.  During harsh winters in some North American climes (or perhaps harsh summers in tropical climes), some work can be done indoors with your kitchen scraps.  Below are some suggestions:



One nature study book that I have used often and especially love is called Growing Up Green, by Alice Skelsey and Gloria Huckaby. It's sort of hippy flavored, which I rather enjoy, as it was written in the 70s.

It's available for free reading online at archive.org:

I used this first with my eldest two girls when they were wee mites of one and two years.  Given their age, the fun things we did from this book were as much for Mom and her mind as they were for the tots.  My copy back then came from our local library.

 In 1999 I found it again at the local used bookstore and grabbed it for old time's sake. It is a nice book, with lots of fun things to do with your children to share the love of growing things, all year round, including in winter.

The following ideas can make a pleasant interlude from more rigorous scientific researches. They are easy, pleasant to do, free, and can even contribute to a family meal. They do have some scientific value as well, particularly if you always work with your children to help them observe as much as possible on their own, or with only some direction from you.  First-hand observation of a wide variety of real life science (stars, plants, birds, clouds, water, etc)  is the best foundation for science you can give your children.

You can use these activities as the background for a discussion about eating roots, and for a brief lesson on root vegetables and how their roots differ from those of other plants- because the plant stores so much sugar in the roots there is enough energy to sustain further growth when you slice the tops and root them in water.

If you never have grown this kind of kitchen left-overs houseplant, you might begin by having your children guess what will happen. Write down their guesses so they can compare them later. This is also a good time to discuss the different parts of a plant (roots, stems, leaves), and to have a child sketch and label an example.

vintage sketch of pumpkin vine

1. Grow a Potato Vine inside: It's very easy and very pretty. You just stick a potato or a sweet potato (they make a prettier plant) in a jar of water so that just the bottom touches the water.
If the potato is too even in shape to stay up on the rim, then stick three toothpicks up around the side, and they will prop the tater up so it doesn't submerge.

It makes a beautiful vine and you can keep it going for several months. Once it starts to turn a bit yellow, it's time to repot it (I use a large coffee can), and then it will keep for another month or two. Then you need to either dump it or plant it outside and start another one.

For nature study you would have your child sketch the progress of the leaves and roots each week, measuring roots and leaves, that sort of thing.

2.

illustration from Archive.org
A gardening book, indoors and outdoors

by Walsh, Anne Batterberry

You can also start a root garden. Slice the tops off of root vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, or beets. Put them cut-side down in a shallow pan of water (pie pans are perfect). You don't want the top submerged, but you do want enough water to allow the greenery to grow.

The children can could sketch those, measure their rate of grown each week, see if they prefer sun or shade, or if one vegetable does better than another. The tops of the turnips and beets are edible, so you can reuse them in a stir-fry. If you have chickens, you can feed them the greens when you have finished with them.

3. Another fun thing is to take a fatter root vegetable,  like a turnip, hollow it out from the root end, put three toothpicks in the side so that you can hang it upside down, like a small planter or basket. Keep the hole filled with water. The idea is that the turnips sprout leaves, the leaves would grow up, making a leafy looking basket.  It would help to buy organic turnips or beets for this one.

We didn't do these things as huge science projects.  I just liked growing greenery in our kitchen from kitchen leftovers because I liked greenery in the house. I think it's pleasant to the spirit and balm to the soul. I also like free, and I really enjoy reusing things that would otherwise have gone into the rubbish bin. So growing a brand-new window-sill garden of greenery from trash combined several little pleasures of mine, and Moms are people, too, who also need their minds and souls fed.

4. You can also grow lettuce in ice-cream buckets indoors on a very sunny window (sketch them, chart their growth, measure, try different soils)
Or you can grow mung/humon/mongo beans or alfalfa sprouts for eating. Soak overnight, put in a jar with a mesh lid or cheesecloth, rinse and drain three times a day.  My friend grows them in a colander she puts over a bucket because they eat so many at once. Watch their progress, observe a new sprout every day and see what changed. Sketch, measure, really look closely and see how much you can notice.

5. Examine all the fruits and vegetables you eat- notice what part of the plant they come from. Notice their seeds, if any.  Notice the seed pattern inside the fruit.  Find out their native soil and locate those places on a map.  Why do pineapples, mangos, bananas grow very well in Mexico and the Philippines but not so well in Canada?

Life is interesting.  Be interested in the things around you.

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Charlotte Mason helps:

   $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3)

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!

 New! $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Buy Now!  and Feed Your Mind!  This issue contains several articles on nature study and science.

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Bibliography or additional reading:

Inspiring science in the early years: exploring good practiceStead, Di, editor; Kelly, Lois, 1954-, editor
Book. English.
Published Maidenhead: Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education, 2015

A gardening book, indoors and outdoors

by Walsh, Anne Batterberry, you may borrow this free at Archive.org

Elementary Science, a Parents' Review article

The Study of Natural History as an Educational Discipline (a Parents' Review Article)

Nature Study by Mrs. Brightwen, a PR Article

The Charm of Nature Study, a PR article

Home Education, by Charlotte Mason

The Home-School Museum in a Box

A curiosity cabinet is a piece of furniture with compartments in which to keep curiosities- bones, leaves, pinned insects, fossils, stones, artifacts, shells, oddities- the categories for collections are wide and generous.  It was popular with amateur natural history buffs in the Victorian era (and on either side of it).  It could have looked like a series of library card catalog cabinets, or those old postal dividers for mail or coffee tables with shallow compartments topped with glass.

  You can use the same idea for both stimulating and directing curiosity in your own students, but you don't have to be so elaborate. The main thing you need is something with compartments.  Covers or drawers are nice for keeping dust out.  It could fill a room or be as small as a container on a shelf.

This PR Article explains


: "This article talks about having: "the glass-fronted museum case, or cases, as occasion may require. In this should be gathered all the curios obtainable; labelled and classified by or with the children so that they may know what each thing is, and where it is kept. These should then be introduced into the lessons as frequently and under as many new aspects as possible. Each time a specimen is brought forth, the child will remember a whole chain of facts, and will, with pleasure, add another link to those he has already made. It must be borne in mind that the museum is the child's; therefore, he must consider it his duty to be always increasing it. In his rambles and walks there are many things he may collect, and he will soon feel dissatisfied if he goes out without bring home something new, whether it be a fresh specimen for the flint or granite collection, a flower for the botany collection, a new snail shell, water creature or water plant. There are things innumerable the child can find, of which he may learn the wonders. Thus, gradually, the schoolroom will become the best loved room in the house, because its beauty is of his own creating, a monument wrought by much patience, care and love.

Even his toys can be made instruments of education; during the nursery period, a child needs very few toys, but as he grows older and can appreciate beautiful things, so should they be given to his care. For instance, in the tall museum case he can have a menagerie of all the model animals he has had given him; and week by week, when the geography lesson comes round, think what delight there will be in making the desert of Africa on the sand tray, the boys' camels walking slowly across with the girl's dolls upon their backs, and a little linen round a few sticks for their camp; some of the doll's house pots and pans lying around to add to the completeness of the scene. The effect is one of breathless wonder, and childlike admiration frequently finds expression in the clapping of hands and walking round the model with exclamations of joy and satisfaction.""

In my house in the Philippines I have several little plastic desk-top office supply keepers/dividers, and inside I have a variety of seashells picked up at the beach. The picture to the left isn't clear enough to show you how lovely my seashells are, but it does give you an idea of the storage containers. The sharpie is provided for scale.

  Sometimes I take these shells out of the drawers and put them in a pencil box or small plastic food keeper, and a couple children who come to visit sort the shells and arrange them again for me.  There is a great deal of wonder and interest and beauty just in looking at the collections.  There is even more food for thought and value to the mind in arranging them, categorizing them properly, and in writing down a record of their own finds and as much information as possible about them.

I saw an idea of something like this for sale for a couple hundred dollars for the box alone (which was very pretty) and then you buy various curiosities to put in the drawers and keep a magnifying glass nearby, and leave some drawers empty for the kids to fill with their own discovered treasures.

The World Discovery Box includes specimens- you can get a small one (7 drawers) for 151 dollars; a large one (14 drawers, plus 50 specimens) for 247 dollars. I was thinking this would be a fun project to create over a year.  You could this with or for grandchildren, your kids at home, visiting church or neighbourhood children- give them the box and a magnifying glass at the beginning of the project, and every month send something new for it.  You could save money this way, or you could not save a dime, depending on how you fill it. The fun would be making it individual, and the monthly new thing.

 I bought a box something like the expensive curiosity box on sale at a thrift shop a while ago, it's still at home in the U.S, and this is what I intended to use it for.  My box was designed to hold photos.  I've seen similar items billed as desk top organizers, trinket boxes, curio boxes, apothecary boxes, and so on.  They come in various sizes and some of the drawers are pretty small, so you'll want to keep the dimensions in mind when collecting items to put in the drawers.

 So you could start with a container: Small wooden organizer, five drawers, 15.00, for small items. A four cube storage/organizer with fabric bins, each bin around 5X5 inches Wooden apothecary desktop cabinet with drawers for forty dollars This pretty little turquoise wooden box with four drawers is only around 25 dollars, each drawer is just 3.5 by 3.5 inches (five inches deep) Or, if you want to be able to see all the contents at once, use a wooden tea box. This one has 10 compartments and a clear lid.  It's only 17 dollars, so I'd have wood glue, clamps, and so forth ready at hand to put it back together when you open it the first time. Three drawer wood caddy with chalkboard front, around 13.00,  for very small items:the whole thing is 11 3/8 Inch (L) x 3 7/8 Inch (H) x 3 7/8 Inch (W) 5 drawers, very tiny, wood, you can get it finished or unfinished to design yourself.  15.00 Similar, finished, very understated. I like it. Rustic brown desktop organizer: Overall - 14.25 W X 8.25 H X 5.5 D; Small Top Drawers (each) - 4.25 W X 4 H X 5.25 D; Large Bottom Drawer - 13.25 W X 2.75 H X 5.25 D., 36 dollars Another small wooden cabinet of drawers, requires assembly, around 17 dollars.

• This chipboard unit measures 11 by 11 by 3-5/8-inch with nine 3-3/8 by 3-9/16 by 3-1/2-inch drawers and nine pewter finished hardware

If I had as much money as I could spend, or maybe a little more, I'd look at this one for 80 dollars. I Love the colorful ceramic drawers.

   Or just go with plastic.   4 dollars.

 Now you need some things to put in it.  If you have children at home, let them do the collecting and organizing, although you might occasionally make an interesting contribution or suggestion.  It could be a general assignment at the start of a new study in science.

If you are collecting for yourself to share with grandchildren or visitors to your home, you decided what to collect.  In addition to interesting local stones, shells, fossils, seeds, pods, bones, etc that you might find (check out your car bumper and windshield for moths and butterflies), these things look interesting and fun to me (prices and availability will change):
  Tiny seahorse with a seashell or two encased in teardrop shaped lucite for $9.00 It's attached to a leather cord as it's meant to be a necklace.  I'd remove the cord and save it for some other craft.  It will fit in the smallest of the drawers above: Teardrop Size Approx 1.3" x 1.0" x .5"

Shark tooth in lucite keychain, 5.00
  Life cycle of a frog! Real specimen in lucite, egg to tadpole to pollywog to frog. Only 4.25 inches long.  Very pricey, however- 25 dollars
  Four insects in four separate blocks of resin, making them easy to examine.  12 or 13 dollars for the set, and you get four, so you could add one to a drawer every month.

  Ten insects (that's what it says, includes scorpion) for nearly 30 dollars.

  A dozen very thin geode or agate slices for 12 dollars (extremely fragile)

  Snowflake Obsidian polished gemstone, about an inch, around 5.00 with shipping. You can get others as well, desert jasper, rose quartz and so on.

  Little set of about a dozen pieces of different natural gemstones with information about each one, nearly 7.00

  Rhinoceros beetle in resin, around 5.00

  Orange tip butterfly, preserved in resin (the body is, I think, a sticker)- meant for a necklace. I'd just put the butterfly part in the drawer and use the chain for something else if the chain can be removed intact. $4.00

  Various butterfly in resin paperweights, 15.00

  For 30 dollars, a bag of : Rock, Mineral & Fossil Collection Activity Kit with Educational ID Sheet plus Ammonite, Shark’s Tooth in Matrix, Fossilized Poo, 2 Geodes & Arrowheads,(Over 125 pcs and NO GRAVEL) Dancing Bear Brand

50 tiny fossil gastropods, 23 dollars

  3 inch chambered nautilus shell, split in half to view chambers. 20 dollars

  Polished sand-dollar fossil- 10-17 dollars

. Fish fossil Trilobyte fossil, 10 dollars

  Miniature shark jaw and teeth with identifier/story card, about five dollars (very small)

  Alligator head (real) 5-6 inches long, ten dollars.

  Real bobcat claw, around 7 dollars including shipping

  Badger claw, same as above...

These are affiliate links, and they are largely shared to give you some ideas of the variety of things you might look for and where.  For instance, if you just look for a seahorse, that will be pretty pricey, but the one in the tacky keychain is affordable.  These are best used as little extras, or for a private subscription treasure box with monthly additions from Grandma (you see where my heart is!).  For best educational value, the children should collect their own.

The main thing is collecting, having some idea of a theme for the collection, and for the children doing the collecting, some identifying labels are also a lovely way to communicate what they have learned.  If you have a home museum on a topic the children have worked on, you could also invite some friends and relations over for a museum tour, with the children acting as docents.

For Sale:

   $3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3)

  $3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One!

 New! $5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Buy Now!  and Feed Your Mind!