31 Days: Furneaux “A Nature Study Guide”

First, I will tell you the good news: the volunteers at Ambleside Online are typing this book. You can even read what they have so far (be aware it is a rough draft).

Of course, I am a “real book” type of person. And I’ve been hunting for this book ever since I heard about it from Naomi at Living CM in CA and on the PNEU Programmes. (The other Furneaux book mentioned is online, but I had to visit the Wayback Machine at Archive.org to find it. Here is that link to Countryside Rambles.)

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I searched Abe Books, Amazon, Ebay, … I put an alert on the title at Direct Textbook. Finally I found one on Amazon.co.uk. Of course, I live in the US. But the price wasn’t bad, so I added it to my cart and signed into Amazon-UK with my Amazon-com email.

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It transfered my information over, automatically applied the higher out-of-country shipping amount and I bought the book for $20.22 USD. (From questions on the forum I’m thinking sharing the actual purchase amounts will be helpful, so I’m choosing to share what I paid.)

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Charlotte Mason used this book for Special Studies. It is interesting to note the progression. In Programme 91, all forms used Furneaux’s “A Nature Study Guide” for reference. All forms used either “The Changing Year” by Haines or “Countryside Rambles” by Furneaux, reading or referencing the parts relating to the current season.

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Form I (1st-3rd grades) were to “Find and describe (a) wild fruits; watch , if possible and describe (b) ten birds, (c) five other animals.”

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Form II (4th-6th grades) made “special studies for the season with drawings and notes.”

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And while the younger children kept a Nature Notebook, Form III (7th/8th grades) received specific instructions to “Keep a Nature Note-Book, with flower and bird lists, and make daily notes. For out-of-door work take some special study.”

In addition to Naomi’s blog, above, I’ve found this article at CMI Nicole at Sabbath Mood Homeschool helpful for understanding special studies, as well as Jeanne’s post at Oh Peaceful Day.