One of the reasons we love homeschooling is having the freedom to teach our kid the way that works not just for the child, but also for the parent-educator. Today, I wanted to try something new to our homeschooling journey. We have always done our lessons and study time mostly at home, at the terrace, in the bedroom, at the living room, basically wherever we feel like it. When we do go outside, it's solely for the purpose of playing or being one with nature.
Today, we tried going for a walk around BGC, originally just looking for a coffee shop where we could do our lessons then eventually going outside to have our nature study and then finally, meet up with Jude and Hiddenblade before they head home. My daughter wanted to do the nature study first right after she's had her chocolate drink, of course. So we dropped by at Coffee Bean to grab our drink, coffee for me, chocolate for her, then we looked for a bench where she can start our activity.
She was excited to do the nature study because this would be the first time I introduced sound mapping to her. Basically, all she has to do is to draw herself in the middle of her nature journal page, and then she would need to listen closely to the sounds she hears all around her. Whenever she hears a sound, she would then either jot down that sound or draw what she thinks it is, if she knows it specifically, she would draw it as closely accurate as she can.
At first, I thought this would be very challenging because we were in the city. And it was, but my kid took it on like a champ. Our little nature study turned out to be a listening activity and we ended up enjoying the fusion of city sounds and nature's music. Who knew it could be as relaxing as it felt earlier. I could have closed my eyes and just bask in all those natural and unnatural noises. I was surprised at how my daughter just took her time, being quiet, just waiting for every sound, paying attention to everything around her. It did seem like she had fun doing the activity.
Once she was done drawing and coloring everything according to her satisfaction, we went ahead and discussed the sounds. We heard that kind of crickety sound in the entire BGC that morning. We really are not sure if it's crickets but it sure does sound like one. She saw how there were so many birds just flying around too. I like how she included the cars and the people listening in on their mobile phones in her sound map.
I asked her how she felt after doing the activity. First off, she said she had so much fun. It sure felt like she's a mini-marites listening in on every sound around her. Then she told me she's happy she could hear. She was thinking about one of her cousins who is deaf and needs sign language to communicate. The activity made her appreciate the gift of hearing. Funny how something like this could get past us. We often take these things for granted when really, it is a blessing.
I proceeded and asked her how important it is to learn to listen to the sounds around us. She explained about how if she's camping and hears a sound of a wild animal, she would know which direction she should run. I love how far into the future she can plan. LOL. I also explained it to her that it is also important that we are aware of our surroundings whether we're looking or not. We should be using all our senses when we are outside for our own safety and the safety of the people around us.
Our nature study usually comprises of studying the plants or the pictures of the animals we read about. I even bought a fish one time for her to observe using her sense of sight, touch, and smell. With sound mapping, it's more focused on using the sense of hearing. But it is actually more than just that. It gave her a whollistic view of the world around her, making her aware of her surroundings, showing her that even if we live in the city, there still are natural wonders she can appreciate. It kind of gives hope that nature and technology can and may coexist with each other. One just has to have that much respect for nature to not destroy it all, and let nature flourish amid all the human progress.
I am glad we did this new way of doing nature study, my little learner wanted to go back to BGC next week so we can go to another spot and not just do sound mapping, but also take a closer look at the Palawan Cherry Blossoms blooming in Track 30th. Hopefully, we could follow through with that next week. I guess we'll see where our quest for nature study brings us.
