How to Schedule Southern California Nature Kids
When Can I Start?
You can begin Southern California Nature Kids: Land in any season, and you can complete the lessons at any pace you desire.
Can We Use It More Than Once?
Yes, you can also do the Southern California Nature Kids lessons multiple times, perhaps repeating every few years. You might choose different picture books from the list your second time through, or different animals from Wild LA.
Nature changes and also moves cyclically, so there's always something new to discover or patterns to recognize from year to year.
How Long Will Each Lesson Take?
Again, Southern California Nature Kids is meant to be flexible for your family needs, but here’s my best guess:
For homeschool families, I generally recommend spending 1-3 weeks on each lesson, depending on how many days a week you want to do Science, how many of the recommended picture books you want to read, and whether you'll be skipping any activities or doing them all.
For families with children in a traditional school setting, I suggest aiming for one lesson a month. If you have a lot of free time, you could do lessons more frequently, but I’m guessing for the average family with homework and extracurricular activities, one lesson a month will be reasonable.
Will the Curriculum Last for My Whole Homeschool Year?
If you do one lesson per week of Southern California Nature Kids: Land, you will be done in 12 weeks. The rest of the school year could be spent on other science topics, including other science programs or Southern California Nature Kids Volume 2: Water and Volume 3: Sky (coming in Fall 2022/Winter 2023).
On the other hand, you could go at a more relaxed pace, spending 2-3 weeks per lesson. By slowing down the pace, you may have more time to read more picture books, can potentially go deeper into the lesson topics, and may have an easier time fitting in a field trip for every lesson. At this pace, you could cover an entire 36-week school year (12 lessons x 3 weeks) just by using Southern California Nature Kids Volume 1: Land. (So next year you could do Water, then Sky the following year.)
The choice is yours! I love the motto shared by author Nancy Kelly: "Keep cutting back until there is peace in your home." If you find your pace is too fast or too ambitious, adjust your timing or expectations so it works for you. On the other hand, if your children are wanting to be more challenged, modify accordingly.
So What Does It Really Look Like on a Daily Basis?
Southern California Nature Kids family science curriculum is meant to be flexible and adaptable for family’s individual schedules. So what could that really look like? Here are some ideas:
Option 1 - Homeschooling with Science Every Day (fast pace)
If your homeschool family wants to finish one lesson a week, your week might look like something like this:
Monday - Discover (~15 min), Get Outside (~15 min)
Tuesday - Learn (~15 min), Nature Journal (~15 min),
Wednesday - Read (~10-20 min per book)
Thursday - Slow Down (~5-10 min), Engage (30+ min)
Friday - Go Explore (2+ hours)
Option 2 - Family Who Loves Weekend Adventures
If you’re a family with children in traditional school who is really wanting to enjoy nature outings together, your time might look like this:
Read books after school, at dinner, or at bedtime
Do the Discover lesson at home the night before or morning of your nature adventure (~15 min)
Go Explore on a nature adventure on the weekend or school breaks (2+ hours)
pack your nature Journals and enjoy some time on a picnic blanket recording what you’ve observed while on your nature adventure (~15-30 min)
enjoy the Engage (~ 30 minutes) and Get Outside (~15 minutes) activities after school or on weekends (or just skip them)
Option 3 - Homeschool Family Science in One Day
If your family wants to complete everything in one day every week or two, your day might look like this:
wake up, read Discover lesson over breakfast (~15 min)
drive to a Go Explore location (2+ hours)
pack your books while you Go Explore. In the car or while you eat a picnic lunch, you can Learn about an animal and read Slow Down.
Nature Journal while at your Go Explore location
When you get home, you can wind down with an Engage activity (or just skip it) or go on a walk to Get Outside before dinner (or just skip it).
Read a picture book at bedtime.
Option 4 - Weekly Co-Op Class
You can spend 2-3 hour-long class sessions per lesson. These lessons could take place inside a classroom or outdoors at a park or nature area.
Week 1:
Discover lesson (15 min)
Read a picture book from list
Get Outside activity
nature journal - prompt 1
Week 2:
Learn (animal lesson)
Read a picture book from list
Engage activity
nature journal - prompt 2
Week 3:
Slow Down
Read a picture book from list
Go Explore field trip (if meeting inside a classroom or at a fixed location and field trip isn’t applicable, replace this with another hands-on activity of your choice)
Nature journal - prompt 3
Option 5 - Homeschool with Science two days a week (relaxed pace)
Week 1:
Day 1: Discover and Get Outside
Day 2: Read a Picture Book
Week 2:
Day 1: Learn about animal
Day 2: Nature Journal, Slow Down
Week 3:
Day 1: Engage
Day 2: Go Explore Field Trip (or do this on a different day, and use your regular “Science” time slot to read another picture book)