Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals - Softcover

Rackliffe, Karen Skidmore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576360733 ISBN 13: 9781576360736

Publisher: Karen Skidmore Rackliffe, 1999

Synopsis

A friendly guide written for amateur artists, writers and naturalists. Inspired by the nineteenth-century British educator Charlotte Mason, this approach to self-education combines careful observation of nature with the introspection of journal writing and the relaxing pleasure of watercolor. When used with children it can become a science or art curriculum. Anyone who is interested in journal writing will love it. Discovery journals are fun for all ages and are particularly rewarding for families and educators. It is a great hobby for parents and children to share together. The whole family is able to participate and learn together.

About this title

About the Author

Karen Skidmore Rackliffe has been a pioneer and a leader for fourteen years in the rapidly growing home school movement. She is a founder of the Salt Lake Home Educators Association and has been a leader in the Utah Home Educators Association. She is a popular lecturer for these organizations and also the Charlotte Mason Convention in Utah. Her articles on self-education have appeared in local, state and national newsletters and magazines. One of her articles was published in a book, Charlotte Mason Study Guide by Penny Gardner. She has been a featured guest on a talk radio show and her home school was featured in Utah Holiday Magazine in July 1991. Her favorite lecture topic is nature journals. She has a Bachelor's of Independent Studies with a double minor in English and Sociology from Brigham Young University. In connection with those degrees she did extensive research into how children learn. In 1978 she married William Rackliffe and they began the adventure of raising a family. Feeling a strong sense of duty and confidence, she decided to home school her children when the oldest was ready to start kindergarten. All seven of her children have been homeschooled with great success. (Her oldest has received a full-tuition four-year scholarship to Brigham Young University). Karen has also taught a variety of classes for children and parents in the community on science, nature, art, journal writing and watercolor. Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals is the result of years of research and experience teaching students of all ages about the earth, art, self-expression, journal writing, balance, spiritual fulfillment, and science. Active in several mother support groups, Karen also draws on the experience of other mothers and teachers who have tried discovery journals with joy and success.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

There are many kinds of journals, as there are many journeys in life.... Journals are a place to remember thoughts, ideas, images, dreams, events, developments, musings and hopes. Discoveries are flashes of thought that make the world seem somehow brighter, more beautiful, interesting, or bizarre.

A discovery journal places moments of insights together, page upon page, building connections between seasons and years. It is a record of days, a bringing together of scattered experience into a meaningful whole.

A discovery journal...is a book you write yourself about anything that has importance to you. You make all the rules, and you can change them anyway you want.

There are many names for these personal books. I like the word journal because it implies a journey, a beginning and a destination, with turning points along the way. I like to imagine my life as a journey, finding my way one step at a time.

Edition details

• Publisher: Karen Skidmore Rackliffe
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1576360733
• ISBN 13: 9781576360736
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 118