Abiding Wild produces nature-study science units in separate formats for families and co-ops. The units are inspired by Charlotte Mason’s approach to education and teach from a Christian (creationist) worldview. While the main parts of the lessons do not require outdoor learning, other parts of the lessons—nature journaling, some art projects, and co-op games—suggest outdoor observations or activities. Some topics lend themselves better to outdoor activity than others. For instance, the study of fungi has activities that might be done outdoors, while the study of reindeer does not.
All units are digital products that can be purchased individually or through memberships. Using two or more unit studies per month, Abiding Wild can serve as your complete science course for at least one school year.
Unit topics are continually being added, and those available as I write this review are Snails, Slugs, & Worms; Stars; The Moon; Wolves; Snow & Ice; Reindeer; Bears; Foxes; Clouds & Rain; Spiders; Fungi & Mushrooms: Deciduous Trees; Birds of Prey; Bees; Dragonflies; Apples & Orchards; Bats; Owls; and Rocks & Minerals. All of these topics are available as family studies. For co-ops, add to these topics Otters, Salmon, Birds in Winter, Animal Tracks & Scat, Dinosaurs Part 1, Dinosaurs Part 2, and Volcanoes. New units are being produced at the rate of two per month for family studies and one per week for co-op studies. You can try the free Dragonflies lesson before buying or subscribing.
The unit studies for families and co-ops have different formats, although they share these features:
- designed for pre-K through sixth-grade learning together
- PDF format with printable pages
- many full-color photos
- read-aloud book list
- a Scripture memory verse and a devotional
- STEM and art projects
- nature journal prompts
- fully scripted lessons
- a poem
The unit studies require common household and craft items, nature items, and either library books for reading aloud or YouTube video books for listening. Both non-fiction and fiction books are on the lists.
Activities can easily be tailored for different ages. For example, older children can do more reading and writing in their journals, while younger ones do more crafts and read picture books.
Family Unit Studies
Family unit studies are designed to take four days, generally two days per week for two weeks. One day’s session can take as few as 20 minutes, but there’s flexibility to expand them.
Family studies include some elements not in those for co-ops: an art study, creative writing prompts, suggested videos, scripture memory-verse handwriting pages (in both print and cursive), and anatomy and life-cycle pages.
Each unit study has three files: the lesson, a parent guide, and student pages.
The lesson file shows photos alongside the lesson script on the same page. Parents can read aloud to children, or older children can read it for themselves. The unit’s poem, memory verse, and devotional are all included within the lesson. Children need to look at the images and watch several linked videos.
The parent guide has other important course components: brief course instructions, a suggested schedule, questions for discussion of the poem, the art study (includes the artwork image or link to an image for those not in the public domain, background information, and discussion questions), suggested books (some hyperlinked to YouTube readings of the books), a video playlist of videos in the lessons, an art or STEM project, and nature journal prompts. The suggested schedule shows when to use all lesson components and includes QR codes to Instagram and YouTube resources for visual aids and videos.
Student pages include worksheets with images to label, cut-and-paste activities, alphabet letter pages, several different styles of copywork pages, and a creative writing page. Parents can choose those appropriate for each child.
The Family Membership option includes support and an online community, plus two, live virtual classes per month taught by Kaitlynn Palmer, one of the unit studies’ authors. The recorded classes present the main lesson, including many other online videos, and the scripture memory verse and devotional. The poem is not covered in the video. Access to a separate video of the artwork study is included, and it's much more extensive than the study presented in the parent guide and has some instruction on creating an art project. (The video classes are also recorded for those who need to watch within 30 days.) Members receive the digital unit study before the live class so they can incorporate other lesson components. Note that you can cancel a membership at any time without penalty.
Co-op Unit Studies
Co-op unit studies include two PDF files: a teacher guide and a teaching script. The teaching script includes images on one page, followed by the teacher’s script on the following page. Instructions in the teacher guide say to print these pages and mount them back-to-back. The teacher can teach directly from these pages or project image pages while they read the script.
No lesson plan is included, since the scripture memory verse and the poem are built into the illustrated lesson script. Co-op teachers still need to decide when to do STEM or art projects, play games, and use nature journaling prompts from the teacher guide.
Co-op leaders have the option of Co-op Leadership membership for support and coaching for implementing the Abiding Wild studies. Co-op memberships include the fully-scripted and pre-planned co-op lessons, training videos, spreadsheets, forms for co-ops, and a chat room for co-op leaders to connect.
Summary
Abiding Wild nature unit studies are great for homeschoolers who want to study nature but don’t have the ability or desire to be outdoors for all of the studies. Those who want to can spend more time outdoors, but the flexibility is great for busy families. Also, the studies designed specifically for either individual families or for co-ops make the lessons easy to use in those settings. Some resources need to be gathered, but otherwise, the lessons are open-and-go.
