Karen Andreola, best known for A Charlotte Mason Companion, has written a unique sort of book in the homeschool world. Pocketful of Pinecones is a teacher s guide to nature study cleverly disguised as a heartwarming story, written in the form of a mother s diary. Woven into the story are: •More than130 examples of what to look for on a nature walk, •Latin names for the living things observed by the characters, •Study questions, •Nature poems and verses. Other features include: •A supplement of selected quotations by Miss Charlotte Mason, •An annotated list of books with a nature theme, both fiction and non-fiction, •Nostalgic pencil drawings. Yet Pocketful of Pinecones is also a story for Mother Culture®. It revolves around a mother named Carol. She is on her feet a lot - caring for her family. In her diary, Carol pours out her secret worries, hopes, joys, and disappointments. She also writes of the nature walks she enjoys with her children. Her goal is to safeguard their sense of wonder. Together they observe God s marvelous creation and the children record their finds in their Nature Notebooks. Carol reads Home Education by Miss Charlotte Mason and attempts to put the advice into practice. Designed to be a pick-me-up, each chapter is short enough to minister to a mother who has only snatches of time in which to nourish her soul. Carol s story continues in the sequel; Lessons at Blackberry Inn.