“[Fabre] considered that he could not enjoy a more splendid opportunity to give children a taste for science and to stimulate their curiosity than by finding a means to interest them. . .”[1] — G. V. Legros, Henri Fabre’s biographer
Faith and Curiosity: Jean-Henri Fabre and the Classical Homeschool Science Curriculum
You might wonder what an early 19th-century French entomologist has in common with a 21st-century homeschool parent. Actually, quite a bit. Like us, Fabre was a devoted follower of Christ and understood that God’s world reveals His divine nature and eternal power. Fabre believed that when we start with belief and faith in our Creator, the natural world becomes a showcase filled with God’s beauty, order, truth, goodness, creativity, and more!
His life and work continue to inspire families today who are seeking a classical homeschool science curriculum rooted in wonder and faith.
Why Modern Homeschoolers Still Learn from Fabre
Fabre recognized that the conventional way of teaching science disconnected students from the natural world, thereby disconnecting them from the wonder of God’s creation. Appalled by the dry and insipid science texts students were required to read, Fabre determined to build his students’ love and knowledge by using words, observations, stories, experiments, activities, and imagination—the same grammar skills we practice today.
Fabre’s love for God and His world fueled his passionate desire to share the love of science with his own children. Like us, Fabre sacrificed his time to contemplate ways to evoke wonder. He responded by writing natural science textbooks filled with engaging stories and beautiful words. Fabre’s stories, discovered and republished by Classical Conversations, expressed his love and rich knowledge of plants, stars, rivers, electricity, storms, insects, oceans, volcanoes, mushrooms, seashells, and even honey!
A Legacy of Learning Through Stories and Rhetoric
Legros, his biographer, describes Fabre’s teaching methods like this: “He exerted himself to arouse their [the children’s] curiosity, to provoke their questions, to discover their mistakes, to set their ideas in order; he accustomed them to rectify their errors themselves, and from all this he obtained excellent material for his books.”[2] Sound familiar? All of Fabre’s methods reflect the same grammar and dialectic skills that we practice.
What are the 15 Classical Skills of Learning?
Practicing Rhetoric in Your Classical Homeschool Science Curriculum
Like us, Fabre perfected his teaching skills by practicing the art of rhetoric—the persuasion of others toward wisdom. Wait. Rhetoric? How do I, as a homeschool parent, practice rhetoric? You might be surprised. As we explore the art of rhetoric, look for classical skills you use in your everyday teaching.
Let’s start with the classical understanding of the art of rhetoric. Leigh Bortins, CC founder, draws the definition of rhetoric from both Aristotle and the teachings of scripture. She defines rhetoric as “the use of knowledge and understanding to perceive wisdom, to pursue virtue, and to proclaim truth.”[3] When we persuade our children toward wisdom, virtue, and truth, we practice the classical art of rhetoric, honoring God and serving others.
Why Rhetoric Matters in Homeschool Life
In fact, persuading others may be one of the most important and regular tasks homeschooling parents practice! Whether it is “persuading” our youngest to use a bar of soap, motivating our middle to return a sibling’s borrowed book, or encouraging our oldest to recalculate a physics equation for the third time, our days are filled with practicing the art of rhetoric— the persuasion of others toward wisdom.
Discover the 5 Canons of Rhetoric
Understanding the Five Canons and Three Modes of Rhetoric
If you’ve been involved with Classical Conversations, you are probably familiar with the practices of rhetoric. We refer to them as the Five Canons of Rhetoric—memory, invention, arrangement, elocution, and delivery. However, you may not be as familiar with the modes of persuasion or the ways we appeal to our listeners. Aristotle defined these modes as logos, ethos, and pathos.
Logos, Ethos, and Pathos in Christian Homeschool Teaching
Simply put, logos appeals to our minds through logic, pathos is an appeal to our hearts through emotion, and ethos appeals to our souls through our perception of a speaker’s reputation and character—their ethics. In other words, we are persuaded most when stirred emotionally by the logical arguments of those we trust.
When we practice the art of rhetoric, we rely on these three modes to encourage our children to embrace wisdom, virtue, and truth. Whether we are persuading toward the “wisdom” of clean hands, the “virtue” of returning a borrowed book, or the “truth” of accurately solving a physics equation, we are practicing the art of rhetoric.
Fabre’s Rhetoric in Action: A Living Book Approach
To learn more about how these modes are put into practice, we benefit by spending time with a master rhetorician, our friend, Henri Fabre. Fabre’s biographer, Dr. G. V. Legros, tells his readers,
Employ Fabre’s method if you wish . . . to evoke in your children a love of science. . . initiating them into everything, and bringing within the reach of all, for their instruction or amusement, the heavens and the earth, the planets and their moons, the mechanism of the great natural forces and the laws which govern them, life and its materials, agriculture and its applications.[4]
Fabre uses stories to bring within a student’s reach the earth, the heavens, and everything in between. “Uncle Paul,” the main character of Fabre’s stories, shares his scientific knowledge and astonishment of the world’s wonders with his niece and two nephews. Uncle Paul, a thinly veiled Fabre, tells nature stories that entice his young charges, and his readers, to step outside their door and explore the vast and endless world.
Find the entire Uncle Paul series and many more classics at the CC Bookstore.
A Lesson on Pollination: Using Logos, Ethos, and Pathos
The third volume of the Uncle Paul Science Series, Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul, allows us to observe this master rhetorician at work. Particularly notice how Uncle Paul weaves in logos, pathos, and ethos when instructing his niece and nephews.
We’ll use the story, “The Bumble-Bee”[5] from Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul as a sample text.
The story opens with the children observing the results of a pumpkin pollination experiment. Earlier, they removed parts of the pumpkin flowers and compared pollinated flowers to unpollinated flowers regarding their ability to produce pumpkins. The results “happened just as their uncle had said.”[6]
Uncle Paul establishes credibility and trust (ethos) in his instruction of pollination by inviting his young students to attend, ask questions, and experiment based on the knowledge he had shared with them earlier about pollination (logos). Through the “serious study and joyful amusement” of observation and experimentation, the students were excited to know more (pathos).
As parents, we are trusted in the same ways. We offer our knowledge and understanding to our children. We ask good questions and model how and where to find answers. We check facts and learn new words. We share our wonder and amazement. Untroubled by not knowing all the answers, we embrace learning new things. Because we are trusted lead learners, our children are persuaded towards wisdom.
Five Core Habits in Action: Encouraging Deep Understanding
As the story unfolds, we see Uncle Paul’s instruction about flowers and pollination. He describes the process using new and more precise vocabulary. He points out details of the parts of the plants and makes comparisons with other familiar plants. At the end of the lesson, Uncle Paul helps the children retain their new knowledge by asking them to repeat the lesson— “Let us recapitulate.”[7] Uncle Paul appeals to the children’s minds with beautifully articulated truths (logos).
As parents, we do the same in many areas of study, including our classical homeschool science. We help our students by providing names, and by encouraging them to attend to experiences using all their senses. We help them retain knowledge by repetition or memorization; we offer opportunities for our children to express their knowledge and listen attentively to their narrations of the truths we’ve taught. In other words, we practice the Five Core Habits of Grammar to build a storehouse of knowledge that appeals to our children’s minds (logos), persuading them towards truth.
How does Fabre appeal to a reader’s emotions and heart, or pathos? Primarily, Fabre appeals to the reader’s feelings by telling good stories using beautiful words.
Listen to the simple steps and easy ideas for learning together using the Five Core Habits.
Storytelling that Invites Wonder
Because Fabre understood children, he knew how to tell good stories. Creating likeable and relatable characters, crafting an engaging plot, and including light-hearted humor made for an inviting story. Fabre selected lovely poetic imagery to describe the natural world. While readers are busy enjoying the story and moved by its beauty (pathos), they are also learning new words, attending to details, and exploring new worlds (logos).
In the “The Bumble-Bee,”[8] Uncle Paul describes pollination in this way:
Insects are the flower’s auxiliaries. Flies, wasps, honey-bees, bumble-bees, beetles, butterflies, all vie with one another in rendering aid by carrying the pollen of the stamens to the stigmas. They dive into the flower, enticed by the honeyed drop expressly prepared at the bottom of the corolla. . . .Who has not seen bumble-bees coming out of the bosom of the flowers all covered with pollen? Their hairy stomachs, powdered with pollen, have only to touch a stigma in passing to communicate life to it.”[9]
Fabre’s descriptions invite imagination and wonder! Children respond with delight, awe, and excitement (pathos). As homeschool parents, we appeal to our children’s hearts by reading beautiful nature stories, taking walks, and delighting in the natural world, reciting poetry, or listening to music compositions that express nature in dramatic ways. We help our children connect their minds with their hearts.
A Devotional View of Nature and Science
Fabre crowns his lesson on pollination with a proclamation of God’s truth. Responding to his nephew’s comment about flowers, Uncle Paul reminds him about how God works in the world. He states, “The laws of Providence [God], which makes sport of difficulties and knows how to accomplish miracles in a simple blade of grass . . . this infinite wisdom that foresees everything arranges everything. . .”[10] Here, Fabre uses his knowledge of God to persuade his nephew to contemplate the wisdom of God. As parents, we do the same when we point past the flower or bee or star to our infinite Father. Like Fabre, our devotion to God persuades our children to look up and worship.
Learn more about how the Catechesis Wheel ultimately leads us to echo in celebration of God.
5 Fun Ocean Science Activities Based on the Five Common Topics
Drawing inspiration from Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul, here are five engaging marine science activities that correspond to the Five Common Topics of classical education:
1. Naming: Seashell Identification Challenge
Activity: Create a seashell classification system using proper scientific terminology.
Materials:
- Various seashells (or printed images)
- Index cards
- Reference books on marine life
- Magnifying glass
Instructions:
- Introduce children to basic shell classification terms: univalve, bivalve, spiral, etc.
- Have them sort shells by type, then create identification cards with proper names
- Challenge them to match shells with their scientific and common names
- Practice using precise vocabulary when describing each shell’s characteristics
This activity builds the classical skill of naming by helping children develop a rich scientific vocabulary about marine life, just as Uncle Paul did when introducing new terminology for plants and flowers.
2. Attending: Ocean Observation Journal
Activity: Create a nature journal focused on water observations.
Materials:
- Nature journal
- Colored pencils
- Water samples (pond, puddle, aquarium)
- Microscope or magnifying glass
- Small containers
Instructions:
- Observe different water samples with all five senses (except taste for safety)
- Draw what you see under magnification
- Record observations about color, clarity, movement, and inhabitants
- Visit a local pond, stream, or beach and focus on the water ecosystem
- Compare observations over multiple visits and note changes
This activity develops the attending skill Fabre emphasized when he helped children use all their senses to experience and document natural phenomena, practicing careful observation just as Uncle Paul did with his niece and nephews.
3. Memorizing: Marine Life Classification Song
Activity: Memorize a song or poem about ocean zones using the Foundations Guide Memory Work in Cycle 1, or create your own about each zone’s inhabitants.
Materials:
- Ocean zone diagram
- Pictures of marine creatures from different depths
- Musical instruments (incorporate the Tin Whistle!)
Instructions:
- Learn the names and characteristics of ocean zones (sunlight, twilight, midnight, etc.)
- Create a simple song or poem that lists the zones in order with key facts
- Add verses about creatures found in each zone
- Use hand motions to reinforce learning
- Perform the song/poem to help cement the information in memory
This activity builds on Fabre’s “Let us recapitulate” approach, where he helped children retain knowledge through repetition, providing a musical structure to memorize ocean science concepts.
4. Expressing: Ocean Phenomena Demonstrations
Activity: Create and present demonstrations of ocean processes.
Materials:
- Clear containers
- Food coloring
- Salt
- Water
- Ice cubes
- Lamp (heat source)
- Small objects
Instructions:
- Demonstrate ocean currents using warm/cold colored water
- Show density layers with salt gradients
- Create a model of a tidal system
- Demonstrate water pressure at different depths
- Have children explain each demonstration in their own words
- Present findings to family members in an “Uncle Paul style” lesson
This activity develops the skill of expression that Fabre cultivated when he encouraged children to narrate what they had learned, allowing them to become the teachers and solidify their understanding through explanation.
5. Storytelling: Marine Creature Biography
Activity: Write a narrative from the perspective of a marine animal.
Materials:
- Research materials about marine life
- Art supplies
- Writing materials
- Marine life images or models
Instructions:
- Select a marine creature to research
- Gather scientific facts about its habitat, lifecycle, and adaptations
- Create a first-person narrative telling the creature’s life story
- Include scientific facts woven naturally into the storytelling
- Add illustrations of key moments in the creature’s life
- Conclude with reflections on the creature’s place in God’s creation
This activity embodies Fabre’s masterful use of storytelling to convey scientific concepts. This teaches children to combine accurate information with engaging narrative, just as Fabre’s stories did in Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul.
Each of these activities follows Fabre’s three-pronged approach to persuasion: they appeal to the mind through accurate scientific content (logos), to the heart through beauty and wonder (pathos), and build trust through guided discovery (ethos). By incorporating these classical elements into ocean science studies, parents create rich learning experiences that foster both knowledge and wonder.
Raising Scientists Who See God’s Hand
Along with Fabre, we realize the “splendid opportunity” we have to give our children a taste for science through the tried-and-true means of classical skills. We, like Fabre, become master rhetoricians, persuading towards wisdom. We are determined to use our knowledge and understanding for our children’s sake to equip them to perceive wisdom, pursue virtue, and proclaim truth.
Learn more about the Uncle Paul series with these resources:
- Discover Uncle Paul: Amazing Science Stories by Henri Fabre
- Exploring Insects with Uncle Paul: A Homeschool Science Guide
- Homeschool Science Curriculum: Exploring The Heavens With Uncle Paul
[1] LaGros, G. V. “A Great Teacher.” Fabre, Poet of Science, The Century Company, New York, NY, 1913, 101.
[2] Ibid, 101.
[3] Bortins, Leigh. “‘Rhetoric Defined.’” The Conversation, Classical Conversations MultiMedia, Southern Pines, NC, 2015, p. 49.
[4] LaGros, G. V. “A Great Teacher.” Fabre, Poet of Science, The Century Company, New York, NY, 1913, 99.
[5] Meter, Stephanie B. “The Bumble-Bee.” Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul, 1st ed., Classical Conversations MultiMedia, Southern Pines, NC, 2023, 21-25.
[6] Ibid, 21.
[7] Ibid, 25.
[8] Meter, Stephanie B. “The Bumble-Bee.” Exploring the Oceans with Uncle Paul, 1st ed., Classical Conversations MultiMedia, Southern Pines, NC, 2023, 21.
[9] Ibid, 22.
[10] Ibid, 22.
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