With the near 70 degree weather on Thursday, we left dishes in the sink, the kitchen floor unmopped (yet again) and headed to the Tyler Arboretum in search of spring.
We picnicked:
Had time to run free and explore on our own. Do you see baby?
Miss G is currently learning about rocks in science so we brought along our magnifying glasses.
We kept baby occupied with her own set of rocks and magnifying glass.
We also looked for new flower blossoms since our last visit:
All of these flowers are featured in our Flower Fairy Book so we were able to read the poems when we got home.
The little ones took a long nap. What a great way to spend the day!
This nice weather has led to many hours outdoors and the children have loved making fairy houses:
Inspired by the book Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane, the children follow the rules carefully:
They see nature with a new eye. Sticks, leaves, pine cones, nuts--that could be a bed!, that could be a blanket!, that could be a table!
When they play they are focused, quiet and careful. They also ran around cleaning up their outside toys, because they were afraid the man-made objects might scare the fairies away!
I highly recommend this book for the hours of creative play it has given my children and inspiring a deeper love of nature!
Charlotte Mason writes, "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without." With this warm weather, we've tried taking her advice. We'll see how it goes with the week of rain expected!
When Early March Seems Middle May
When country roads begin to thaw
In mottled spots of damp and dust,
And fences by the margin draw
Along the frosty crust
Their graphic silhouettes, I say,
The Spring is coming round this way
When coughs are changed to laughs, and when
Our frowns melt into smiles of glee,
And all our blood thaws out again
In streams of ecstasy,
And poets wreak their roundelay,
The Spring is coming round this way.
A brisk and early Saturday morning in the woods...
After a week hard-worked and well-spent, we needed to shed our heaviness in a blessed place of singing, vision and flight. My 3 year old son took my hand as we walked and asked, "Mom, are we looking for God?"
My husband and I have been going on long rambling nature walks since we started dating and continued when our babies were born. These walks are mostly time for us to be together out in God's creation. We talk and enjoy each others company; we are quiet and we observe. At times it is good exercise but with little ones in tow it is mostly a time of unstructured play and interaction with the natural world.
And then last year I discovered the British educator Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) from a homeschooling family we knew and fell in love with her philosophy of education and especially her ideas of nature study. Mason insisted that children get outside every day (much like the NWF's Green hour). She believed that children had a natural curiosity for the natural world and it was a parent's job to encourage it. So in the last year, we've tried to add the element of nature study to our walks. Keeping in mind that we don't want to change the feel of our rambling walks, we let the children freely roam and become lost in exploration of what piques their interest. And usually all of us find something we can observe closely together whether through our prompting or theirs: a bug or snake across our path, the moss on a fallen tree, a stream, leaves on the ground, new buds on the trees. We share what we know of the object right there and if appropriate learn more when we get home.
For many homeschooling family, a weekly nature walk fits into their schedule with some sort of journaling on the walk or at home. Children are either taught about a subject before they enter the trail and then sent to observe that aspect or find something on the walk they want to study in more detail once they return home or a mix of both.
I had thought my oldest daughter (4 1/2) and her friend were ready for nature study and wanted to try it without the distraction of younger siblings. So on a recent afternoon I had the opportunity to take them to the Tyler Arboretum. We went through their herb garden, meandered on the lawn of the house on the grounds, sat by a creek and practiced listening.
I had a backpack filled with all the needed supplies: colored pencils, good paper, magnifying glasses, water bottles, bug spray, sunscreen, the Nature Study Handbook, and a Field Guide for Trees.
We then came across the leaves and blooms of the poplar tree and together studied the tree until we could identify it. The girls were so proud when they could find and identify another poplar leaf as we walked.
"we found another poplar!"
The girls showed such interest that we decided to lay down our blanket right there to do our nature study. We studied and described the details of the tree, its leaves and flowers. We were amazed to learn it is one of the biggest in PA.
the poplar towering over the girls.
Then I pulled out the paper and pencils and encouraged them to draw the poplar. I was amazed how engrossed they were. As Anne B. Comstock writes in the Handbook of Nature Study,
"When the child is interested in studying any object, she enjoys illustrating her observations with drawings; the happy absorption of children thus engaged is a delight to witness…The young, untutored child seeks to express herself…" (Comstock p.17)
“making crude and often meaningless pencil strokes, which is the entertainment of the young child, to the outlining of a leaf or some other simple and interesting natural object, is a normal step full of interest for [the child] because it is still self-expression” (Comstock p. 17).
Though they were the drawings of a 4 and 5 year old, they showed the close details of their observations.
"Too much have we emphasized drawing as an art; it may be an art, if the one who draws is an artist; but if he is not an artist, he still has a right to draw if it pleases him to do so"(Comstock p. 16).
They were then ready to get up again so we headed over to the pond when it started to rain.
It was a magical time, just the 3 of us staying dry under the branches of the big tree, enjoying an apple and the pitter-patter of rain. It was an afternoon of curiosity and discovery, fresh air and exercise, friendship and self-expression.
To my dismay, when we opened our sandbox this morning, it was filled with Pill Bugs (AKA Roly-Poly Bugs) but I obviously wasn't thinking like a preschooler!
They were fascinated and spent such a long time just observing and playing. No squabbling, whining, or need for my help. Little C. was sleeping so I got lunch together and even had a chance read a book under the umbrella.
Then, they begged, "Can we please keep them as pets?"
Well, I remembered this lesson from Mudpies to Magnets, a fun preschool science curriculum, and ran in and grabbed the book so we knew what the roly-polys would need.
Here is our Pill Bug Palace filled with sand, grass, leaves, twigs and bark.
I hope this will make for good nature study on rainy days.
Finding internet info on Pill Bugs was easy to find:
Singing about Pill Bugs! to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Pill Bug, Pill Bug, small and gray Hiding in the leaves all day Birds can eat you Lizards too What's a pill bug going to do? Curl around and roll up tight Until those animals are out of sight!
We had a lovely nature walk at the Tyler Arboretum today for Ascension. It was our first visit and we fell in love. We studied trees, ants, turtles, bullfrogs, their vegetable patch, the cool tree houses. The trees provided a lot of shade so even though it was 85 degrees, it felt much cooler.
I was surprised that M. was the first to spot tadpoles in the pond and then this bullfrog in the ferns. Who says a 2 year old boy can't be a nature tracker!
My favorite part of the walk was through the Rhododendron trail. Rhododendrons have never been a favorite, but to see so many was amazing.
If you are in the Delaware County Area, you must go! I look forward to going through the rest of the trails and woods throughout the year!
When we finished, we headed over to the Ridley State Park for our Ascension picnic.
Before dessert, we headed to the highest spot around and read the Scripture passages for this day. Instead of reading the Psalm, we sang a chorus of verse 1, I learned as a child. Everyone then laid in the grass and looked up at the sky. It was so sweet when M. our 2 yr old said, "I see Jesus!" We ended at the swings and when G. rose up into the air, she yelled, "Ascension!!!!!!"
It was a glorious day and so worth the memories and formation, even if all of our suitcases are still unpacked and laundry is backed up!
13 years ago my husband and I spent our first Valentine's Day together. It was our Sophomore year and we were "just friends," silly teenagers, really, but we didn't know that then! He met me at my dorm and kindly brought me a rose. I thought the token was more because he was a gentleman and felt pity that I didn't have a real date.
From there we headed out to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a hike through the woods. Our path was a snowy road that had been closed due to the conditions. I no longer remember what we talked about, just that we were comfortable with each other. He would want me to point out how often I "slipped" on the snow, making it a "necessity" for us to walk arm in arm. Sometimes we would talk and talk. He shared the bones of his dreams and plans. I was as amused then to hear him expound passionately as I am now.
But what I really liked were the times we were quiet. We fell into a rhythm together, walking, talking, quiet, enjoying being together in the beauty of the woods and snow. We still do.
Hiking and building our own lean-to, 1995!
Newly married, hiking with our dog, Frodo!
But our days in the woods are quite different now: Baby in front pack, son alternating between the backpack and poking things with a stick, daughter exploring and noticing the small things even we don't. Some would hardly call it a hike. But really what we started then is the same now. We are creating and preserving our own little world, one of discovery, beauty and peace. Splendor in the ordinary.
Hiking with our first in 2005
Then there were four of us, 2006!
Nature walk in the Blue Ridge Summer 2007
May of 2008 at Petrifying Springs Park, WI
Nature walk with the girls, just a few weeks after baby C. was born
A few weeks ago, hiking around with son at Valley Forge National Park
Thus, our Valentine's days are quite different. Fancy restaurants, flowers and chocolates, a rarity. But now we have "the flesh on the bones of our dreams."
