Science Wednesday

is, at this point, Nature Walk Wednesday.  We were here all morning:



I am deeply inspired by Charlotte Mason in many many ways but mainly in her focus on getting kids out of doors and really looking and experiencing nature.  I was talking to a neighbor (also a hs-er who I share a fence with...lovely, lovely) lastnight as our almost-3-year-old boys gleefully flung mud at one another and our girls busily hammered away at their rolly-polly houses about how we both grew up doing a lot of outside playing.  And that that is what I imagine as a great childhood--one of the key components, anyway (add to that:  lots of books, lots of parental attention, lots of good friends and experiences, etc)--just playing outside and getting really dirty, and not being RUSHED. 

So here we are not rushing.  One morning of every week will be this:  going somewhere out of our suburban everyday lives to smell loam and listen to the creek and throw rocks and notice what we would otherwise miss.



(mint by the side of the creek)



(my good idea for nature journals?  clipboards, and toothbrush containers to hold colored pencils---soap containers are great for crayons!)



(Captains of the ship--this old log turned into a pirate ship and an island ferry boat depending on who was at the healm).