A major part of our "curriculum" here at the Blue Moon Urban Homestead is nature. We work outside rain or shine, most days of the week. I am so proud of the fact that although Nik and I were so young when we began our family, we instinctively knew how important raising our kids barefoot and natural was. Now, at 6, 8 and 10, the kids don't question why conserving our resources or working for a healthier way of life is important. They know, just like we do, how the grass, wet with rain, feels between their bare toes.
So when we introduced the Nature Notebook, no one was surprised or reluctant, as my boys sometimes are. I made these Nature Notebooks for the boys a few months ago but had been waiting for June to begin. Now Stella wants one, slightly amended. The boys each collected a blossom and a leaf stem from two plants in the yard. We then pressed them in a plant press. Note to self, need to make a bigger plant press! When the specimen was all dried and flat, Josh and Jason each placed them into a sleeve in the Nature Notebook. It took Josh 40 minutes of pouring over plant encyclopedias until he found his blossom. Jason's leaves only took him 10 to identify. Then they wrote the common name and Latin name beside the pocket containing their flower or leaf. Lower on the page they wrote some notes on their observations of the plant and the information they've found. Another cool accessory in the Nature Notebook is the Weather Journal. Every day for a month, at the same time every day, the boys comment on what the weather is doing. We've stated our theories about what we think will happen with the sun and clouds this next month and I'm excited to see who is right!
A major part of our "curriculum" here at the Blue Moon Urban Homestead is nature. We work outside rain or shine, most days of the week. I am so proud of the fact that although Nik and I were so young when we began our family, we instinctively knew how important raising our kids barefoot and natural was. Now, at 6, 8 and 10, the kids don't question why conserving our resources or working for a healthier way of life is important. They know, just like we do, how the grass, wet with rain, feels between their bare toes.
So when we introduced the Nature Notebook, no one was surprised or reluctant, as my boys sometimes are. I made these Nature Notebooks for the boys a few months ago but had been waiting for June to begin. Now Stella wants one, slightly amended. The boys each collected a blossom and a leaf stem from two plants in the yard. We then pressed them in a plant press. Note to self, need to make a bigger plant press! When the specimen was all dried and flat, Josh and Jason each placed them into a sleeve in the Nature Notebook. It took Josh 40 minutes of pouring over plant encyclopedias until he found his blossom. Jason's leaves only took him 10 to identify. Then they wrote the common name and Latin name beside the pocket containing their flower or leaf. Lower on the page they wrote some notes on their observations of the plant and the information they've found. Another cool accessory in the Nature Notebook is the Weather Journal. Every day for a month, at the same time every day, the boys comment on what the weather is doing. We've stated our theories about what we think will happen with the sun and clouds this next month and I'm excited to see who is right!
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