unschooling: blacklick woods

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

i’m determined to have our unschooling take us through as many of the columbus metro parks as possible this summer. we added blacklick woods to our list of faves this week. last week was pretty light on unschooling adventures. friends were in town so our lessons for that week were mostly about “hey when you’re besties fly in from the westies you drop everything and spend time with them” which i happen to believe is very good subject material.

so, monday brought us a really beautiful, perfect day for being out and about in the woods. our very first “lesson” was talking about how to read the map and determining our path. blacklick had a perfect length loop hike and a great nature center. darla decided we should visit the nature center before and after our hike. the center had all sorts of information on wildlife native to the woods & insect inspection stations. you can see we spent some time at the touchable objects station where D examined fossils, rock samples, horns and feathers.

the entirety of the hike took us about 25 mins. it would have been shorter but we stopped to make friends along the way, checked out fungi, frogs in the bogs, and even got to see a hawk on the hunt from extremely close up.

our visit ended by spending some time at the observation window which lines the entire back of the center. furry, feathery animals of all kinds come right up to the windows and eat undisturbed by the human folk. d got a real kick out of a momma racoon with her 3 kits and sang the pompoko theme song to them. personally, i favored the numerous chipmunks.

you know, this whole unschooling summer has felt kinda like girl scout camp to me. and that’s a pretty good feeling. i loved girl scout camp! i feel such a calling to this way of bringing up my daughter. i’m looking forward to seeing where else this path where take us.

thanks for checking out this unschooling outing of ours. good luck in your educational endeavors.

30Jul2013

unschooling: raspberry picking

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school, Kiddie Hangouts by ElaineMarie

we toned it down on the unschooling last week since we did so much the week before, not to mention the precipitation issue. the cooler temps did make for a very nice outing to picturesque mitchell’s berries. yes, those are sweatshirts on those boys. we went with our friends visiting from abu dabi. these unseasonably cool temps were quite a trip for them.

you could almost call this just an outing. i didn’t really try to do too much in-depth convo about the raspberry picking process since darla was having a good time with friends. the last thing kids want to do is listen to their parents when other kids are around. but the nice thing about unschooling is that i don’t have to stress if i didn’t impart every bit of knowledge possible along the way. they learned on their own from the experience. they will remember the thorns. they will remember discovering that the deep red, squishy berries are sweeter and juicier than the bright red, firm ones. they will remember the difference between the black raspberries and the red. hopefully they will remember the beautiful weather and forget the moments of tiredness and small squabbles. i know that’s how i’ll remember it.

our visit was at the very beginning of raspberry season so i’m hoping to make it back to mitchell’s again. it was a simply lovely set-up. plus, we gobbled up most of the berries fresh so my stores for preserves were greatly depleted by jam time.

thanks for checking in on our unschooling today.

25Jul2013

unschooling: wind and solar energy

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

more unschooling from last week. yay!!! it started out as a venture to a local farm for BLACK RASPBERRIES. YES THIS IS IN CAPS AND READS LIKE I AM SHOUTING AND IT’S BECAUSE I’M SHOUTING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE BLACK RASPBERRIES. THEY ARE MY CHILDHOOD ENCAPSULATED IN FOOD FORM.

let’s move on just as we moved on to glacier metro park. we enjoyed an absolutely delicious lunch of peaches, black raspberries and blueberries then wandered around until we discovered the wind & solar energy station. the park has interactive tools darla had an enthusiasm explosion over. this was one of those outings where i was spewing information and what darla took out of it was “the sun is hot and the breeze is mother nature’s breath.” not quite what i was saying but i’ll take it.

and then something happened that made me think maybe she does listen to me every once in a while…

while she was cranking the turbine she started talking about how her energy is a renewable energy source!!!

she gets it. she has learned from this lifestyle of riding bikes, and walking, and using your own energy to accomplish something that humans have a vast resource of energy available and it is ourselves.

and this has me thinking:

we have millions of americans in gyms because our society is so sedentary now that we can’t keep weight off our bodies. we also have an energy crisis. how, HOW!?, has no one yet invented a gym where members get on machines and create an energy source instead of getting on machines that use energy. like a reverse treadmill. i’ve seen it at festivals: get on this bike and charge your phone sort of thing. can someone invent a gym that does that?

should i be typing this here? i mean i don’t even have a copyright on this website yet. who do i talk to about this?

i’m sure it has something to do with working out who “owns” the energy and how to disperse it blah blah blah but i used to be at the gym and just feel so bad about all the electricity being used up for people to “work out” when the answer might be as simple as riding your bike or walking to your destinations.

i better stop now before this post turns into rant status but in conclusion, i think she and i are both learning as we move through this together and that’s all that matters.

*yes, i realize she doesn’t have her top on. no, i do not care. she’s 4 and black raspberry stains do not come out, people. if your child says “i’m hot can i take my shirt off” while she’s eating black raspberries you say yes.

24Jul2013

unschooling: nature walk

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

you know what i love about unschooling? everything! but one of the facets that suits my personality is that it can be a spur-of-the-moment idea. it can be a moment where you decide to pull the car over to take a walk in that park you’ve been meaning to for years.

unschooling last week included a trip to the smith nature park. this was a great, small little bit of woodland nestled into suburbia. we spent about 30 minutes here walking trails and creek gazing. it’s small enough to let darla be trail leader and big enough to make her feel like she’s a real hot-shot while doing so.

here’s darla’s summary of surroundings for her nature journal that day:

green plants. black trees. red trash. different kinds of rocks. it’s cool and hyperllenic. that means freshwater. is bacteria a parasite?

hyperllenic does not mean freshwater. it’s a word she made up. at least i think. hold on. yep, she made it up.

picture summary:

1. self-explanatory

2. here’s me trying to revisit the concept of trees adding rings as they grow and examining this cross-section with her but instead she’s interested in these little balls she found which i think might have been some kind of pest repellent. sometimes this is just about me hearing myself talk, i think.

3. woods wedgie!! had. to. include.

4. is a pic of my feet is to show you all how idyllic and serene my life is. i’m just sitting next to creeks all the time gazing prolifically at my thrifted grannie shoes while darla yells requests to get in the creek and fish out trash at me. such a lush, verdant life i lead here by this creek.

in seriousness, our unschooling has provided a lot of peace and serenity in my life and i believe in darla’s. i feel spending time exploring the great wild world is so important. i hope she will remember these days all her life. i hope this will be a foundation for her to have a connection to the earth and find a way to live in harmony with her surroundings. the saying goes: children can’t learn to respect nature if they don’t spend any time in it.

thanks for checking in on our unschooling today.

ps. the ua parks department has this nifty little handout on the web for printing. this would have been a nice resource had i researched before and not stopped in on a whim. next time, i guess.

23Jul2013

unschooling: Scioto Audubon Park & Sanctuary

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

this is my kind of classroom.

one of our unschooling field trips from last week was an old favorite, the scioto audubon park. we picked up this fantastic book at the library a few weeks back. the book highlights nature happenings per month. july’s page discusses animal and plant life at freshwater sources and my mind went immediately to the scioto audubon park. this park boast a river view, freshwater ponds as well as wetlands. we formed a plan of comparing page to real life and that’s what we did. i brought the book along with darla’s nature journal. we did a collaborative drawing of the river and darla chose to draw a turtle for herself. here’s her entry as she dictated to me:

it looks like dirty water that turtles swim in. it looks like they love the water. spiders live here, too. they make interesting webs and catch flies and i don’t like it one bit. the end. by darla. write my name.

17Jul2013

unschooling: harmonious homestead

Posted in it's cool to school, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

darla and i spent a little bit of time at the harmonious homestead open house on saturday. i bet you can tell what darla’s favorite part of the outing was. she wants chickens and her momma does too. she held just about every one of them. it worked out that even though i tried to interest her in the gardens and grounds she was confined to the chicken coop, by choice, so mama was free to roam around the gardens as she pleased. mama likes to do as she pleases.

i learned about hugelkultur and darla learned how to successfully chase down a chicken. i’d say that’s a good day of learning.

15Jul2013

is this day camp?

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school, Kiddie Hangouts by ElaineMarie

no. no it’s not. well, it was for someone else’s kids. we just swooped in after the camp kids went to lunch and played all up in that shizz.

i promise this looks more peaceful and idyllic than it was. there were various gradients of dirt play with darla leading the pack in no shoes and worm wrangling. there were various gradients of child breakdowns with darla being the leader in that category, also.

but i got to hang out with two babies i saw borned of this world and i already mentioned that it turned out pretty in pictures. as long as my life looks good then i’m not really to hung up on the rest…

i just want to pause and mention how happy i am with the free-wheeling, unschool summer we’ve been having. even though the day was somewhat of an emotional failure i still walked away feeling accomplished, secure in the thought that my girl had learned and enjoyed and i really had a good time in the midst of the choas of 6 children. i just want to extend summer for all the days and explore our world. this city has an amazing parks system and i’ve got my sights set on experiencing some new places with my girl.

can it be summer camp forever???

13Jul2013

unschooling: mythological creatures park

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

if you follow this blog religiously, like you all do, then you know that we { read that as I } have a soft spot for the mythological creatures fountain near the santa maria. it has some official name but i don’t know it. we packed a picnic lunch and spent some time reading, relaxing and building houses for ants.

first, i must tell you: i made the most bomb ass peanut butter sandwiches. they were fresh honey roasted peanut butter with some of our fresh strawberry preserves. i took that picture to commemorate it here forever.

darla ran around the park for a while, then ate and ignored me while I was all crazy and trying to read books to her. she was too busy making “creations” of paper dolls and building houses for ants. i eventually scrapped the books and helped her build her ant homes. it was a smart move to flow where her natural interests were at the moment. i showed her how to make a cube and we had a nice discussion about that. we spent some time looking at the santa maria, talking about boats and portugal and chistopher columbus.

i’ll always remember this unschooling outing as it was the last we’ll have on RuJu. we also learned a valuable lesson about bike thievery while downtown. this is one of those moments that i wish this blog was famous and some bike company would swoop in with a sponsorship opportunity and give me a new one…but no. we’ll get it worked out somehow on our own.

but really that bike sponsorship thing would be handy. can someone work on that?

anyway, thanks for checking in on our unschooling adventures.

11Jul2013

unschooling: the north market

Posted in it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

this is one of those times that i turn my craving for a bredzel pretzel into an unschooling opportunity but you all have been humoring me for this long so why stop now? let’s just keep going with this fancy charade, shall we?

we went to north market this weekend for said bakery item and turned the experience into a mini-unschooling outing. darla and i learned about the principles of a market when we picked strawberries so i felt we did some good work building on those principles as we looked at the different stalls of items brought in from surrounding farms. or maybe she was just doing whatever it took to get me to buy an icing cup to go along with the pretzel but as long as she pretends to be learning from me i’m ok with it.

we’ve also been working on the concept of money and math and the market is the perfect place to do some practical application. having her help me figure out how much money we should give and how much we should receive in change has been fun for her. she likes to be the money handler.

thanks for checking in on our unschooling. i hope this is providing some inspiration for some unschooling in your life. you can just refer to it as it’s more common term of “parenting” but me thinks myself more free-wheeling when i apply an unconventional term to it.

rib jab. wink wink.

3Jul2013

unschooling: cherry picking

Posted in daily moment, it's cool to school, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

we had cherry trees growing up. i used to sit in them for hours and eat sun-ripened tart cherries by the handful. i jumped on the chance to take darla cherry picking this week. if the trees hadn’t belonged to someone else I would have let her climb on up so i could look back on myself as a kid because i’ve somehow figured out a way to reincarnate myself before i’m even dead.

we compared the difference between picking cherries and strawberries and just had nice conversations about the orchards. darla was more interested in meeting new people so i let her do her thing, reminding myself that it’s important she learn from others. it’s always fun to sit back and listen to her discussions with other kids and grown-ups. it’s a built-in assessment opportunity.

and who can pass up the opportunity to have fresh cherries for 4th of july? hello cherry cobbler. darla requested we make some cherry jam b/c our strawberry jam is flying out of the fridge and into our mouths at an amazing pace. i’m also thinking of trying to dry some using the car window method.

one thing is for sure, we’re hooked on these food field trips. i can’t wait for black raspberries!

thanks for checking in on our latest unschooling efforts.

momjeanz

Category Archives: it’s cool to school

unschooling: blacklick woods

unschooling: raspberry picking

unschooling: wind and solar energy

unschooling: nature walk

unschooling: Scioto Audubon Park & Sanctuary

unschooling: harmonious homestead

is this day camp?

unschooling: mythological creatures park

unschooling: the north market

unschooling: cherry picking