Posted in Other Ramblings

There is absolutely nothing like spring time in New England.  Trees in bud, flowers coming out, little baby animals everywhere.  Plus some warm weather after the long cold winter!  My neighbors are all out and around.  Everyone is outside as much as they can and the world is reawakening.  It is time to get out and do some nature studies.

One of the things that appealed to me most about Charlotte Mason philosophy was the emphasis on nature studies.  This is also a tenet of Jewish teachings as well.  Our Sages taught that we should not spend all day behind a desk reading books - even studying Torah.  But we should also get out into the world and appreciates G-d's creations!  His animals, plants, rocks!  G-d created this beautiful world for us to live in, and I want my children to learn and know and appreciate all its wonders.

Realistically though, I am a city girl at heart.  There is this small secret part of my heart that wants to homestead a huge piece of land, have a garden, some chickens, maybe even a cow for fresh dairy plus wooded areas for us to hike in with a river and maybe a pond on our property.  But I know this will never happen.  Mainly because I need to live within walking distance of a good synagogue.  But also because I have a black thumb.

Now I can't really blame my mother for this.  She has a marvelous green thumb. Our house was overflowing with her plants and garden, and while she tried very hard to impress upon me this love of plants, it just didn't take.  Every single thing I have ever tried to grow has died.  Even plants that are supposed to be really hard to kill, have died rather quickly in my presence. A cactus a friend brought me was dead two weeks later (OK, Dante was 3 and dumped hand lotion on it, but still...)  I bought an Aloe Vera plant last year because an herbal teacher told me that they were very hard to kill.  Mine is basically dead now, but Little Miss has adopted it and is trying to save it.  I am not holding out much hope. 

So herein lies the problem.  I want my girls to have an appreciation of nature, but it is quite obvious they need to get it from other sources!

While we may do some nature studies during the rest of the year, Spring really is when we do the most.  There are programs everywhere this time of year, both for homeschoolers, as well as all kids, and even some for adults that my kids can go to and enjoy and really learn from.  Most of the programs we go to are sponsored by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  We love the Audubon and our family membership is well worth the price - and would be at double the cost.  They have 2 nature preserves within 30 minutes of us, and both run a TON of kids programs as well as a bunch of programs for homeschoolers.  We also have free admission to the 33 other Audubon sanctuaries in the state and we have taken full advantage of that as well!

So some things we have done recently:

Little Miss and I went out to Western MA to the Acadia Sanctuary and did a Medicinal Herb Walk.  This was billed as an "adult" event, but I played the homeschooling card and she was allowed to come with me.  We had a great time!  I am studying to be an Herbalist so this was great for me, because as you may have figured out, and area of weakness is being able to identify herbs growing wild.  Little Miss has also shown an interest in herbalism, and I love the idea of passing herbal wisdom down to her, so have been fostering that desire.  She was great on the walk.

We went birdwatching with Broad Meadow Brook (our local sanctuary) and saw the "Dance of the Woodcock"  a mating dance that the male woodcock does in this area at sunset every night for only 2 weeks a year.

SPG did a homeschoolers class on butterfly lifecycles which included a 2 mile hike around the sanctuary looking for butterflies.

We went out to Drumlin Farm, which the Audubon Society runs out in Concord and spent the day playing on their farm.  No organized program but a lot of fun.  We worked in their gardens, we saw their animals and all around had a lot of fun.

One thing we did that wasn't at the Audubon Society was an all day homeschooling program at Capen Hill Sanctuary in Charlton www.capenhill.org.  I had never actually heard of this place before I saw the class announcement, but it was FANTASTIC!  We will definitely be going there again.  It is a beautiful sanctuary with some really nice trails.  The staff was also really excellent.  The teachers were very knowledgeable and were obviously very passionate about this place.  They made it a lot of fun.  In the morning we went to the pond and learned about pond life and got to play with some pond life.  Then we had a picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon going on a nature hike with another teacher.  It was a great experience and I can't wait to go back.

So those are some of the formal things we have done - although some more formal than others.  WE have also done a bunch of more spontaneous casual things as well.  For example, Little Miss and I went out and picked dandelions a few weeks ago (free! right in our own backyard! LOL) and put up our first herbal tincture.  We also stopped in at a nursery one day to look at all the plants and learn some of their names. 

It doesn't have to be formal, but giving your children a love of nature is one of the best ways I know to take care of the planet.