Experiencing the Outdoors by Going...Indoors?

We've missed a couple of days of the Outdoor Challenge due to a fundraiser I was helping to coordinate. AH actually did spend time outdoors each day, but I was too busy to photograph it.

Yesterday AH and I had to do some errands to do in the car. It was an overcast day, threatening rain, but it never did. Since we were in St. Paul, we decided to visit one of our favorite places: Como Zoo and Conservatory. It is a very small zoo, but it is free and they have many, many educational programs available. Como Zoo is so much closer to our home than the larger Minnesota Zoo, so we stop by quite often.

Our first stop was the Tropical Trail exhibit. This is one of our favorites during our long, dark and cold winters here in Minnesota. But it is fun anytime. Now you'll know why it's like being outside:
AH's favorite resident is the Sloth. We've been lucky enough to see the zookeepers deliver her to the tree in the morning and watch her climb up and get comfortable. Can you see her in the photo below napping in her favorite spot?

After the Tropical Trail, we walked around the zoo (outdoors!!) then turned our attention to the conservatory. For some strange reason, we don't visit this too often. Strange because when we do go, we invariably see something interesting and amazing and wonder why we don't come more often!!

Here are some photos of our wanderings today:

AH was fascinated to find a cinnamon tree. Here they are:

Visit the other Great Outdoor Challenge players- 131 so far! It’s never too late to join; people are still entering daily!

lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise,luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia,becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney,branflakes,jessica, renee, haiku,brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth,julie,kyndale,kelly,lizzie, eileen,ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita,lisa, jenn, montessori, marita,jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella,missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana,jamie,lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, jen, jenni, gabby, renee,korina, linda, kerrs, laura, melissa, eva, jenny, amber, deb, wendy, courtney, shanti, msrev, kellyi, tammy, julia , maureen, indigomum, andrea, mindy, becky, dawn, sarah

There's Life in our Garden!

We spent some time exploring what was coming up in our garden.

Parsley

Horseradish

Rhubarb (we can't wait to use that in a pie!)

Okay, so the next picture isn't in our garden, but is considered part of our garden...

Chives!

We also found a huge ant hill, onions, and carrots left over from last summer! Yummy!

Best Friends

This is how AH spends his time in nature with his best friend...

I guess swing sets aren't only for swinging!

Children and Nature Awareness Month Challenge

I've decided to participate in the Children and Nature Awareness Month Challenge over at one of my favorite blogs, 5 Orange Potatoes. She has a special page set up to explain the challenge. Basically, during the rest of April I'll be posting pictures each day of our outside time.
I'll start off with some pictures from our pond excursion last week. AH and I decided to collect pond water so we could study some "water critters" under a microscope. The pond is a short walk from our house, so we decided to bring a mid-morning snack so we could sit and enjoy the weather after we collected our sample. We saw Mallards, Red-Winged Blackbirds and heard many different sounds that we couldn't identify. AH and I decided we need the Field Guide to Minnesota Reptiles and Amphibians and the Fabulous Frogs Identiflyer card!


Today Austen spent a good portion of the day outside enjoying a nice spring day...
Here he is enjoying one of his favorite things...the swing!

Let's all get outside this month and really look at the beauty right outside our doors!

Pasta Day

It seems that without meaning to, I've been writing along a theme lately. It's an over-used proverb, but for me it holds true: It takes a village to raise a child. This phrase has become a joke of sorts but when you think about it, it is very wise.
I, alone, could not give my kids the varied experiences they have been given. My daughter and, soon, my older son have had the experience of helping others in a far away place. Our church and many committed adults have allowed my kids learn about another culture and share our many blessings with people who don't have as much. Friends and their families bring different viewpoints and perspective to many issues. Musicians share their music with my family when we attend a concert. Actors tell stories to my children in a way I never could. My daughter shared her love of maps with AH when she invited him to her college cartography lab and taught him to make a map on the computers there.
I am always happy when someone volunteers to share a skill or experience with us. One good friend, Cathy, did that recently when she invited AH and me to her home to make homemade pasta and Alfredo sauce. AH is a pasta fiend, and was very excited to try this.

Cathy was great! She had AH working right alongside her. He mixed ...

and kneaded...and rolled. He shredded and measured. AH had a blast! He also had the satisfaction of sitting down at a table of people knowing he had helped to feed them. The pasta was delicious, but the sharing of a new experience was priceless and will not be soon forgotten. I am blessed that my "village" is so willing and eager to help!

Thank Goodness for Rachel

I'm often asked how I can teach my child every subject. The questions are asked as if we learn in a vacuum. I suppose most people think that homeschoolers must be all alone at home all the time. AH and I strive to be out in the community: both the general and the local homeschooling community. The homeschoolers I know read blogs, Internet sites, books and magazines for inspiration and help. They love to share what they learn. Most of my inspiration and ideas come from others who are homeschooling themselves. The most helpful suggestion I've ever received came from Rachel, a homeschool mom in St. Paul who I found myself working with during the Minnesota State Fair. What wise ideas did she impart? She simply recommended a book, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of your ADD child, by Jeffery Freed and Laurie Parsons. AH doesn't suffer from ADD (we've had him tested) but he is extremely right-brained. Rachel also has a right-brained learner, so I immediately requested the book from our library. I read the book with interest, not thinking it was going to change our homeschooling lives, and was intrigued with the author's ideas. It was the chapter on spelling that changed everything for us. AH has had an extremely hard time with spelling. His is atrocious! We've tried all sorts of systems and books and methods to no avail. Here was one chapter of a book that unlocked the mystery of spelling. I remember thinking to myself, "Could it really be this simple?" As the author suggested, I chose a word that had multiple syllables and that he wouldn't know how to spell: Cartography. I spelled it out on a sheet of paper like so:

Cartography

I called AD in from another room and asked him to study the word and make a mental image of it in his mind. I gave him 20 seconds. Then I covered the word and asked him to spell it. Without much hesitation, he spelled it correctly! This is a child who had difficulty spelling the word from! The author then tells you to ask the child to spell it backwards. I thought there was no way AH would be able to do that, but I tried anyway. With that mental image in his mind, AH spelled it backwards correctly! I cried that day and almost everyday that we work on spelling. It's fun to see the pride on his face when he remembers how to spell a word. And, yes, he can still spell cartography correctly!

Thank goodness for Rachel! Sometimes inspiration is sitting right next to you.

Frozen Dreaming

January in Minnesota can be beautiful and bitterly cold and dangerous at the same time. I do love living here even though I have been known to complain about the weather (Minnesotans are notorious for complaining about the weather All. The. Time.) Before we have our famous January thaw, one of my ways of coping with the bitter cold is to brew a hot cup of dark roast and open up my seed catalogs. I am instantly transported to warmer days. It is heavenly reading. I take notes, draw up diagrams of the garden, research plants. Does any real garden come close the the frozen dreams in January? So many goals, hopes, dreams, and plans. I'm an idea person so I love to let my imagination fly. The gardens of my dreams are lush, beautiful and practical, and there are never any bugs! Though my real garden never quite measures up to the garden in my head, I do believe it benefits from these moments in the middle of January when all is possible.