A walk through the woods and meadows of Charleston Falls Preserve in beautiful weather. This frog was a perfect model for nature journal entries. He held perfectly still for 20 minutes or so. Here’s Jonah’s version:
My hands were pretty full with Ian, so I didn’t get to draw myself, and even had a hard time taking photos. Brenna and Jonah were happy to take over the camera.
It was a beautiful end to the week.
When we moved here the back most of our yard was overgrown with bush honeysuckle and garlic mustard. With rental equipment and hard work, Barry turned most of it into a beautiful yard. We left the last 50 feet or so over to the weeds.Somehow, I’m not sure exactly how, the neighbor kids all started coming over. They raked paths through the piles of leaves and sticks. Each kid marked out their own territory. Those little territories became “houses,” those houses sprouted rooms. There was a bank, a mayor, an army…
Over the past three years the little town they named Croker Heights has evolved. The houses are bigger. Kids have moved in and out from sharing with each other. They’ve gone from pinecone money to hand drawn paper money to rocks. They’re feeling the effects of urban sprawl as the roads get narrower and the houses get bigger. Sometimes they are searching for dinosaurs, sometimes they are entymologist-match-makers putting male/ female pairs of crickets in jars to see if they’ll mate (they usually do!), sometimes they are holding elections or training the army. Lately they’ve been geologists– breaking rocks and looking up in books what kind they are.
As fall approaches I am really coming to the realization that this is our last summer here. I am so thankful for these neighborhood kids. I’m so glad that we let them have free reign back there behind the shed. I’m thankful my kids have had a magical land all their own. I’m amazed at their creativity, their collaboration, cooperation, their respect for each other’s “property,” the conflicts they’ve resolved… for the memories they’ve made. My kids have learned so much– this has really been a crucial part of their education.
The amazing thing is that it all happened on its own. I just stood back with band aids and drinks of water and let them be. Having all different ages (they now range from 15 to 3) has created such a great dynamic of leadership, service, patience, aspiration. It is something I have dreamed and hoped my kids could experience. And it seems in their very nature to create it.
I am still alive. I don’t have any intentions of shutting down my blog– just distracted by other things. In fact, in preparation for this new school year I became completely obsessed with researching Montessori education. I love the respect for children and thier potential, the emphasis on them doing real work, really interacting with and experiencing their environment…
So, here are some favorite Montessori links:
Things like this child sized laundry stuff from Montessori Services make me crazy. I can’t even tell you how much Logan would love this. He would wash things for hours.And the child sized tools. I can’t stand how cool this drill is.
Maria Montessori has become one of my childhood development and education heroes.
(Oh, my side bars and stuff are a bit messed up. Barry updated my WordPress stuff, which messed things up. Then I thought I’d redesign anyway– obviously that hasn’t happened. Hopefully I can get back into a routine because really, I have things to blog about. I hope someone is still out there!)
It was heaven. We rented a little cottage on Hot Hole Pond in New Hampshire. The kids dug in the sand and swam all day. We got to spend time with cousins and grandma grandpa. Logan turned 3. We went to the ocean. The weather was perfect– not too hot, not too cold. I didn’t want to come back to real life!