Public Lands Display

This month the kids worked hard to create a display exhibiting all they learned in the past year about public lands.  With the display and many artifacts, they traveled to the capitol building to interact with legislators and employees of the capitol, explaining their work.  This opportunity is provided by our local homeschooling community to allow our lawmakers to see and speak with current home-schoolers in order to keep our freedoms here in Idaho. 

Reading And Nature

The book series mentioned last week, Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain, are ultimately stories of a boy surviving in the wilderness.  Each provide a different setting and plot, but give insight in the process of living in nature and all the struggles an individual can encounter.  I have found that children 8 years and older enjoy the window to adventure that these books allow.  

Once read and processed, these books and characters will come alive and be part of the the discussion on your next outing in the wilderness.  The earth science information given by these text also sink-in and become working knowledge serving the child far more than any given science textbook.  

Enjoy your time in nature, but don't hesitate to enjoy nature in a written form on days your just can't get out. 

Gateway to Nature

These books are an amazing gateway to keeping yourself and your kids in touch with nature on days or months when the weather or your schedule does not allow you to take your kids outside.  My Side of the Mountain series and Hatchet are amazing stories from the wilderness.  Both series include books easy to find at a local library or book store.  

Next week, I will explain the impact these books can have on your family. 

Book Win for Middle School Boys

I came across this book somewhere during my endless search to find a series to maintain my son's interest. While it seems silly and not an idea I wanted to promote, the reviews encouraged me to make the purchase.  Once my son started reading it, I knew I had made the right choice.  At each reading, he was marking passages to add to his reading journal and to read aloud to me.  It is written with humor that a middle school boy enjoys, yet in clean fun.  Once the book was half read, I order the other 4 books I could find in this series.  I am pleased to report that as I type, he has moved on the read the second book in this series.  

First Test

After moments of talking to me, my stance on testing is clear.  So much so that both my children have not participated any formal or informal testing since beginning kindergarten.  Recently, GM took our local Fish and Game Department's Hunter Safety Course.  She grew increasingly concerned as the classes began drawing to an end date where a final exam of sorts would be given to all students.  The requirement was a score of 80% or better to pass the class and receive the documentation necessary to purchase her hunting license.  Taking this very seriously, she studied hard, paid attention in class, and took notes to prepare herself for the test.  Being her first test ever, she was unsure what to expect and did need some instruction on completely filling in the bubble to correspond with her answer choice.  


How did she do?

Perfectly!  Yes, perfect 100%.  

Why?

Maybe she did so well because this test mattered to her achieving other goals.  Maybe she did so well because she studied hard and paid careful attention to the instructor.  Maybe she did so well because she had not been desensitized to testing.  Maybe she did so well because she tests well and doing well is important to her. 

Any of these reasons or others could be the answer to why, but what is important here is that home-schoolers experience the world through a different lens.  They see classes, tests, and learning as a way to meet their desire to achieve their goals not as some silly hoop to jump through.  Of course, I am proud of GM and we celebrated her achievement toward her goal of hunting along side her family this year.