Words to teach by...

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love.

We will love ony what we understand

We will understand only what we are taught"

Baba Dioum

Senegalese Conservationist

These words have stuck with me since I heard them last summer at a seminar given by the Monarch Teacher's Network. Before that, I really didn't give much thought to the importance that nature studies and science could have to the very young learner. But, just as with language studies, music and art, there is an advantage to teaching ecology to the early learner. Early appreciation of, and love for, the natural world will surely have benefits further down the road, especially in a world that is becoming increasingly technological. How can we expect our children to appreciate the diversity of our world, the fragile network within an ecosystem, the intricacies of a biome, if we do not show them first hand?

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Lex had a wonderful time hiking through the forest in ankle-deep mud, though I was a little less enthused about dragging along a cranky 18-month old. When I first started to contemplate homeschooling, did I imagine I would one day be precariously perched on a muddy, slippery ledge, looking down a cliff, hanging onto a tree lim, with my baby strapped to me in a mei tai, demanding to be nursed, as I made feeble attempts to identigy a leafless sugar maple?

Well, to be honest, this is exactly what I imagined. Which just goes to show that the old adage is true - be very careful what you wish for.

Overall, our trip was a little less exciting that the last time, when the group ran into a disembodied deer leg and a decapitated mouse. Lex's graphic, though anatomically correct, description of these items gave one of my co-guiders nightmares.

We recently gave Lexi her own camera, and it has been fascinating to see what catches her eye when we are out on an adventure. I download all pictures to her personal folder and help her choose some for her nature journal. This exercise has inspired confidence as well as greater attention to details.

From yesterday's hike, looking down at a stream:

Will these moments stay with my daughter? Will she remember this wet day, when we walked through a serene forest, perched on the edge of spring? Will this be enough to inspire her to save these forests so that one day her children will be able to see this view?

New Blog....

I love reading other homeschooling blogs for inspiration and have often felt encouraged when reading about how other homeschooling moms have overcome obstacles that I'm currently trying to climb. While I have had a parenting blog for a few years, I've always kept it on private in order to feel a bit more protected and have never felt comfortable about sharing it with a greater, more public audience. That blog is raw and covers some difficult moments over the past few years - especially moments of my daughter's illness.

This new blog will share more about my homeschooling experiences to date. I'm currently a SAHM of two great kids, Lex is 5 and Spike is 18 months. I'm married to Superdad, who truly deserves that title. The hardest part of homeschooling for us? We're pretty laid-back and I have a lot of trouble keeping us on task - my daughter and I are easily distracted and end up doing projects I would never have imagined. Hopefully, by sharing my curriculum ideas, I'll be forced to follow through :).

We're currently schooling through Unit Studies and just finished a fabulous Unit "Cinderella around the world". We found a 12 different Cinderella stories from different regions of the globe, and as we read each one we talked a little bit about the continent the story was from, how far that was from us, and some of the customs from that country. We also discussed common elements from all of the stories, then Lex wrote her own Cinderella tale. Not only did we have a lot of fun, but we learnt a lot too!

While I often don't feel qualified or organized enough to do this, I'm doing it just the same. Every day I'm learning more about what works for our family and, more importantly, the best way to get an enthusiastic response from my 5-year old. At the same time, I'm seeing this wonderful world through her eyes and forging a relationship with her that grows deeper every day. The first six months of homeschooling were very challenging and I often wished I could throw in the towel - now, as we've settled into more of a rhythm and I've learnt to "go with the flow" a bit more, it is becoming the most rewarding task I have ever taken on.