Last Child in the Woods ~ Introduction

I hope that you will be joining me in my little informal and impromptu book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. As some are just now getting their books, I am asking that you read Chapters 1-4 by next Friday. On Friday (or more likely Saturday), I will post my thoughts on those chapters. I welcome comments from you about how you felt about the material we have read. If you do your own blog post about it, please include a direct link to your post in the comments section so others can hear your thoughts.

I breezed through the first four chapters and plan to read them with more attention this next week. But I can say that I am HOOKED and oh, so intrigued. The whole time I was reading it I had these nostalgic memories of playing in the creek that ran by our house, sitting up in the big tree that was by my friend's house, and going through the "passageway" between two bushes. I fondly remembered those rainy days when my sister and I would take our Fisher Price toys to the top of the street and run them all the way down the street in the "waterfalls" in the ditches. It would take us hours to get them back down to our house, getting stuck in drainage ditches along the way. I could feel the sand between my toes from my sandbox, feel the wind in my hair while swinging on my swing set, and feel my leg muscles ache from riding my bike. I "looked up" and saw that the street lamp had come on, which meant it was time to come inside for the evening. I felt the sting of winter wind when my friends and I would spend snow days out of school shoveling the driveways of elderly people in our town.

I ask that you open your heart and mind to your childhood when you read the first four chapters. And think about the following questions:

Can you recall and describe your favorite childhood place in nature? Where was it? How did you find it, how did you feel when you were there, what became of it?
Do your own children, or children of people you know, have fewer experiences in nature than you or your friends did at their age?
If children aren't spending as much time outdoors, what are the top five reasons?

These are likely questions that will come up in your mind anyway when you start reading this book.

Enjoy reading and we'll talk next week.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

A New Year, the Same Me

Happy 2019! It is that day of the year where everybody is up extra early starting their new exercise routine, eating only healthy foods, cracking open the pages of a new planner and Bible study, and debuting their Word for the year. You chuckle or roll your eyes, but you are doing at least three of these things. By the way, so am I. So let's start with the Word of the Year. Mine this year is Lagom. It's the Swedish word for "not too little, not too much, just right". It's a concept of being, doing or having just enough. So let's rewind to last New Year's Day. My Word was Might. And that's how I planned to tackle my year. And, I did. I worked out hard, I mommed hard, I traveled hard, I worked hard. And it was a good season. It prepared the way for this year. I accepted the Challenge I set for myself and succeeded. But, I don't need to keep up that pace. I am at a place in my life where I can kind of sit back and enjoy my life without f...

Science Sunday ~ Hmmm ... Let Me Think About It!

This week in our study of the Human Body , Brynne moved on to the Nervous System . Our first stop was a Pamela Hill Nettleton book called, Think, Think, Think: Learning About Your Brain . As part of our discussions about the brain , and the fact that it's the BOSS of the body, we discussed the importance of the spinal cord . We did a hands on spinal cord project by alternating gummy Life Savers and wagon wheel pasta on a pipe cleaner. We talked about why there was the "squishy" stuff in between the vertebra and how the back can bend and sway because of it. We completed "The Brynne" by adding the stomach, small intestine and large intestine, from our study last week of the Digestive System (although I just realized I have the large intestine coming out of the stomach, when the small intestine should be) and the brain and spinal cord. We are now done talking about the parts of the body and will conclude our study of the Human Body with a two-day unit ...

Journey to Excellence

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