Creek Explorers

At this point, we have gotten into a pretty good schooling routine.  We do Bible before breakfast.  Chloe's reading lesson after breakfast and then various things until about 10 AM.  
One of the activities Charlotte Mason REALLY encourages is time to explore outside.  This time outside builds the foundation for science.  Here are some of the things she wrote:

“It is infinitely well worth the mother’s while to take some pains every day to secure, in the first place, that her children spend hours daily amongst rural and natural objects; and, in the second place, to infuse into them, or rather, to cherish in them, the love of investigation...

"Besides appreciating the world, observing nature develops other mental powers--ability to focus, to tell things apart, to patiently seek answers. These things are useful in every facet of life. And, for the person who observes nature, life is so interesting that there's no time to develop mischievous characteristics that come from being bored. How can a person be irritable or sullen or stubborn when he's always preoccupied with nature?"

". . . the chief function of the child--his business in the world during the first six or seven years of his life--is to find out all he can, about whatever comes under his notice, by means of his five senses; that he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge got in this way; and that, therefore, the endeavour of his parents should be to put him in the way of making acquaintance freely with Nature and natural objects." 

Wordsworth penned:

The simple ways of my childhood
Are mostly what first caused me to love
Rivers, woods and fields. The passion was
Still in its infancy, sustained by chance
With nourishment that came
Even though I wasn't deliberately looking for it.'

I am pretty sure outdoor time is something we can excel at!

This day, they discovered just how speedy tiny fish are :)

We "discovered" a creek behind the YMCA.  Adam and I knew it was there because it's on our running routes.  It's a drinking spot for a plethora of deer.  We saw a crayfish and Chloe claims she saw a mouse dart behind me while I was sitting on the bank.  She said it was some sort of gray, small animal and it didn't have a black stripe, so it wasn't a chipmunk!  Eeek...the things ahead of us to learn, may not be all pleasant for me :)

Our second trip we took rain boots.  We don't have good creek walking shoes and sometimes those little rocks in the mud can be quite painful!  Plus, those big, flat rocks that look like so much fun to climb on hold hidden treachery in their slipperiness. 

It rained right before this trip, so the water was over their boots in some spots.  Dumping their boots was pretty funny!  

Then, of course, there's the obligatory swimming pools of summer :)  Our Y's have great pools and we will be sad when they close for the season.