Camping Field Trip #1

For our first field trip, we went on a short hike at a nearby state park.

Lily was set with all necessary hiking supplies in her backpack.

The wildlife there is just fantastic. This picture of the bison was taken from our car.

There wasn't a lot of zooming necessary when taking these pictures. The animals were very close to the driving paths.

Neither the ducks nor Lily were afraid of one another.

The pond was teeming with turtles.


Projects made from collected items from our hike as well as items found in our own backyard.

Camping Field Trip #2

For our second field trip, we went to the Nature Center. We actually had registered for the class at the Nature Center well before we even knew that we were going to do a camping theme this week. It just so happened that the class (called "We Like to Move It") matched perfectly with our theme. I also have to say that I was completely and totally impressed with this class. It was informative, fun, age-appropriate, and chock-full of great activities, including a short walk around the grounds in the middle of the 1 1/2 hour event. We will definitely sign up for more of these *free* classes in the future!

For a portion of the program, the children were divided into groups and then rotated through 5 stations, each featuring different types of forest animals to explore.

The sticky "tongue" was used to catch little pretend bugs.

The children were allowed to fish for minnows using their hands. I love that Lily dove right into this activity while the majority of other children wouldn't even try. She was great at it too! She caught several of these quick little guys and examined them and put them back without hurting them at all!

In this activity, children used clothespins as bird beaks to pick up the bugs - great for fine motor skills!

Lily in the indoor treehouse after the program

Preparing for the year

I debated quite a bit on how to organize our year together. I considered many different approaches including a project-based approach, literature-based curriculum, etc., but ultimately what I think will work best for our situation is a more simple theme-based approach that ties into the alphabet. I've always maintained that you can teach young children any concept in thirty different ways, using just about any topic. The framework is really just to make teaching the concepts and skills more interesting and engaging for the child. So, we are going to try this approach and see how it goes. I have to say that this is a huge learning experience for me. Teaching one child (especially your own) is so different than a classroom environment. It has its own unique challenges, but it is nice to be able to give Lily 100% attention (for now anyway!) and to know exactly where she stands with all her skills. It is the ultimate in individualization! I am still a huge advocate of early childhood education in learning centers (quality ones anyway), but we are going to make the most of our current situation and hopefully we will both benefit from this arrangement. Of course, the mom side of me loves being able to spend my days with my girl, and I feel so lucky to be able to be at home with her during this stage of her life!

School year 09-10

This blog was created with the intent of having a sort of online scrapbook of Lily's "school" year at home. It is mostly just a convenient way for me to keep a record of our projects and her progress, and some day Lily may enjoy seeing this as well. Anyone else that cares to follow along, feel free! :)

We rather arbitrarily chose August 17th as the start of our school year. It seems that most schools in the area are starting back around this time, so why not?! And away we go....