Taking our Schooling to Nature

 What's a family to do when you have all this standardized testing to be done.  Well... this homeschooling family to the test with us and found a quiet place up on Lookout Mountain just outside the Denver Metro Area.  We didn't go to Buffalo Bills Grave or the Lookout Mountain Nature Center.  But as we alternated kids doing some of their testing, they had time to just be.  To sit and admire the world around.  I am not sure that it made testing any easier though.

 Miss C. was feeling very much in the pioneer spirit.  I am sad that she won't get to wear this much longer.

Taking time to just be in a nature is like a good medicine for this family. It helps heal the pains of everyday life and puts life into perspective. Nature... is nuturing.

In The Beyond: Ft. Richardson State Park, Jacksboro, TX Part I

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Our trip to Ft. Richardson State Park in Texas was a blast. We got to tour several buildings and so I will have to break down each into smaller parts.
Up first is the Nature Center and the Officer's Quarters.

The nature center there was a small cabin jammed paced with preserved and taxedermied nature items
The kids could basically handle everything and get a view of what all kinds of nature could be found nearby. The bugs... were especially large and GROSS.

Our family has a soft spot for owls. It is sort of our family animal for nature school. We have a stuffed toy one that goes on all our campouts. Sort of like a state bird... a family bird.

The Officer's Quarters was in a nice house; it was sparingly furnished and decorated but there were some nice things for us to consider and examine.


The Crocodile rug was definitely something that caught our eye.


Uhm... yeah... we weren't prepared for that to be in the closet.

You guessed it.. Miss C loved the dolls. No idea why they would be in the Officer's Quarters.
I could enjoy a good meal here.

A US Congressional Medal of Honor. Mr. A had been taking a class on those (though more specifically the Vietnam War Recipients, so it was nice to see one in person.

The writing desk. Mr. A too a particular liking to this. He so loves to write in his own journal and was wanting a little writing desk set up like that. I had seen one at a craft show in CA in November. I think I see a perfect gift idea for him. They call them lap desks. Here's one on Etsy.
Oh... I guess I am including some from the little museum at the front. The kids enjoyed trying on the hats and imagining themselves as soldiers
I think Miss C. would love a pretty outfit from any era in history.

Here is the initial building.

In The Beyond: Lake Mineral Wells State Park, Mineral Wells, TX

If you haven't guessed by now, we went to Texas. While we were there visiting family, but we went on several mini adventures while on our big outing for the year. The first one was Mineral Wells State Park. This place is a gem. Unfortunately we didn't get to do any hiking as most of them where closed due to rain. Bummer... We will hopefully get a chance to explore them more next time.
We enjoyed sitting in the shade (as it was much warmer there than we had acclimated to in Colorado. The vegetation was lush and in some places... very spiky (cacti). We had a quick lesson on rattle snakes. We sat, enjoyed an outdoor picnic and just admired the nature around.

We all just needed time to be out in nature. I can see why school study is best done (at least in our home) in the winter time. We are just in need of some serious outdoor time. Just a few more weeks till we get finished with what we need to for the year and then... some serious nature freedom.

The opportunity to see what is under a interesting rock.
Admire the cacti... from a distance, of course.

This state park isn't named after a lake for no reason. It had a small swim beach to which we were ill prepared for. But we are washable.

Time to dig, experience, and feel the grit of sand in your toes... and elsewhere, I imagine.





A helicopter nearby... Thrown in just for fun. It was a good day

Nature on The Road and a Playground to Boot...

I will have to say that Texas has some of the best Rest Stops!. Picnic tables, BBQs, mini museums, and the playground to boot! Opportunities to observe nature and ponder it lay at every turn in the road. Like I said, Texas has great rest stops.
Spring was much further along in Texas than in Colorado, but it has caught up now.

Birds... lots of them.


It was nice to watch them...

The Great Canal Clean Up Caper: The Historic High Line Canal, Aurora, CO

St.Patricks day has started of with a bang of fresh air! My two cub scouts and I headed out for the city of Aurora's Great Canal Clean Up Caper! It was a sort of last minute decision seeing that we could squeeze in a service project that would qualify my oldest for the World Conservation Award. Talk about last minute... he graduates from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts on Tuesday! So while we had some ulterior motives, I think this even will become a yearly tradition. One that I hope will involve all the family. The boys and I had a great time and the worked hard the whole time. I am very proud of them. Most importantly they felt good about themselves and the work that was done to make the Historic Highline Canal in Aurora a much better place to walk and ride a bike through.
What impressed me most about this even was the amount of people that turned out. I was thankful for that. But putting aside that, what was most remarkable was the shear number of boy scouts, cub scouts and even a few girl scouts. Say what you want about the BSA. I know many have feelings about BSA policy regarding the gay community, but the city of Aurora's project would have been "up a creek" without them today. I would imagine that well beyond 50% of the volunteers and perhaps might I guess, even 80% were as a result of the BSA. That is why BSA has my loyalty. It promotes civic responsibility and I can guess that without it projects like this would be in serious jeopardy. This isn't the first time I have seen outcomes like this and I feel comfortable, assuming that the same amount of people wouldn't turn out if there were no BSA. I am not interested in debating what people don't like about BSA, but I just wish to pay respect the organization that helps me raise boys of good character. I like the "investment into their character." I will be a scouter for life because of it.

Enough with the Scout Commercial there. Lets get on to the adventure itself. Like I said, my boys were eager and racing to pick up every bit of trash they could get their hands on. The portion of the canal we worked on was just behind the Community College of Aurora and to the south of it for about 1 mile. And boy was there a lot of trash! Mr. J loved checking out all the prairie dogs. We admired plenty of birds, chirping their great support of our efforts. We identified some robins and of course some Canadian Geese.

We were lucky to find some scat and tracks of mule deer. And it was wonderful to see the "face lift" that came to the canal as the trash was removed. It made this stretch so enjoyable to view.
I love gnarly trees and many of them look so in their winter state.


To see the water ways clear out of debris. A restoration of sorts for the nature around. The large quantity of trash really made the place on the ugly side.

They were amazed at the types of trash they found. Even more amazed by the large quantity of plastic grocery bags littering the trees, shrubs and water ways. Mr. A made the connection. "I am so glad we always try and remember our reusable bags mom," he said.
A picnic area cleaned up and ready for people to enjoy.


Two tired boys, ready to call it a day.