The Mindful Homeschool

Well, we are back from our trip to South Dakota where we camped, hiked and even toured a cave for the first time!  We saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park (absolutely beautiful!), ate bison burgers and too much restaurant food, and met many wonderful South Dakotans.  I especially enjoyed camping at the Sylvan Lake campgrounds in Custer State Park.  The campsites that we stayed at were gorgeous with plenty of room for us and the kids to explore. 

The drive to SD was long, made even longer on the way home by a very sick and uncomfortable 7 year old.  Poor W … he was so miserable and the drive home was much too long for him.  But now he is fully recovered, albeit a bit tired yet and we are slowly moving back into our routines.  It was a wonderful family vacation but it is really nice to be home again.  I hope to be able to blog more about it later.  South Dakota’s advertising slogan is Great Faces. Great Places.  I like that and it certainly lived up to it.  More later…

We have been shooting hoops (H-man got a new basketball); practicing our golf swing (just a little on the front lawn); filling up the compost bin with scraps collected over the winter months; and spending lots of time outdoors, picnicking and playing with the neighbors.

We have been reading Harry Potter, the Borrowers, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  We are also reading a d’Aulaire book about Abraham Lincoln and a Holling book, Minn of the Mississippi.  The latter two were recommended on the Ambleside Online website.  C and W also finished a Hardy Boys book at W’s request.

We saw the second Harry Potter film on DVD last week.  It was enjoyed by all except H who is too young to watch the scarier scenes.  We just picked up the CD to the Broadway musical Wicked.  It sounds really good and I hope to be listening to it a lot over the next few days.

We are playing outside on the swings and trees, taking nature walks in search of painted turtles and birds and just enjoying the great out of doors.  This is the one of the best seasons in my neck of the woods and I don’t want to miss it. 

“A hundred times a day I remind myself that my life depends on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give, in measure as I have received, and am still receiving.”

-Albert Einstein (from Meditations from the Mat)

We went bird banding on Wednesday at the local nature center.  It was difficult getting out of the house for the all day event for a number of reasons:  A) H-man said that he didn’t want to go (?!); B) C-chan’s hair needed some serious de-tangling and C) I had to pack lunches for the four of us!  Not something I am used to doing early in the AM!  And my options were very limited, our lunch packing supplies were low, and I heard a little grumbling about the p & j!  But we made it there.  I drove the mini-van while practicing a little pranayama (!) and of course, once we got there we had a great time! 

H-man and I were in a group separate from the older kids which we hadn’t planned for.  The center had not informed us that the kids would be separated by age.  Uggh.  But it worked out fine mainly due to the fact that W and C were able to hang out with the older kids’ group and be with their fellow HS buddies.  (Even though technically W was supposed to be with the little kids group of kids who were 3 - 7 yo).  My good HS friend Cathy was in the group with the older kids.  I am very thankful that she helped coordinate the outing with all the other HS kids from my semi-local group and helped keep an eye on my kids. 

It was really wonderful to be able to watch the naturalist and bird banding volunteers (a HS mom and daughter team, nonetheless) band two chickadees, a hairy woodpecker, and a yellow rump warbler (also known as a myrtle warbler).   We watched as the birds were released back into the wild complete with their new “ankle bracelets”.   All of us had the opportunity to hear a chickadee’s heartbeat; it sounded like a faint purring.  The bird banding volunteer, herself a HSing mom, held the chickadee up to each person’s ear so that we all, even my 3 yo, got a chance to experience it.  The children had a good time doing all of this with other HSing peers. 

I really enjoyed seeing some HS moms I haven’t seen in a long time and enjoyed chatting a bit with some moms I have recently gotten to know.  When we got home I had lots to tell my hubby.  H slept on the back seat of our van which was parked in the driveway while I told Phil all about the day’s events.  I definitely want to go back and see more of the bird banding.  Heck, maybe we could become bird banding volunteers! 

At the end of the day, in addition to the birds that were banded, we saw a red bellied woodpecker, red-winged blackbirds, a red-tailed hawk, a pair of trumpeter swans, and a pair of goldfinches.  At least that is all I can remember right now…. 

We will be back to see more.  We heard that this particular nature center is known as the best birding place in the metro area.  And it is not too far from where we live.  Lucky us!