Homeschool at the Park

Why did God create the earth so beautiful if not to enjoy? The sights, the sounds, the smells, the feels, and the tastes! It’s hard not to take advantage of good things while they are there. My children and I like to see God in the rain that waters our grass, the rainbow that comes after a storm, the way trees form, the many types of clouds and skies during a sunset, the way our bodies move and are formed perfectly so as to enable us to carry out our everyday activities, and so much more!

One day this week, we took a trip to the city park for some outside time. I had nothing specific in mind that I wanted to do but since the playground was too hot to play on, we decided to go for a walk along a trail. Here are the lessons that unexpectedly developed:

1. We found that there were many different sizes of trees, depending on what they were. We measured the girth of the biggest tree we could see and found that it took almost four arm spans of my five year old. He was impressed!

2. We walked across a bridge that crossed over a little stream. My oldest discovered that the water was not flowing and questioned me about it. I asked him what he thought and he told me, “Maybe because of all the rocks on the bottom.” I told him that was a great conclusion, then proceeded to tell him about deposition in a river or stream, adding to his vocabulary list for the week.

3. When we got to the other side, we played by a large tree and a slightly open grassy area. This led to a discussion about poisonous plants and being careful what we touch (noticing the curious vegetation near us).

4. Walking back, my children noticed all the different colored leaves around, the pinecones, and the acorns. I gave them the task of seeing how many leaves they can find that showed autumn was on its way. Studying the leaves, we saw that the outside edges change color and get crunchy first, while the inside close to the stem stayed green.

5. Getting closer to the front of the park, my children walked on a low brick wall and hung from bars lining the concession stand area…this was our P.E. time, balancing and strength training (along with all the walking we did).

We only spent an hour at the park, and we got that much learning time in, without a textbook or worksheet, without a pencil and paper, without me finding something for the littlest one to do while I spent time with the older ones. We were all learning together, experiencing the wonders of God’s creation and what makes things work how they do. There are times when I have to say, “I don’t really know.” Some things we don’t and can’t know, and that’s ok. Sometimes we look up information together that we aren’t sure of, which is also an important skill in these days. Learning is so much fun and is done every day without us realizing it. All we need to do is pay attention to what’s around us, and listen to the innocent and inquisitive questions our children have and feed off their sparked interest. What a good God to give us such a wonderful place to live and teach our children.

*Sept 2016