Outside 365 | September 2016

School is in full swing with Fall Break just around the corner, but we are continuing to stay busy with lots of outdoor activities.

Our boys spend a portion of every day at a playground – either at preschool, the Y, or across the street from our house, or some combination of the three.

A video posted by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Sep 17, 2016 at 8:06am PDT

On the weekend, we have joined the many other families across our nation who have committed a portion of their weekends to soccer. This means we spend an hour of every Saturday watching a herd of little boys chase a ball around a field. Jack has decided he likes the goalie position best because it involves the least amount of running. Hah!

This month we also took the kids paddling on Labor Day, on a waterfall hike with their cousins, visited the local zoo, and even went to a farm. We are staying busy, busy, busy, and the outdoors continue to play an integral part of our lives.

Something I have been mulling over lately is Jack starting kindergarten next year. It's funny, because when he started at his current preschool at age two, I felt like he wasn't learning enough and that there was too much play time (I was wrong!). A friend talked me off the ledge and told me that kids need to play and be kids at this age. After much research, and watching Jack learn through playing at school and simultaneously from us at home, I am sold on the importance of play time.

Three years later, I'm on another ledge. I read articles like this: "On the Wilderness of Children" and I cringe inwardly knowing that a long day of school, in a cinderblock classroom awaits my soon-to-be-five-year-old.

"We have forgotten that these were the original purposes of the factory-like institutions that most of us grew up in; we speak of our familiar school experience almost as though it were an integral part of nature itself, a natural and essential part of human childhood, rather than the vast and extremely recent experiment in social engineering that it actually is...

When we first take children from the world and put them in an institution, they cry.  It used to be on the first day of kindergarten, but now it’s at an ever earlier age... But gradually, over the many years of confinement, they adjust.  The cinderblock world becomes their world...

The truth is we don’t know how to teach our children about nature because we ourselves were raised in the cinderblock world. We are, in the parlance of wildlife rehabilitators, unreleasable..."

A video posted by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Sep 21, 2016 at 8:39am PDT

I think back to my own childhood with its half-day kindergarten, and I wonder why we are required to send our kids to a full day of school at such a young age. I talk to parents whose kids are currently in kindergarten and two recesses seems like such a small amount of time. And I wonder if we will be doing the right thing in sending Jack into this world? I know he will love school. He already talks about it – riding the bus, going all day long, being with his friends. He doesn't know that his play time will be greatly diminished. 

I would love advice from those of you who have kids currently in kindergarten in public school. I even looked into the local Forest Kindergarten, but the cost (and drive time) for the full kindergarten option is a lot. We live somewhere with excellent schools, so it seems like a waste not to take advantage of that. I just want more time for my kids to be little. More time for them to run wild. To be able to learn through playing. The good news is that I have 11 more months to chew on this before Jack starts kindergarten.

*In terms on homeschooling at this age, I am on the fence about this as well. Jack craves time with other kids and I know he would be heartbroken to not be in a school setting. Also, this mama goes a little crazy being with my kiddos 24-7. I love them dearly, but I don't know if that is something I could realistically do...  

 
A Look Back at Project Outside 365: January 2016 ⎮ February 2016 ⎮ March 2016 ⎮ April 2016 ⎮ May 2016 ⎮ June 2016 ⎮ July 2016 ⎮ August 2016

Outside 365 | March 2016

Even though we started out the month with snow, March became progressively nicer and we were able to spend all but the first day of the month outdoors (30 days outside!).
 
In March we spent countless hours at parks, we took hikes, we visited a cave in Florida, Isaac learned the joy of swinging, Jack discovered tee ball, and Daniel and I got to go on a mountain biking date.

This month we welcomed spring to our mountain with red buds blooming wherever we drove and the trees coming back to life with vibrant greens. It was a good month to be outside.

We experienced a few good rains and wrapped up the month with Jack enjoying puddles at one of our favorite playgrounds. I'm looking to continuing to spend our days outside, adventuring when we can and enjoying the stillness of nature on days that are slower.

A little puddle splashing with a friend. #lifewithapreschooler #mohausoutside365 #mohaus2016 #jackjack

A video posted by Cheree Moore (@mo_haus) on Apr 1, 2016 at 11:37am PDT

A Look Back at Project Outside 365: January 2016 ⎮ February 2016

Outside 365 | February 2016

Twenty-nine days has February (this year) and we got Jack outside for 22 of them. 

Isaac probably spent about half as much time outside... this idea of getting kids outside, regardless of weather, is harder with a baby.

This month had a few warm, sunny days, but mostly we experienced cold rain and heavy fog, and the occasional snow.

Have I mentioned that we are thankful to live directly across the street from a 3-acre park? Many of these days were spent playing at that park (or the playground at the YMCA). 

I would venture to say that one of Jack's favorite outdoor activities is to go to the park with Daniel after dark.

We didn't get a chance to go on a family hike in February, but we did embrace getting outside – regardless of the weather.

If Jack had to pick his most memorable outdoor experience in February, I'm pretty sure that our recent trip to my parent's in Arkansas would rank high on the list. He got to pal around with his cousins, exploring my parent's property. 

They also spent some time at a local playground where they learned how to use a teeter totter... Learning included Jack jumping off mid air and getting smacked in the face – some things you can only learn by experience :(

In terms of getting outside, February was a decent month with 22 out of 29 days outside. As the months get warmer, I'm looking forward to making the goal of actually getting outside every day.

A Look Back at Project Outside 365: January

Outside 365 | January 2016

A friend of mine sends her son to a Forest Kindergarten (for preschoolers) here in Chattanooga. I love this concept and that one of their governing rules is that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.

Anyways, the kindergarten is located in Lookout Valley which is a little too far of a drive for me to commit to, but I found that I kept turning the concept over in my mind. We want our boys to love the outdoors and I think that so much learning and imagination happens when you are not hindered by toys – we love toys and electronics, but we also want natural landscapes to play a part in our kid's upbringing.

So, I came up with this idea that there was no reason we couldn't try to spend a little bit of every day (regardless of the weather) outside. We live on an acre of wooded land that features rocky outcroppings; the playground across the street has woods with trails; we live one street over from a natural area with two additional miles of trails; and Signal Mountain and the greater Chattanooga area boasts tons of things to do outside. We can do this!

I mentioned my plan to Daniel and then we set out to make it happen.

The month of January was a tricky one. Temperatures ranged from the teens (in the south, that is cold!) to days in the 60s. There was rain and fog and sleet and snow. But there were also days with plenty of sunshine.

Did we succeed? Truth be told we did not get outside every day, but 22 days out of 31 we managed to spend at least an hour outside. 

We went on hikes as a family to Sunset Rock and Mushroom Rock. We played in the snow. We discovered secret forts. We played on playgrounds with friends. We went on neighborhood walks and bike rides. And Jack spent a lot of time with his daddy playing on our property.

Isaac did not spent quite as many days outside, but at least half of the month we had him outdoors with us. 

Both of our boys developed eczema on their hands from the cold, so we are trying to balance healing their hands with our desire for outdoor play. This goal of mine is a fluid one, but I hope that we will continue to get outside as much as we can this year. 

And on the days we can't get out, we will look out our windows and dream of warmer days.