Hello there!

We are savoring every day of fall....which is disappearing quickly in Northern Vermont. Hopefully I will get back to regular blogging with the shift in the weather!


"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education."
-Luther Burbank

Fall Reading List

Just stocked up on a couple new books for my fall reading list ~ The Creative Family and Handmade Home both by Amanda Blake Soule. Check out her blog at www.soulemama.com  for some inspiration!

Also on my fall reading list (and straight off my own bookshelf) are The Nature Connection by Clare Walker Leslie and Nature's Playground by Fiona Danks.

Fall in Vermont is in full swing. I feel that shift of spending more time with a soft blanket and an inspiring book or two.

How about you? What are you reading that is inspiring you?!

Quotes to Wonder about...

"If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in." ~ Rachel Carson

Other wonder~ful quotes to inspire:

"Never lose the child  like wonder. It's just too important. It's what drives us." Randy Pausch

"Wondering's healthy. Broadens the mind. Opens you up to all sorts of stray thoughts and possibilities." Charles de Lint

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." Greek proverb

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." ~Rachel Carson

Wonder

I'm taking a professional training course this summer about Curriculum Blueprinting. One of our tasks was to define our 5 Core Values. As I went through the process, I realized that all five of my top values are nutured and supported by my time spent outdoors, and that my children get to experience these values in an authentic way during our playtime outdoors!

Creativity

Health

Joy

Wonder

Balance

And the value that I want to nuture the most in my teaching this year is WONDER!

My inspired teaching purpose:

Connecting children to nature so that they learn to wonder, ponder, and explore!



How about you...what are your top core values?!

Time to Reconnect

Nature Loving Kids ~~ oh my sweet neglected blog. Hope my 15 followers are all doing well since my last post!

It's summer and my family and I are savoring every day together. By far the best perk of teaching is having the summer off to reconnect with family. It isn't 'escaping' from the classroom but rather, finding the outdoor classroom again with my own family. The classroom that needs no lesson plan....just a sense of wonder and taking the time to reconnect to nature.
Ahhh~~~ summer!

~April

It's been mighty quiet over here on the blog front.

Hopefully I will get some time to blog this summer about all of the fun stuff my nature loving kids and I are experiencing!

 

Hope you're summer has lots of outdoor time too! 

~April @ Naturelovingkids.blogspot.com

 

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein