Hey folks! You may have noticed we
like to stay busy. There is always something to do or some project
around here. A lot of times it seems like it is some big outdoor
project, like building a rabbit hutch or expanding the fencing area
on an animal enclosure. We do work on other things too. (I
guess those big projects just seem more interesting to write about.)
Right now the main things on my plate
(when I have time) are making Christmas cards for retirement home
residents (which I talked about last week), making ornaments to give
my aunts and other extended family members for Christmas, and working
on a beginner's guide to chickens. (I've been trying to work on one
of my “just for fun” fictional stories too, but keep getting
writer's block. Ugh!) Naturally, we picked the worst time of year to
come up with it, but we also have plans on starting something fun for
Myka: nature scouts!
So, what would our nature scouts
entail? Lots of fun (I hope) learning about different aspects of the
outdoors!
-Tree, bird, animal track, and plant
identification
-Nature/green crafts
-How to fish
-How to build a fire
-Nature hikes (with a theme, such as
discovering creek critters, wild edible identification, survival
skills, etc.)
-Hiking safety
-Camping trips
-Field trips to local parks/nature
areas
-Water safety
-How to use basic tools
-Outdoor projects (such as building
bird houses, making walking sticks, etc.)
-Gardening
-And more!
Sounds fun, right?! (Or is it just
me?) Our nature scouts group will be inclusive, non-religiously
affiliated, and open to both boys AND girls of all ages (probably
starting at 3 years old). While many scout groups seem to only have a
certain uniform for special events, I am doing away with one
altogether because I feel like that's just another superfluous cost
for the parents. HOWEVER, while I'm all about free play as well, I
also believe it's important and beneficial for children to have goals
to work towards (see Myka's state park patch program endeavor HERE),
so we WILL be earning badges as well. I've even looked into websites
with low-cost patches already and am very excited about this aspect!
I haven't decided yet, but, instead of having the traditional vest or
sash to display earned badges, I may let them choose whatever item
they would like to feature them on. (For example, a backpack
instead.)
Now that we have talked about the
“what” of nature scouts, perhaps more importantly, let's talk
about the “why”. We have several reasons...
*First of all, Myka is still too young
for Girl Scouts. After seeing how into completing one of the state
park patch programs she was, I feel like that shouldn't stop her from
being in some sort of scout group.
*Although I'm not sure exactly how it
works, but, from what I have gathered from a friend, your child joins
whatever group covers your local school district. And, while the
group that said friend's daughter is in sounds like they do tons of
fun stuff, they live in the next big town over. We live near a little
podunk town and I'm scared to death it would be mostly “Susie
Homemaker” type projects. I can (and do) teach Myka how to do that
stuff at home (like cook).
*Myka is really into nature, so why not
make that the focus of the group?
*While there is another, similar group,
in Bloomington (what I refer to as the “next big town over”),
they are currently not meeting up because of lack of parent
volunteers. I guess they only supposedly need one more, so it seems
like a pretty lame excuse not to meet up to me.
*I wanted something that included the
best of both worlds for Myka: Earning patches like in regular scouts,
but getting to do nature things anywhere instead of strictly
state parks, like the program mentioned previously. (Not that she
didn't enjoy that too.)
*I really feel having a mixed age group
of both genders of children is beneficial to everyone. Younger kids
can learn by example from older children and older kids can learn to
be patient and help out with younger kids. Everyone learns from each
other!
*Having a religious-free environment is
really important to me too. There are plenty of organizations that
are religiously-affiliated. But, quite frankly, I don't see what that
has to do with anything as far as scouts go...Unless they are
learning about God and whatnot to earn badges. I don't know. I'm not
saying we will only accept agnostics and/or atheists to the group
because, well, that's just as biased and we are neither of those. We
will accept anyone so long as they don't try to push their own
beliefs on the rest of the group. That's not ok. We're here to learn
about nature, not world religions.
*When it comes to some of the areas we
will cover, I will actually be learning alongside the kids! (Or at
least somewhat in advance to help with the lessons. ;) )
*Quite frankly, I'm already tired of
having to drive at least a half an hour in either direction to go do
fun stuff with the kids. It's about time we have people come to us,
methinks. That being said, even if we have NO ONE else join our
“group”, we still totally intend on doing this for Myka and our
other kids when they get older. But, you know the old saying: The
more the merrier!
What do you think? Are we
totally nuts, or does this sound like a great idea? Would you and
your kids join something like this?
