The big boys were asked to be a part of a pilot program at our favorite local state park this August. Naturalist Julie wants to put together a program especially for her Nature Story time"graduates", children 8 and up who still love being a part of what this beautiful park has to offer. The boys are excited that she is starting this up and look forward to such delights as canoeing, hiking, learning wilderness survival and much more. Today she brought the kids on a hike to the lookout where she spent countless hours as a child, contemplating her future as a naturalist. Julie grew up on property adjacent to the park and told the kids about her favorite spots for playing and regaled them with exciting tales. Her idea was to help them to see a little of her personal "ownership" of the park, and to invite them to really "own" a piece of nature themselves. Julie, you are sooo awesome! With this pilot program moms are along for the ride so we are able to give feedback on the structure and timing of the program. Next year, when the official program launches, it will be a kids only thing for the most part, as we all agreed that there is a completely differet dynamic when the kids get to "go it alone" as opposed to having mom interjecting all the time. In this case, and with Julie as their guide, I am in total agreement. Here are a couple photos from our hike:
On the trail to the lookout.
Enjoying the view
Getting a closer look
2 comments:
Wow! You are so lucky to have such a great person to lead your programs there. Maybe you'll get a naturalist out of your bunch.
I agree that it is wonderful to have the boys go it alone for a bit with someone you trust. It is always more of an adventure if mom isn't there. And they have someone to "tell the tale" to later. Very fun.
I can't sing Julie's praises enough! She is such a genuinely nice person, knowledgeable and fantastic with kids. She has school age boys of her own so knows just what they need to keep their attention. I trust her completely and feel sooooo lucky that that is the case. I'm usually really gurded with the boys but it's nice to let them have this time on their own.
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