Tresca Weinstein, Author at Flying Deer Nature Center

Sunshine at the Cobble

It was a beautiful spring day at Bart’s Cobble and both Cobblers groups enjoyed walking through the changing landscape. The morning was filled with laughter and games in the sunny and warm fields. When it was time to go into the forest, one group of explorers went up Hurlbert Hill and the other made their way down by the Housatonic River. Each group discovering the blooming Spring Ephemerals and exploring the wonders of the Cobble.

Paint and Camouflage

“Thank you, Mother Nature for this wonderful playground.” Those words from one of our Woolly Bears are so simple, yet so powerful! What an acknowledgement of the bounty of the world.

The children found purpose and focus this week in creating different kinds of pigments from rocks, clay, and spices to paint and use for camouflage. Pounding stones and experimenting with different binding agents, such as honey or dish soap, created a table full of creativity, art, problem solving, and turn taking.

WilD Work

Today marked the start of some very important preparation and projects for Wild Ways. Before we know it, we will be camping out at the end of the semester and there is work to be done! Today both groups headed off to start work on lean-to shelters to use as a skills and hangout spot during our overnight. The Coyotes even decided to go find a brand new spot on a less explored piece of land to make a new site. The Bobcats already have uprights in the ground and are almost ready to start adding shingles. The Coyotes have all of the materials gathered and prepared and are ready to set it all up next week.

Exploring and Gathering

To begin our Saturday Explorers day, we gathered together in the big field and shared, with a partner, a story or something we saw, heard or felt, from nature, over the past month. Making time and space for this kind of sharing builds friendships and encourages the kids to make more stories and share those. Thus, the nature connection cycle continues.

Guilds, Week 3

We wrapped up our three-week Guilds project this week. It was great to see all that each small group accomplished in their time together. It’s such a gift to be working in this kind of learning environment! We learn, we share, and we learn from each other’s stories.

Springtime Streams

It’s hard to believe we are already at the halfway point of our semester. We have noticed a spring fever moving through all of us with symptoms include high energy, joy and timelessness! Luckily we’ve found a cure: bare feet, stream splashing, salamander searching, and plenty of mud baths!

GUilds, Week 2

This was Week 2 of our Guilds, with the morning spent focusing in on our chosen subject. In the FOREST Minks group, arrows were completed and launched! The other group engaged in a race to build the finest fire, and spent time practicing carving fine “feather thin” wood curls around their campfires for kindling. In the River Otters group, the Craft Extravaganza guild worked on nature mobiles, utilizing many useful items found in nature. They learned about Sweet Birch and Honeysuckle, talked about responsible harvesting and the Rule of Three (taking some for humans, leaving some for the plants and some for the animals).

The GUILDS BEGIN

This week, in all three homeschool programs, we launched our first morning of our three-week Guilds project. What’s a guild? It’s a choice-based group in which students choose a craft to focus on. Each group chose between two options to dive deep in the learning process.

FOREST Maple Fest

Today was maple fest! Everybody spent the morning together in the field while the evaporator boiled away. We played games as folks rolled in and when we had all arrived we circled up around the boiling sap. Josh told us a story of when syrup flowed straight from the trees, no boiling necessary. In the story, the people grew lazy and spent all their time on their backs, letting syrup drip into their mouths.

‘My tree told me, I love you’

We all received warm welcomes this week as the Woolly Bear Forest Kindergarteners gathered once again for a new session. To think that this time last year, we were gearing up for a major change in all of our lives, it really is amazing how far we have come. Masks are now second nature, and we have adapted, as all creatures do, to hardships and changes in their environment. One thing that has stayed constant are the friendships made. What a joy it was to see friends reunite, sawing wood together, hauling rocks, using friendship sticks, and listening to each other’s stories.