Southeastern NC

There was so much to explore in the swamp on this warm, overcast day! We made boats, saw baby snapping turtles, explored the swamp and went "fishing". It was a great day! Its good to have help when exploring what you are capable of! Meet "Inchy"! She was joined by her friend "Tiny" a short time later. The Boat floats! Returning Inchy and Tiny to their home. Ashlyn made a leash for her boat so it wouldn't get swept away. Inchy and Tiny together. #Bobcats #Tadpoles

We had a small group today, and we had a great time enjoying the chilly weather! We started the day off with a warm fire and a new book - Shantey's Quest by Thomas Elpel. This beautifully illustrated book is an excellent introduction to plant identification using the Patterns Method. We are still working on processing the acorns we harvested last fall, and made good progress today! They did have a tendency to jump out of the mortar and Malena had a lot of fun trying to guess

What are these things on the pine branches? The recent wind storm and rainy weather knocked down many of them off of the branches, and one of our Tadpoles was fascinated by then finding them attached to the branch! We had a great conversation pursuing different guesses about what we thought they were. The weather was warm enough to be comfortable, but chilly enough that we appreciated Alyna's small fire-challenge fire. Her challenge was to get a fire going and sustained for a

Even though the weather was brisk and damp, we managed to stay warm exploring, wandering and climbing. Some of the plants and animals also seemed confused! We found April-Blooming plants with buds on them and our second salamander in two days. We started off the day with a challenge from the Wood Gnomes. They left directions based on the compass for the Bobcats to lead the group to a special plant. The teens learned how to read bearings on a compass and then successfully led

It was so nice to have some friends join us today! The Tadpoles were feeling a little mischievous, so instead of waiting for the teens to arrive, they wanted to leave a trail of magic beans to lead them into the forest! Then they hid until the teens and their parents got close enough and we all learned a little about the gift of awareness. The Gift of Awareness is the idea that we never want to scare someone or "get" them, we want to help them learn how to be more in touch wi

It was so warm today that we didn't even need a fire! We did get to revisit some old projects and play some new games! Last semester we spent almost a whole day collecting acorns. Today we started the large task of shelling the acorns. After we shell them, Ms. Kathryn is going to leach the tannins out and we are going to experiment with a few different acorn recipes! Last week we collected some yaupon branches that were remarkably straight. Below, Malena is helping Ms. Kathry

Our teens (Bobcats) and our preschoolers (Tadpoles) have so many things in common, we are trying something new and combining programs! We had a wonderful first day with lots of laughs, focused work and silly play. Everyone in both of these groups are very much into crafts and projects. We started the day with with a plant-focused wander and explored different ways of getting to know a plant. Before we even opened our journals or field guides, we sat quietly and observed the p

Wednesday was a bit cold, so we started the day with a fire. Malena wanted to try to make a friction fire, so we attempted to use the bow drill to get a fire going. The bow drill was tighter than last time, so it was hard to do with cold fingers. Mrs. Kathryn used a match to get the fire started, once we had a fire we sang a song and had snack together. When the teens got there, we gathered for opening circle. After opening circle, Malena and I went for a wander thinking of f

Malena and Ember enjoyed spending time with each other again, there was a lot of giggling, role playing and tag. Ember helped Malena and I search for our fairy house that we created last week. We didn't find it, but we built a new one. Malena and Ember pretended to be rabbits and named Ms. Sierra the fox to chase them! We had so much fun switching roles. We also role played as birds and deer. Ember and Malena enjoyed discovering the Discovery Scope at the pond where Malena le

Welcome back Tadpoles! We would also like to say "Welcome" to Ms. Sierra who will be joining Ms. Kathryn on Wednesdays. We had so much fun on our first day! Malena helped Ms. Kathryn and Mrs. Brinkely get the fire started and sustained so we could warm up for opening circle. It took teamwork to get the fire going! After opening circle we searched for fairies, identified a woodpecker, made a fairy house with a slide and a bed. Maleana climbed her favorite fallen tree and prete