Learning Outdoors
We hiked Mount Washington last weekend. The highest mountain in the eastern United States. It's nothing compared to the western mountains but we did hike an elevation gain of 4,000+ feet and spent nine hours on the trail, including a lunch stop at the top.
Top of Washington with our friend John Sifferman
The kids and I were tired the next day so we slept in and took the rest of the day slowly. This routine, a day to allow mommy and kids to start the week slow after a busy weekend, is just our latest schedule change in a continual finding our way on this path to an adventurous family life.
It's one of our goals to be adventuring outdoors all year round. Damien works a regular weekday job. Come the weekend we head to the mountains for one-day-a-week hike and spend another day at home taking care of house and yard maintenance and sometimes getting together with friends in the evening.
Life is full. The summer especially so. We started this new Monday routine as an answer to my request for more downtime in my schedule and to ensure our children get adequate rest and unstructured play time after long hikes. Damien is energized from hiking long distances. I'm energized physically but emotionally I need a certain amount of "relax time" at home to feel recharged.
This is why we homeschool, and more fundamentally why I'm a full time homemaker. So that Monday morning we are not rushing out of the house but taking it easy, even after the normal summer school break is over. We homeschool year round so summer doesn't bring vast changes to our schedule.
We homeschool to give our family the maximum amount of freedom to follow our interests, collectively and individually.
When we started our homeschooling journey, many years ago (we decided to homeschool before our children were even born), we were attracted to this lifestyle because of the families we knew who were homeschooling their children. Interesting families, with interesting children doing interesting things together.
At the time we didn't imagine hiking and being outdoors as much as we are, well maybe Damien did but didn't let me in on his secret. But we did imagine being able to choose our own schedule and meet our children's unique educational needs. Right now the children and I need a down day during the usual work week in order to keep the pace we do with Daddy on the weekend. Homeschooling allows us that freedom.
It let's us tell our eleven year old daughter, who likes sleeping in and reading, that come Monday morning (or whatever day we choose) she can do that - to her heart's content. But come Saturday morning we're going to be up and at 'em quite early to hit the trail - spending the day hiking together as a family.
Freedom to choose adventure. Freedom to choose curriculum. Freedom to choose the way we want to live. This is why we homeschool.
(If you are interested in more homeschooling related posts you can check out our homeschooling resource page at FIMBY.)
Damien and I have been talking lately about tying my writing here at ADVENTUREinPROGRESS to certain themes. Not to restrict me in any way but to 1) capitalize on the unique perspective I have in our family as mother, homeschooler and (once reluctant) spouse and 2) provide information and encouragement specific to a certain group of our readers and hopefully future readers. I'm not interested in writing about gear for a family and minimalist footwear, two areas my husband is becoming a trusted source in. I like to write about my everyday - kids, homemaking, creativity, homeschooling and other stuff that can be found at my personal blog, FIMBY. I'm thinking of ways I can take those angles and apply them here. To help round out the techie information and make this a better resource for families.
One of the things I am passionate about is my kid's education. So I'm going to start there.
First a little background. This past weekend we experienced our first hard core winter hike. It was a colder day than any we've ever hiked, the temperature hovered around 16F (about -10C) and was colder in the wind. We choose to drive to the mountains anyway and cut our winter hiking teeth (told you I wrote from a mother's perspective) on a short 2.4 mile loop on a relatively easy (in summer time) trail.
The trail was steep at points. We were climbing on hands and knees and without our crampons we would of been sliding down the mountain. The children were challenged. We knew they were perfectly safe in our care but they hadn't ever pushed themselves like this before. Our son was exhilarated (I think stoked is the word we used in the 90's). Our 10 year old daughter sure and steady. Our 7 year daughter was freaked out and crying, trusting heavily in Daddy's sure grip right behind her.
We summitted with much triumph and "we did it" exclamations. We encouraged Brienne that she was probably the only 7 year in the whole state of Maine hiking on that frigid January day. I've certainly never met or read of young Mainers hiking on days so cold. She rocks! Someday Damien can share with you our strategies for staying warm and we're still learning. We were pretty cold by the time we finished our lunch and started back down. But we succeeded that day in accomplishing what we wanted to do; go for a hike on cold winter's day and have fun doing it.
Sharing these type of successes with our kids is part of what we call adventure education, and we're all learning together.
Adventure education is not nature study or outdoors study. It's about learning something about yourself, pushing your limits, going to the edge and coming back a stronger person. Being the only 7 year out for a serious hike in the Maine mountains on a given day (not scientifically verifiable but I'm fairly certain true) is an achievement. And I'm proud of my daughter for her perseverance in the face of fear.
I want my children to be able to identify flora and fauna, I want them equipped with survival knowledge and I want them to learn the history and geography of a local area through their interactions with the natural world. But just as importantly I want them to learn about themselves, I want them to face doubt and insecurity and then to overcome difficulty and rise above discomfort. Knowing of course that we are there to provide for their needs and help them along the way. And that is what we consider an adventure education.
In the future I hope to share more about our growth in this area. I, myself, am learning right along with my children how to enjoy the outdoors in all its seasons and with all the lessons it teaches us.
