Do you realize we just had school?

I have to share about our day Tuesday. Homeschooling is so much fun!!!

We started out the day with devotions and discipleship. Then we headed out to one of the parks near us called Parque Bosque (Forest Park). We really love this park because there are great HUGE trees, wide open spaces, a soccer field, walking paths, benches and playground equipment as well. There is even this one spot that Isabelle and her friend Megan call "Bean World" because there are tons of little beans that fall from the tree...

So, off we went to the park, each child armed with with their nature notebook, a pencil and a few instructions. Each child was to find one item that was special and unique (a discussion followed about the meaning of the word "unique" as well as how and for what purpose to use it). The object could not have been made by man, it MUST have been created by God, which then led to another discussion about how God does give man the ability to create the playground equipment and a host of other things we saw on the 3 minute walk there...Once the "unique" item was found, each of my babies were supposed to sit and reflect about why they chose the item, draw a picture of it in their notebook and, if possible, write about it and/or why they chose it. (Obviously Audrey's entry is much more simplistic than Ethan's, but her experience was just as exciting as his- amazingly!)

Nature Notebooks

So, Ethan found this HUGE brown leaf. There were tons of them around on the ground. A discussion followed about how the seasons here are so different than in the states. It is considered winter here now, because we are in rainy season. Obviously, for most of you back there, it is heat wave time...you are all sweating it out while we are...uhhh...well...enjoying the beautiful, breezy, clear mornings with beautiful views of the mountains...but...I digress...Back to Ethan's leaf...He recognized that the leaves and plant life are changing now because the season is changing and some things are dying off and other things are starting to grow again. After we were back home, he made a rubbing of the leaf in his notebook and we taped it on a separate page. He wrote: This is a special leaf I found in Costa Rica Bosque Park. He also drew a picture of it.

Ethan's special leaf


Ethan's journal page and leaf rubbing

Isabelle's discovery was this beautiful, dainty yellow flower. For those of you who now her well, she loves to pick flowers, and today was no exception. She drew it in her notebook with a picture of the sun (with sunglasses on) next to it and wrote: Special Flower. When we got home we taped the flowers onto her journal page.

Isabelle's entry and flowers

Audrey probably had the most trouble deciding which discovery she liked the most, because there were so many. She finally decided on this tiny little green leaf and a bean, from Bean World, of course...Unfortunately, the bean got lost somewhere along the way and the leaf shriveled up before we had a chance to tape it into her notebook...but not before she had traced it onto her paper and discovered that when she rubbed the leaf across the paper, it made green marks. However, Audrey made another discovery a few minutes after we had put away the notebooks and were trying to decide where to play. She came across a huge patch of small green and purpleish plants that I have to say are some of the most interesting I have EVER seen in my 30 years! They react to the touch of something by curling up into themselves- so much that they take on a totally different appearance in their curled up state. Apparently the kids had discovered these earlier in Tejarcillos with our friend Doug. I must have missed the discovery somehow. Nonetheless, we had a great time watching them react and then uncurl themselves after sometime. Afterwards, I googled "plants that react to touch" and found information and photos of the exact plant that I now know is called, Mimosa pudica. I could not figure out how to get the pictures linked to this post, but google it - it is amazing!

I have often thought longingly of our libraries back in Frankfort and Rossville and how fortunate we were to have such fantastic libraries for such small towns. I have thought we will be at somewhat of a disadvantage to be homeschooling without access to a local library. Praise Jesus for the internet and the ability to find information at the click of the mouse!

We also found these amazingly cool flowers (?- I am not sure what exactly to call them yet...) that appear to be a grass of some sort. The really cool thing is that they look as if they have been spray painted with a small white flower in the center of each cluster of grassy leaves. For a moment I really thought that someone had come through and spray painted in that area (yes, I have always been somewhat naive, huh?...). Then we began looking around and realized these flowers were all over the park. And they were all exactly alike- which killed my spray-painting artist idea...I did not take my camera with me that day so I do not yet have a picture of these and had no luck with the google entry of "grass plant with white flower in center" (hmmm...wonder why that didn't pop right up???) So, I have no answer to what it is called or anything yet...but it was pretty cool.

So, we spent over an hour there that day and the funny thing is, we forgot to play we were having so much fun looking and studying the world God gave us to live in. The interesting thing to me was that we have been in that park many, many times and not once noticed any of the these things- the curling plants, the special yellow flowers, the gigantic leaves or the grassy spray-painted flowers.

This, for me, is what makes homeschooling so absolutely COOL! As we were walking out of the park all three of them said, "Mom, this was so much fun! And we didn't even play!" Ethan said, "We better get back and finish school!" I smiled and said, "Buddy we just had school- and you didn't even know it!!"

How much time do we spend running around this world, wherever you are in it right now, going about our daily routines, never stopping to notice the amazing creations our Mighty God had given us to enjoy and worship him for? Just like we'd been in that park a dozen times or more...never once noticed these beautiful creations.

Father, may we pause from our daily routines and rush and business to stop and relish the beauty of the world you created for your pleasure and enjoyment, but gave to us also to enjoy. May we stop to notice the seemingly unimportant things like the plants on the ground and the leaves that fall from the trees and the beans that cover the ground that can take us into an imaginary world called Bean World. Father, forgive me for not delighting in your creation each and every day you have given me and may I go forth with new admiration for the beauty that is all around me. Thank you for the opportunity and privilege to teach my children about the world, your creation and to glorify and praise you for these wonderful discoveries like amazing curling plants and interesting spray-painted flowers. Thank you for revealing to me how teachable a morning in the park can be. I love you Lord. Amen