Challenge yourself and your family in this fun Nature Journal activity!
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Everybody loves to spot creatures on a hike! I wrote this hiking song to help my boys begin to learn some of the creatures we might see in our local scrub. This is our main hiking song and we rarely hit the woods without singing… which ensures that we actually see NO wildlife, ironically. LOL!
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The Gopher Tortoise is a Florida Keystone Species! Believe it or not, more than 350 different kinds of animals may share a gopher tortoise’s burrow. Most, such as lizards and toads, slip in on occasion for some of the same reasons the tortoise does. Spiders and snakes go in to find food. And some, such as the gopher cricket, live nowhere else on Earth!
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As a beautiful afternoon corroded around a group of moms desperately searching backpacks for any semblance of an edible crumb, I jogged to my car and pulled out my Super Snacks. For once, my Super Mom cape was starched, ironed and flowing beautifully behind me.
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With a renewed sense of responsibility and an awareness of the good that can be accomplished (if he could just harness the power of fire), he sets out into the woods to try to decipher what items will burn. What will work as tender, what will light quickly or burn slowly?
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Over the next week, parents everywhere will bring out the Elf on the Shelf.... duhn-duhn duuuuuuhn
From what I can ascertain, this is done with either ridiculous elation over the possibilities or deep dread over the hassle. Let me help ya out!
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We are getting close to Christmas..... like, reallllll close. It can be hard to know what to get for the active family, or the family that is trying to bump down the grasps of technology and do more outside. This is a short list of the Game Changers in our family, including for my nephews who are older than my kids. I'll keep adding as I think of stuff that has made a difference. So keep checking back!
Read MoreIf Halloween Candy is something you don't prefer to deal with, The Switch Witch is an easy solution!
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I could tell she was shocked, but the question was innocent.
I don't get upset about these sorts of questions. When you do life different than the norm, in any way, people are curious. They become fascinated and interested when you calmly share your story and perspective. This is the approach I try to take. I'm not trying to "win" anybody to my side or convince anyone my way is magical. Turns out, parenting isn't a religion.... or a war.
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Dear pregnant client, you will be fine. I promise. Ignore the voices of the people around you and listen to your heart. Remember that every moment is fleeting, even the hard ones, and in a flash you will live in these moments rather than the present because YOU ARE “IN IT” right now. All in, 100%.
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Nature Awareness is getting a lot of buzz these days.
There is a good reason for that, too! The benefits of time spent in nature abound and include some pretty important stuff, like sensory development in children, activating the Default Made Network in the brain at any age, and simply working our ability to actually USE our senses. Bringing Nature Awareness activities into your home doesn't have to be some elaborate endeavor!
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Veggies aren’t really THAT important!
There.
I said it.
We seem to have this idea that if we don’t consume broccoli florets, green beans, and (God Forbid) kale in mass quantities that we will die some horrible death. The reality is that humans have existed, and thrived, in the tundra and in the desert for millennia. Additionally, as hunters and gatherers a giant bowl of salad was impossible.
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