Wednesday, July 23, 2014

a nurtured love of learning (one of my favorite topics!)

fossil hunt fossil hunt fossil hunt fossil hunt sifter and identification guide found! cleaning and examining her fossils cleaning the fossils the girls' museum ticket favorite fossils museum bunny love shark drawing by C yum! (melting) chocolate shark's tooth

When your children are (almost) as interested in sharks as you are, and want to learn all they can about them and comb the beaches for shark teeth, but you are hundreds of miles from a beach or museum - what do you do? You want to nurture that love of learning they all seem to have on the subject so... you make do. At least, that's what we did.

K was the first to inform me that she really wanted to learn more about sharks and our oceans this summer. She very specifically told me she wanted "to really learn about them and not just make crafts like we mostly did last summer." So I found a happy compromise where we wouldn't go too far outside the Waldorf realm and learn things that were above their heads. We bought a globe so they could get a better understanding of just how vast our oceans are. We checked book after book out at the library on oceans, coral reefs and the creatures that live there. I also spoke a bit more to them about how important sharks are to our survival and a tiny bit about how humans are hurting them. This book (that I have had forever) is one of my favorites because it not only gives a good amount of facts on sharks but it also gently goes into how man is destroying them. Most shark books I have found do the opposite and talk about how we can use sharks (like for shark fin soup!)

Something else that we did, which was a huge hit, was search for shark fossils thanks to the Aurora Fossil Museum located all the way on the other side of the country in North Carolina. I visited this museum many years ago on the way to the Outer Banks while I was on an oceanography field trip in college. I fell I love with it straight away. I knew that someday I would want to bring my future children back there with me. Well, that just isn't possible right now but then a post my friend did last year came to mind. I called the museum and asked them if they could ship some of their fossil rich dirt to us along with some identification guides. They were more than happy to help, and I must say it was so nice talking to their staff about my memories there on the phone!

My children spent a day sifting and digging, finding so many fossils that we lost count. Once they were done digging, they brought their finds inside to clean and identify. I was able to identify quite a few of the sharks teeth, simply because I love and study them, but we had to use our identification charts for all of the other amazing fossil finds. After that, the girls set up their own museum outside and made tickets for Little L and I so we could visit. They placed their very favorite fossils in a bowl full of water decorated with dandelions. You've got to love that little extra touch! I enjoyed hearing them talk about the different teeth they had on display and the sharks that they belonged to. We closed out the day with chocolate mint sharks teeth that I made using a mold my oceanography teacher had made many years earlier (and they sold at the Aurora Fossil Museum.) I think (hope) I am living up to K's ocean learning expectations so far!

On a side note - There doesn't appear to be any good fossil sites around here, although I am still looking, but I have heard from locals that gold panning is the big craze. I think the children and I may need to go up the mountains to try it!

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What a great idea! Was it ridiculously expensive to have them ship the fossil rich dirt?
3 replies · active 555 weeks ago
Surprisingly no! They were able to ship them in flat rate boxes. I ordered 2 sifters with 2 buckets and if I remember right it was around $35 so if you only bought a bucket I can't imagine it would cost very much.
wow awesome! I will have to look into this for my kiddos:)
Yes definitely! I just double checked my records and it was actually $25 for the two buckets and $15 shipping to ID but still that isn't bad and really one bucket would have been enough :)
There are fossil sites in Utah, if you are okay with driving down here! Dinosaur national monument is in Vernal, UT. Much of Utah was a lake, so there are fossils and natural history museums all over the state.
1 reply · active 555 weeks ago
oh I love that idea! We drove through Utah when we moved to Oregon and I would love to return there.
Lauren Grace's avatar

Lauren Grace · 555 weeks ago

Just wondering about the Maggie Rabbit's sweater dress...it's lovely! I'm planning on making these dolls for my girls for Christmas and would love to include some sweaters. Is there a pattern available somewhere? Thanks!
1 reply · active 555 weeks ago
Oh yes! Dresses, sweaters and I think a couple of others. I knit the girls' bunnies the dresses and hooded sweaters for Easter. They are available in Alicia's shop online or on rav :http://www.ravelry.com/designers/alicia-paulson
Oh, I just love the blog world. I was looking at pictures on the Creative Family Flickr group that I found through SouleMama. I loved your pictures and clicked over to your blog. There are pictures of the Maggie Rabbit from RosyLittleThings (another of my favorites) and pictures of the Waldorf school where a nanny charge of mine used to go. Here I am sitting in my dining room in Brazil. Connect, connect, connect. Awesome. I only just arrived here at your blog, but I intend to stay. Your pictures are so lovely.
1 reply · active 555 weeks ago
Welcome Molly!! How wonderful that you found my little space here and the connections - oh my!!! I look forward to hearing more from you. and Brazil!! I am jealous! :)
Here you could find some very nice books in Spanish about different animals of the sea, they have stories and information. http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/Colecciones/...
There is are not sharks books, but for example, this is dolphin one: http://bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/Colecciones/...
One book in Spanish about sharks: http://www.sharks3d.com/educatorsguide_spanish.pd...
1 reply · active 555 weeks ago
oh thank you! Learn about sharks and help K continue with her Spanish at the same time!
Hagerman fossil beds!! It's maybe 40 minutes from you. In fact, you need to go to Hagerman for all sorts of things -- Miracle Hot springs, Waldorf co-op....!!
3 replies · active 554 weeks ago
Waldorf co-op?!?! Please do tell me more! I feel so isolated from an sort of Waldorf community here.
There's a gal trying to start a co-op in Hagerman, a school in Hailey, and 1(+) schools forming in Boise + homeschool co-op. Plus, Hagerman fossil beds and natural springs are amazing!
Do you know how I can get a hold of the co-op? I can't seem to find any info anywhere. I am so willing to travel an hour to be around families with similar values!!!! You can e-mail me at farmergopi@yahoo.com, if you'd rather.
I know you used to live in Oregon, but I don't know where you are now? Idaho? Have you been to the John Day Fossil Beds in eastern Oregon? The painted hills are lovely and the fossils are just falling out of the cliff faces. Nice place to visit. A quick Google search shows they are about 6 hours from the Hagerman Fossil Beds, so maybe too far...

My brother-in-law lives in Pensacola, FL and is an avid fossil hunter. He scubas in the rivers around there searching for fossilized shark teeth. He has thousands and makes necklaces for kids for free after a quick education about nature and sharks and fossils. Really neat guy. I wish we lived closer (we live in Portland) so we could benefit more from his hobbies!

It's fun to follow you. I've only been reading your blog for about 2 months - my son is in the Village School in Portland and we are learning more about the Waldorf education as we go. Your blog is inspirational :)
1 reply · active 554 weeks ago
Hi Jill! Yes, we are temporarily in Idaho. 3 1/2 years left to go! :p I haven't been to any of the places you mentioned but I am thinking I need to!
Your brother-in-law sounds amazing! I would love to learn from him :)
Thank you for your kind words. We visited the village school once for an event around Christmas time. I forgot what it was called but I really enjoyed checking the school out. I am so happy for you and your son!
Hello, I love your bunny. Did you make her? My two daughters are turning three in three weeks. I would love to make them both one. If you made them did you follow a pattern. If you bought them, may I ask where? I love your blog, we will be ordering some of that fossil laden sand. Thanks!
1 reply · active 554 weeks ago
Hi Kari!
I did make her. She is the Maggie Rabbit pattern by Alicia Paulson. The pattern is available in her shop :http://aliciapaulson.com/collections/softie-patterns/products/miss-maggie-rabbit-softie-sewing-pattern she has kits, too!

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