Opportunities

The crux of unschooling for us is finding cool opportunities and snagging them. The kids have so many various interests, and I just love the things they are teaching their old Mom. ~smile~

Today Hayden (who strongly desires to work as a Wildlife Naturalist in some capacity) and I called our local refuge. Hayden was given the opportunity to work as a volunteer doing the mundane (but necessary) tasks of pulling noxious weeds and helping with spring planting. Then the volunteer coordinator remembered that they needed a volunteer for the Bluebird nesting boxes. I agreed to drive Hayden to the refuge every 10 days as he walks his trail and checks on his 10 boxes. He will need to keep track of the Bluebirds he sees, as well as their nesting box usage. He also needs to make any repairs the boxes need. The coolest part is that he will have to sit down with the Coordinator and the head Biologist! I'm encouraging Hayden to make a list of other questions he might want to ask the Biologist about working in the refuge. ~grin~

Today we also signed up for our weekly geography class. Kyla is in the 4-6 group, the twins are in the beginners group, Linnea is in 10-12 and the older kids are starting in the advance group. This semester they are working on (Asian) Russia, Central Asia, and the "stans". Each child must have his own almanac and an atlas. I printed out their list of terms they must know before the 5th of Feb, wow... the stuff I just don't know! They are very excited!!