A Lovely Drive & Hike up the River

We went for a lovely drive the other day, up through Poudre Canyon.
Summer had almost officially ended, and we thought we could catch a bit of Fall color in the higher altitude. It was a bright blue day, unusual, since we had so many fires this season. We didn't see any aspens turning, but there was color in the brush; bright red poison ivy and assorted tree shrubs.

We hadn't taken the kids on a drive in a while, because they had been *crazy* in the car lately, but we had just gotten a new (to us) van, and the kids loved it, so they were eager to go for a drive.

It was so beautiful up there~ the camera did not capture the color~ the hills were bright yellow.

Rowan was *so happy* to find this very nice rock, and they were both so happy to be there~ I could tell it was healing their bodies and minds to be there...

The boys started hopping rocks, upriver, trying to make it to a big rock they saw up ahead. They never did make it to that rock because it was too hard to get across, but they sure had a lot of fun.

On the way down the mountain, we crossed over and took Rist Canyon the rest of the way home. After a quick stop at Wendy's we came home & had lunch. That was an unusually special and happy day we had together.

~Beth

Why video games are good for you. 

 

We've entered into a scary time- video games. We know, they're bad for you. They rot th' brain. They're addictive. Not something we intentionally introduced to our kids, but, they found them anyway. I thank uncle nick- it all happened when he bought grandma and grandpa that Wii-
As homeschoolers we've learned to trust our son with his education- when he leads th' way his progress and learning is evident. He's taught us that you can learn anything from anything. Video games, it turns out, are no different. For one, it's brought our family together more. Before Donkey Kong we'd go over to grandma and grandpa's house and fynn would just kinda bounce around th' place, discontent, disruptive. He didn't really know what to do with himself. Now we all laugh and cheer and encourage and comfort him together. We're all sharing moments together, with him, and that's priceless. Also, he's learning how to self regulate. This is huge, his fits are like seizures, (in fact, i'm not sure they are not seizures) they come upon him at th' slightest provocation and can render our entire household useless for an indefinite amount of time. When th' storm passes he's really sorry, he just can't help it he says, it's like th' fuss just takes me over he says. It's really hard to watch him go through these episodes, hurting himself and others in th' process, and being unable to stop. An online video game freezing up can trigger one of these fits. So can just having a hard time with th' game. But lately we've begun to notice something unusual. When he's starting to get frustrated, instead of doing nothing and letting it escalate till he explodes, he'll stop th' game and do something else, like go on th' swing for a while, or watch a video of th' game on youtube. This gives us so much hope. He's learning, on his own, how to stop a meltdown before it happens. We've tried everythinG in th' book and some things not in th' book to get him to this point, and nothing has even hinted at working. Who knew it'd come from a video game?
So now he's trying to learn how to make his own video game. He's got it all planned out, drawn out, figured out. He's learning how to program- he says by th' time he's thirteen he'll have it made. We think that's pretty cool. He's setting long term goals for himself, and working hard towards them. He's learning. It's making him happy, and that is our ultimate goal for him, to be happy. When your child suffers so much, and you see his face light up at something, that's what you hang onto. That's what gives you hope. A smile. Find what it is your kids love to do, and do it with them. Trust them. You'll be amazed at what you find.

Metal Detectors

We've developed a unique way of schooling here. It's come about through trial and error, failure and success. We look for what works and run with it, and abandon what doesn't.  We make plans and drop them at a moments notice. Some days we just drive up and down hills, because that's the only thing we can do. Usually our kids lead the way in their learning, in the form of play. Kids are natural learners after all, and they're good at it. Our job is to introduce new concepts and material into their games and see what they pick up. Fynn is a natural born scientist in that he learns everything he possibly can about whatever he is into and runs endless experiments to discover th' truth of th' matter. 

 Well, two people gave Fynn metal detectors for Christmas, so we decided to take one of them out to our classroom and try it out. I wasn't sure if he'd be interested or not, nevertheless we packed up our gazelles (the wagons are gazelles), metal detector and a digging stick and went to th' field. 

Fynn walked around with the metal detector a little bit, but soon lost interest and we went back to playing cheetah and gazelle, which is what we usually do out here. 

 Well, one of the gazelles got bit by a cheetah and had to be taken to the gazelle hospital, which is in another field about half a mile away. So we walked. On th' way we saw something in th' snow. 

After looking at it for a bit we realized what happened. Can you tell from looking at the pictures?

What me and Fynn came up with is that a bird was eaten by a much larger bird, and it left quite a mess of blood and feathers, along with a really spectacular wing print in th' snow. And then of course a fox had to come and check out th' scene. 

But we didn't delay long, we had injured gazelles to tend to. So off through the field we went, forging our way through snow that had turned to ice. If you've never walked through eight inches of hard packed snow you don't know what you're missing. 

Finally we made it to the gazelle hospital. Fynn gave them some medicine and sat with them while they were resting. 

As they were resting i decided to grab the metal detector and see what i could find. There was a little trail nearby so i thought to walk it, thinking this would be a likely place to drop something. I walked th' trail swinging the detector in slow arcs in front of me. Fynn got curious and started following me. Soon we heard that lovely sound of detected metal. Imagine a cheap battery operated buzzer and you'll know what i'm talking about. Nevertheless Fynn was excited, he got down and started digging with his hands, even though i'd brought along a digging stick. After a minute or two he pulled up an old rusty square lid. I hadn't seen him this excited in a long time. 

By this time he was hooked and wanted to look for more things. He took th' metal detector again and started swinging it in a slow arc, like he'd seen me do. I told him i followed th' trail because people drop things and that'd be a good place to find something. He agreed and kept to it. After a while we heard that buzz again, th' one we both now love. He put down th' detector and started digging again, but found nothing. I got out th' digging stick and we took turns digging, stopping periodically to test the area with the metal detector to make sure we were in the right spot. 

We dug for nearly half an hour. Which is a long time when you're digging. At one point Fynn exclaimed, it's like we're finding a surprise, or a treasure. I started talking about going home and getting a shovel, or waiting till th' ground thawed out, but Fynn said just keep digging Papa, we're almost there. And then, and you archaeologists will know what i'm talking about, that oh so satisfying thump of th' digging stick hitting something solid, that isn't a rock. We had found metal. 

Fynn was jumping up and down with excitement. Dig it out Papa, dig it out he kept saying. What do you think it is i asked him. I don't know, dig it out and let's see. So we kept digging, but now with a target and a new ambition. To me it looked like a thick cog. We kept alternately digging and prying and realized that this thing had holes in it, and was not circular as i at first suspected. 

A few more minutes and we got th' thing out of th' ground, what ever it is. Neither one of us could figure out what it is, so we decided to keep it and do some research, ask around a bit. We'll start a box of things we find with metal detectors and save them, perhaps turn them into art work. All in all it was an exciting discovery. 

All that digging in frozen ground made us hungry, so we packed up our gazelles with gear and treasure and headed home. Back through th' snow and ice, over hills and down long streets. Lunch never tasted so good. 

Buffalo Berries

"Fynn, what do you want to do today?" 

This is how most of our days start. But he'd been planning this one for a while now. 

"I want to make a planet model all the way to Sedna."

So we said OK and geared up to go with him to Sedna, the furthest known dwarf planet, at the edge of the Kuiper belt. He'd only recently started riding a bike, and he's still using training wheels, but we've been riding farther and farther, and i had a hunch he could make this trip, though it would take us most of a day. He's seven and rarely runs out of energy. So we packed some snacks and Rowan helped air up the tires and off we went. 

Sedna is far away. Like, really far. If you made a scale model where one foot equals a million miles in space, Sedna would be about sixteen miles from the sun, which would be only the size of a bowling ball. We didn't go that far, but we did go a long way, about ten miles in all- Fynn's longest bike ride yet. 

We all had a great time riding and then stopping at every planet so Fynn could get off his bike and draw them on the ground. Here's Neptune (Full of Tunes!)  

A Praying Mantis caught Beth, and didn't want to let her go. Which was really cool because we've been watching Kung Fu Panda a lot lately. Fynn started eating soup, his most detested food, because of Kung Fu Panda. Never underestimate the power of television. We Stopped at a park for snacks, and basically just rode and rode and rode. Fynn did really well at staying on the right side of the bike trail, which took some effort and focus for him. He can concentrate when he's moving, and we can have conversations. Most of our conversations are him asking me questions he already knows the answer to, or him telling me to watch what he's doing. But when we're riding, or running, or bouncing or swinging, we talk about all kinds of things. I'll ride to Sedna and back for that.

After riding for a while we found a Silver Buffalo Berry Bush. (Sheperdia Canadensis) We were all hot and tired and this was a welcome treat. A wild berry that can't be bought in stores, you only have two weeks a year to harvest and eat them, so we take every chance we get to enjoy this delicacy. We filled up on berries and then continued on our way.

After crossing a few streets and riding through vast open spaces we made it to Sedna. We all felt a sense of accomplishment at having come this far. And since the river was right there we went for a swim to cool off and relax a bit. We played in the sand. Skipped rocks. Looked at fish and crawfish.  

On the way home we saw a beautiful bull snake. We shooed it off the trail so it wouldn't get run over. We stopped for lunch at Wendy's, and rode home through down town. Down town is not exactly a kid friendly place to ride, and we're really proud of how well Fynn did getting through there. We all got sunburnt and exhausted. We drank a lot of tea. We did a lot of math. We talked about bugs and snakes and floods and buffalo. The kids ate buffalo berries for the rest of the day and then Fynn got on his computer and typed in "how fast can buffalo run".  Apparently they can run forty miles an hour. We watched a few videos of buffalo running and then the kids turned into buffalo and ran around the yard until it was dark. It was a good day.

We've always been interested in Native America. My dad, Fynn's grandpa, is Native American, though Fynn's never met him and I haven't seen him since I was two. Fynn and Rowan have not yet shown much interest though. But now, because of these berries, they've become fascinated with the buffalo, and that can only lead to Native America.The next morning we watched videos of buffalo on youtube and talked about how the buffalo used to cover this area. About how a lady who lived here a hundred years ago said it took a herd eight hours to pass her house, and how some of the settlers killed almost all of them to starve out the indians. About how the indians that lived around here lived with and loved the buffalo, and how they took care of each other. We talked about all this while eating buffalo berries.

We make planet models everyday, who'da thunk we'd learn so much on this trip. What's that old saying about doing the same thing and expecting different results? We must be crazy.

Flood Chasers

Flood Chasers

flood 6

Well, we went out to make our usual five mile long solar system model when something unexpected happened- our route was blocked by floodwater.

 Fynn hopped up on the bike and we forded one flood after another as they got deeper and deeper, with the water eventually rising above the bicycle's hubs. By this time we had mustered up a healthy fear of flooding. We came to the area pictured in the photo above (flood 6) and got really scared. I kept reassuring him that we were not going to ride through that, but we did have to turn around and ride back. He was on the verge of panic and clutched me tightly as we rode back to dry land, fording the flooded areas, which he named flood 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. He was now completely terrified of floods, and also totally obsessed with them. It should not surprise me, it's what Fynn does, he becomes obsessed with anything that scares him. He talks about it, learns about it, makes models of it. And somehow this helps him get over his fears, and, next to laughter, it's one of his best motives for learning.

As we rode home, we talked about flooding. He told me he was sorry for fussing, that he just got scared he was gonna get washed away. He asked me why the bike trail flooded, and we talked about rivers, and flood plains. We talked about erosion, and saw areas where the trail or riverbank had collapsed. We talked about storms, and what happens to the animals that live in these flooded areas. I told him what it was like growing up in east Texas and living through hurricanes and floods, and how one time, after a big flood, i had seen a house stuck way up in a tree. He loved that story.

As soon as we got home he got on his computer and looked up floods. He spent the next couple of hours looking at pictures and videos of them. Then he filled our pool with dirt and water to make his own flood. Later on he came up to me and said "Ok Papa, we're flood chasers, so can we go look for some more floods?" I said sure, so we gathered up Rowan and we headed off to another section of river known for flooding. Fynn was careful not to let Rowan get too close to the water, as he is the kind of kid who will dive right in. It was nice having an extra person to watch out for him. We told everyone we saw we were flood chasers. Some of them looked at us as though we'd said the moon was a great piece of cheese and we were going to eat it. But we were in awe of the power of water, we didn't care what they thought. We watched massive pieces of driftwood floating down the river, saw dams made of all kinds of debris. Stood on a bridge watching the water rush below us. Fynn said it looked like we were on a boat. "How fast are we going" he asked. Perhaps wisely, neither of the kids would even stick a toe in the water.

A couple of days later we went back to the first flood that had so captured Fynn's imagination. We had to pass a sign warning of the flooded trail, and Fynn made me read it to him over and over, then had me take his and Rowan's picture standing by it. By this time the water had gone down quite a bit. Floods 1-5 were not there anymore, only flood 6, the big scary one. But now we were on foot, and it was crossable. I stepped into the water to show the kids that it wasn't too deep and Fynn started to panic again. I told him it was safe, and walked out to the middle and then back to show him. Then Rowan wanted to walk through it too, so I convinced Fynn to climb on my back and together the three of us walked through the flood safely to the other side.

 On the way back Fynn let me put him down in the middle and he walked through the water by himself. He was so proud of himself for doing something he was scared of. He stopped every person we saw on the trail and told them that he had walked through the flood and asked them if they were going to walk through the flood too. He was hopping up and down and flapping his arms and could barely speak through his excitement. We caught a toad and let it go. Fynn loved the idea of toads being born as tadpoles in the water. When we got home he was so excited about walking through the flood that he did something that we thought he might never do. I'm going to respect his privacy on this one but let me just say that it is a big deal. This led to other smaller breakthroughs for him, like flushing the toilet, which used to scare him, and blowing his nose, which also scared him. It's amazing to watch how conquering one fear flooded him with the courage to face his other fears. It is said that bravery is not the lack of fear but rather the ability to face your fears head on. If this is so Fynn is the bravest person I know. 

The next day Beth, Fynn, and Rowan got out their science bucket and made a model town to flood. The power of nature had instilled fear and awe, as it should. We learned about geology, meteorology, earth science, physics and density, climatology and topography, maths relating to speed and distance. We read all the flood warning signs and learned some new words. We covered history, talking about past floods both here where we live and in the area i grew up in. It was a flood of knowledge. 

As the waters receded we were left with places at once both familiar and strange. Old, yet new. We are flood chasers. We chased this flood, and it changed us. It told us a story, offered insight, into ourselves, and the ways of nature. We are like the land, the same, yet different. Old things have been washed away, new ones washed in. Old places to explore, new things to discover. So go, find your passions, and your fears, be brave, and chase them. You may be surprised at what you discover.

Flood!