It was hard to believe last Wednesday morning that the day had finally arrived. After a year of discussing, planning, website building, marketing, buying a new van, emails, phone calls, liability forms, insurance payments, billing, and bookkeeping- at last, I had a group of kids who wanted to join me for weekly full-day adventures in […]
Bear Creek Explorers Begins Again Read More »
An article I wrote was featured in Clearing, a place-based environmental education magazine. This issue focuses on student-initiated field-based scientific inquiry and I wrote an article titled, “A Natural Fit: Homeschooling and the Establishment of a Student Research Forest.” Check it out!
We kicked off our first official classes as Wild Alive Outside last week with a short course called Map, Compass, and Navigation. We lucked out with beautiful weather and two wonderful groups of students! So what did we do? After some introductions and basic guidelines, we discussed the cardinal directions and how to take a
Map, Compass and Navigation Week One Read More »
What can you discover when you give a group of teens camouflaged motion-triggered trail cameras, and tell them to go hide them in the woods? Quite a lot, as it turns out! This blog is a follow-up to a previous entry titled, Trail Cameras so if you haven’t read that one, and you want the
Wildlife Study Results Read More »
After almost accidentally importing a new invasive species onto the Bear Creek Wilderness, we had a brief review of invasive weeds, focused on shining geranium. My perspective on invasive plants is far from fixed, and although I’m clear about some things (like we should do our best not to spread them) how to deal with
Attending an ONREP Natural Resources CTE High School Educator Conference in December of last year, I learned about the possibility of getting a grant from the Diack Ecology Education Program. Inspired by a talk focused on using trail cameras to teach about wildlife, I applied for a grant for the Bear Creek Explorers and my
We recently crossed into March and memories of years past suggests we should see hints of spring through frequent downpours. But this year, winter’s power is unrelenting, and I see no such signs. We woke up this morning to a white winter wonderland, and each week seems to bring at least some snow and hail.
It’s been a minute since I wrote about our wonderful Bear Creek Explorers, and since the weeks mix up in my head once they’re past I thought I’d share what we’ve been up to by topic rather than in chronological order. First, I just have to say how grateful I am for our little group,
A Few Wednesdays in the Woods Read More »
