I have a confession to make. Nature study may have been the thing that attracted me to Charlotte Mason’s philosophies 10 years ago, but I have recently strayed from my first love. It wasn’t intentional. I like to blame the pandemic. But the truth is, my habits changed during the pandemic (exacerbated by an ankle injury that kept me from too much walking), and I neglected my nature study habit. I have decided that this will be the year that I emerge from my “pandemic cloud” as I’ve been calling it. A year to return to better habits, to first loves. So I am inviting you on this journey with me. I want you to take a hike…with me.
Sounds like a wonderful hike. I was just reflecting on our daily walking habit in another substack that discussed our need to connect to our surroundings. We lived in a very incredibly boring suburb for15 years. It was actually at the very bottom of the list of places where I would want to live, but it is where our extended family lived. We decided it was important to be close to family.
So for 15 years I made a point of daily walking through this grey, drab neighbourhood, my children in tow, finding little niches to explore. We built rock fortresses in the water catchment area, we traipsed along the creek that separated two subdivisions running boats along it, we walked the broad, boring street to the grocery store, we got to know the small woodlot across from us like the back of our hand. The place where we lived was admittedly quite ugly in its uniformity and lack of natural beauty. Yet, when we return to it now, the children still remember their connection and wonder to this place because they had walked it thousands of times.
This experience give me hope that our conviction and dedication to a neighbourhood, no matter how plain or removed from nature, can still ground us in reality.
Sounds like a wonderful hike. I was just reflecting on our daily walking habit in another substack that discussed our need to connect to our surroundings. We lived in a very incredibly boring suburb for15 years. It was actually at the very bottom of the list of places where I would want to live, but it is where our extended family lived. We decided it was important to be close to family.
So for 15 years I made a point of daily walking through this grey, drab neighbourhood, my children in tow, finding little niches to explore. We built rock fortresses in the water catchment area, we traipsed along the creek that separated two subdivisions running boats along it, we walked the broad, boring street to the grocery store, we got to know the small woodlot across from us like the back of our hand. The place where we lived was admittedly quite ugly in its uniformity and lack of natural beauty. Yet, when we return to it now, the children still remember their connection and wonder to this place because they had walked it thousands of times.
This experience give me hope that our conviction and dedication to a neighbourhood, no matter how plain or removed from nature, can still ground us in reality.