So, recently on an online community I'm on, we discussed Charlotte Mason's expectations for pre-schoolers as far as time spent outside. In one of her discussions about this, she said
Possibilities of a Day in the Open.––I make a point, says a judicious mother, of sending my children out, weather permitting, for an hour in the winter, and two hours a day in the summer months. That is well; but it is not enough. In the first place, do not send them; if it is anyway possible, take them; for, although the children should be left much to themselves, there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air. And long hours they should be; not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October. Impossible! Says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighbouring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them. A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?
So, we're trying to get Kostya out at least for one or two hours a day if not more. I wish we could get him outside for three or four but it's hard with a 10 month old that crawls/walks everywhere and eats everything. So, we went on an adventure around our house one day.
We live in the rural area around a town of 12000 people or so. The house sits on about 2 acres, all bushy and tree-filled. We can walk openly onto our neighbors' land as well, without consequence. On this day, we went for a walk towards the road.
It's rained a lot recently. A wheelbarrow full of sand gave us a lilliputian land where the rain had washed the smaller granules away, leaving the larger pebbles on little sand towers, like the tufas at Mono Lake.
Of course, such things wouldn't interest a 3 yr old but BOATS will :) There were six boats we passed, of which only two were seaworthy. The two usable boats were my family's canoe and a speedboat we are storing for a friend. There was also an old boat my husband bought for $10 and has yet to restore. The neighbors have two old boats on rusting trailers. Then we stumbled upon this old wooden beauty.
I tried to get a picture of the deer we disturbed as it was bedded down in a thicket but it moved too quickly. It was just a little too early in the season for turkeys as well so we didn't get any pictures of those. We did, however, practice looking for rattlesnakes with a stick since we do have them in the area. Kostya spent most of the walk with a branch, tapping various rocks, saying, "Tap-tap-tap. Is there a rattlesnake here?" Pause. "Nope, no rattlesnakes here."
We ended our walk sitting on the little 7 foot "cliff" above the road guessing what kind of car was going to come around the corner before we saw it. Our next plan is to take a picnic lunch there some day when the ground is dry.
So, outdoors doesn't have to be complex. But it can be some work and some dedication to making SURE it gets done.
