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Field Trip :: Foraging

February 21, 2015 | Leave a Comment

homeschooling field trip ideas

At the end of an old, dusty, country road that Chilli often rides along is a beauty of a mulberry tree. Gnarled and heavy with twisted branches that reach down to the grassy meadow below, it’s the kind of tree you only have to stand under for a moment to hear the echo of the many years of laughter that have rung through the ears of this masterpiece of nature. As children have climbed her limbs, reached for her fruits and no doubt shed tears as they fell from her leafy bower trying to reach that plump looking mulberry that was just*over*there, you know you are sharing in the bounty of a harvest and wild foraging legend that spans many, many years.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

Our day of foraging started out with mulberries from this little beauty. I must say that mulberries in Tasmania are definitely not as plump, elongated or sweet as the ones I grew up on and stained many a school uniform with, in summer on the mainland. These are more like a mulberry crossed with a blackberry. Even the leaf structure and tree shape is different to mainland mulberries, but mulberries they definitely are.

homeschooling field trip ideas

Following our mulberry picking, we journeyed to one of our favourite local beaches to pick blackberries. We’ve been a bit behind in our blackberrying this season and so we thought we’d better get a start on it, even if only for a small basket full that was nibbled for snacks over the following few days.

homeschooling field trip ideas

As we were leaving our blackberrying, we were delighted to find a whole bank of samphire! We’ve been wanting to try samphire for a while now ever since we saw it on a local blog and then read about it in our wild foods book. We had searched a few times for it, but to no avail. Needless to say we were elated to find such a supply of it and immediately set about harvesting. I think we’ll cook our samphire with lemon and olive oil  alongside some smoked fish. Although the way it is done on Hugo & Elsa looks good as well.

homeschooling field trip ideas

Onto another stop and we collected driftwood in tiny, thin lengths so as we can create a fish skeleton on a watercolour painting we recently did. We’ve been reading about the legend of Mousehole in England and immersing in all things seaside, fish and summer at the moment. Chilli and Papa are planning a fishing expedition to catch our dinner one evening when they can figure out where they’d like to put the canoe in. Papa is very particular about these things! Amazingly, Chilli found some fish bones still intact on the beach as we fossicked for driftwood ‘bones’ so she decided to use the bones to match up the sizes of driftwood she’d need.

homeschooling field trip ideas

Our last item on the foraging list for our Field Trip was some ochre rocks. We’ll be doing some Aboriginal style paintings in a few weeks and I thought we’d do a background wash with ochre paint. Chilli and Marlin had fun testing the colours of the rocks on a flat, light coloured boulder where we were gathering and Chilli was interested that the colour of the rock didn’t always reflect so identically in the colour it drew out with.

homeschooling field trip ideas

It was so lovely to visit both these beaches together again. One was right by the house we lived in when Marlin was born and the other by the house we lived in for a short time when Marlin was a baby. In the Winter when we lived by the second beach, I would walk most days with Chilli along the beach, Marlin snuggled up in the sling as he drifted off to sleep and slumbered as we explored that shoreline. Other days I would sit in a camp chair on the sand, rugged up in layers and bundled under the ‘Nanna Blanket’ my Mum had knitted Marlin when he was born. Chilli would spend the hours lost in her own imaginative world playing amongst the treasure filled shoreline of that beautiful beach. I wonder if he’ll always feel a connection to this area where he spent so many of his babyhood days nestled into a cosy nest while the breezes of the bay whispered in his ears and caressed his newborn cheek. I know I’ll always hold this place special in my heart for that very reason, it sounds like such an idyllic way to spend those precious newborn days, and I have to say it honestly was – I always feel extremely blessed for that gorgeous opportunity of immersing so deeply in baby land.

homeschooling field trip ideas

Late Summer is a time that I identify so strongly with foraging. The wild holds so many treasures for us, but particularly at this time of year there seems to be such an abundance. Papa gifted me a book for Christmas by one of my favourite authors – The Thrifty Forager. It’s a very inspiring read indeed. What are your favourite things to forage for?

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: earthschooling, foraging, foraging tasmania, homeschooling field trip ideas, wild food plants of australia

Field Trip :: Japanese Culture

February 7, 2015 | 3 Comments

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

One of my favourite aspects of Waldorf Education and something I think can be so deeply and wholly honoured in homeschooling, is the immersion in a particular topic. As homeschoolers, we have the benefit to permeate our ‘immersion’ topics into so many aspects of not only our schooling, but our everyday and family life.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

The last story of our first Grade 1 block (which was of course Form Drawing) was from the Earthschooling curriculum – ‘Moon Flower’. We used this story for bringing the form of a circle to life and the opportunity presented amongst the theme of not only this story, but also the continual story of a family’s journey that carries us through our year – to immerse in the Japanese culture. The story of Moonbeam is a traditional Japanese Tale. It is a gentle, sweet and inspiring story.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

I am using a ‘base’ or ‘foundational’ story through the year of a family that is on a journey together. Through this journey, many opportunities and experiences arise that ‘meet’ the little girl ‘Anna’ in our ‘family’ with her lessons for the year. This ‘base’ story idea comes from the Waldorf Essentials curriculum and I also think it is mentioned in Eric Fairman’s Grade guide. As we approached the tale of Moonbeam, our ‘family’ met a Japanese Lady. The children enjoyed talking to her about the culture, what foods she liked and used to cook with her mother as a child, as well as the lady’s name and the meaning/origin of her name. ‘Sakura’,  the lady our ‘family’ ‘met’, told the ‘family’ the story of Moonbeam, as it was one of her favourite stories when she was younger.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

Following on from this part of our Form Drawing for circles, we concluded this first Grade 1 block with what I like to call an ‘immersion’ – really diving deeply into a topic or theme and having it permeate as much of our daily/family life as is possible. On Saturday morning, Chilli and I went shopping together – just a Mumma and Daughter shopping adventure. We purchased the ingredients we needed to cook a special ‘Japanese Feast’. That afternoon we set about preparing the foods we needed to bring together the Japanese Fare that Sakura had mentioned were her favourite meals when she was younger. It was nice that Sakura had reminisced about cooking these dishes with her mother when she was younger – as Chilli and I were now cooking them together! During our cooking and dining time, we listened to a beautiful collection of Traditional Japanese Music. Amidst our cooking and preparing, Chilli also relished in the opportunity to get out her cuisenaire rods to work out certain measurements along the way.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

The dishes we made were; Yudofu, Tempura with sweet rice, Anko to put into Dorayaki for dessert and then of course Green Tea. We found a really wonderful Japanese Cooking site with handy videos and clear instructions. The green tea was actually a gift from a Japanese friend who visited and stayed with us last year. It was in a really sweet little metal tin with the gorgeous Japanese paper labels and fancy Japanese writing that many special Japanese products have. I often think that certain Japanese products look so pretty the way they are presented. Whenever we receive a gift from our Japanese friend, it comes wrapped in the most gorgeous natural packaging and then gift wrapped by the store it was purchased in. Everything is mindful and beautiful.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

Chilli delighted in going about setting up her very own ‘Japanese Restaurant’ to serve Daddy and Marlin in for dinner that evening. We set the table together, made a menu board and then Chilli put on her ballet ‘Character Shoes’ as her ‘high heels’ because “All waitress’ in restaurants always have high heels on Mummy!” We chose our Japanese names for the evening (we actually just used the two lady’s names from the Japanese Cooking 101 videos!), lit the candle, and invited our guests to dine. Our guests came dressed very well to the restaurant as well!

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

The next day we ventured out to our favourite Tea House! (Any excuse – I know!) This time there was guidelines around what we could order – we were there for tea, and this in my opinion is the best place in Hobart to go for tea. The tea menu is extensive without being exhausting. Mathew and Shae know their tea – that’s for sure and they’ve recently put together a retail range of teas, so we were eager to try some of these. Between us we selected 4 of their different teas, and conveniently Shae had made a Matcha Cashew Cream Cake for the sweets that day – so of course we had to try a piece of that! It was all delicious.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

Following on from our tea adventure, we went on to another of our favourite Hobart destinations – The Japanese Gardens in the Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens. At any time of year this space within the Botanical Gardens is breathtaking, and this Summertime trip was no exception.

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

homeschooling field trip ideas

 

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: earthschooling, hobart homeschooling, homeschooling field trip ideas, waldorf grade 1, waldorf homeschooling

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about us 2

In a little cottage on the side of a hill in Southern Tasmania is where the song of this story is sung. Once a place where sheep grazed, this home is now a retreat for pademelons, bandicoots, echidnas, and our family. Originally from the East Coast of New South Wales we traded hectic highways for a calmer, more meaningful pace of life.
I'm Elke and together with my husband Graham - we strive to live conscious, grounded and joyful lives as we share the privilege of walking along a parenting path with our two precious children; Chilli and Marlin.

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