Family Nature Hikes

Morning Verse

Oh what a joy is the morning sun

Shining with love now the night is gone --

See how it gleams, feel the earth grow warm,

Flowers are springing to greet the morn.

Birds are singing in feathered flight,

Beasts they are moving with all their might,

And in my heart do I truly know

Nature and I by sun's grace must grow.

~ Anon.

One of the biggest influences in waldorf education is nature. It surrounds and engulfs us in its beauty, in its rhythms. When a baby is cranky, a wise grandmother will tell her daughter to take the baby out for a walk. There is something healing...something freeing when out in nature's glory.

As waldorf inspired homeschoolers, we have the freedoms to school anywhere we are able. For us, in the temperate climate of southern California, this means we are often found outside. My husband comes from a very active family and he recently has been taking the girls on weekly hikes through the canyons by our home while I get some alone time. He kept encouraging me to go, too, but I was feeling overwhelmed with all the housekeeping duties that have gone neglected in the name of education! This weekend, I went. And once again, I realized WHY it is so important for all of us, even those in colder climates, to get outside and breathe in that glorious beauty.


We found a spot off a canyon road and headed into the Angeles National Forest to hike to a small waterfall that trickles into our canyon.

Ever notice how children come alive when they are allowed to explore out in nature? It's like an instinct that is fulfilled when they are allowed to just *be*...


Here are some shots of our time spent in nature this weekend...


We reached the waterfall and took in the beauty...


Daddy wanted to continue up, but it wrapped around a narrow rocky pathway, falling off to the boulders below. I figured it was too steep for our youngins, especially without climbing helmets and proper shoes...


My honey...


The canyon walls rise from the earth's bed many feet above. It is difficult to truly capture it on film with the lens I had on my camera...


Gettin' dirty :)


Gorgeous tree roots gnarl around boulders as the trees grow sideways from the canyon walls. This one is so smooth and a perfect railing to grab onto while scaling the wet rocks in the stream. Nature provides.

More exposed roots - like majestic Grandfather Oak here...

I never had the girls 2nd grade photos taken this year, so I took these to be the ones to remember Grade 2...

Something in this meadow was so spiritual. You could just feel it was sacred ground. Certainly the natives occupied this land and it left me wondering what happened here all those years ago...

Ah...this one my daughter spotted, telling me, "Look at that dragon there, Mommy!" We finished reading "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" and one of their very favorite books is "The Dragon Boy" so dragons are certainly on their mind as we approach the Chinese New Year!

Then, imagine my surprise when we stumbled upon this old ancient hearth sitting in what is now a camping area of the National Forest! You can see the foundation of this small building, but the ageless acid washed stone still stands the test of time...

Here Charley is, pretending to be a lion guarding the hearth!

Emergency vehicles rode in, responding to reports of an injury near the waterfall. Mom feeling solid about not scaling that wall with the girls, after all...

Heading back to the car...I can't wait to find out where we're going next weekend! Happy exploring to you all!

Chumash Field Trip

Well, I'm hoping to come out of a long blogging hiatus to get caught up on our schooling adventures. This post is mainly pictures and happened in Sept to tie in our review of form drawing and math using Chumash stories as the vehicle.

I organized a field trip for our local homeschooling group and we went to an amazing museum in Thousand Oaks called the Chumash Indian Museum.


Nestled among the mountain ranges on the largest oak grove park (432 acres) in the area, we were lucky enough to have a special tour arranged where we would hike through the groves to view a 10,000 year old birthing cave to see the remaining pictographs! It was awesome!

We were met by our guide, Graywolf, and the tour began.

We got to view recreations of Aps (Chumash housing).

We got to hear Chumash legends and lore. We walked among the towering oaks and saw an incredible beehive in this giant oak.

We learned about vegetation and what the plants were used for, like "coyboy cologne" which is a sage that we rubbed on our faces and necks to keep the biting flies away! And here, Graywolf showed us where the women would come to grind acorns, the staple of the Chumash diet.

Then we continued on our 1.5 mile hike to the birthing cave.

Graywolf pointed out an outcropping with a pictograph. Can you spot it in the picture below, just above & to the left of his head (our left, his right)?

The birthing cave is closed to the general public because they don't want any damage to it, but we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit this cave that has been used for birthing for 10,000 years!

While a wooden stair case has been built, can you imagine hiking 1.5 miles while in labor and then ascending this climb without the stair case to reach the cave? These women were absolutely amazing!

Inside the cave, we got to see the remaining pictographs. Not many left, but they are ancient. It was worth every step to get here!

And a shot of Charley just before we left the cave. We lingered so I could get a good shot. The cave was open on three sides and surrounded by lush trees and the sounds of wildlife. It was so very serene and powerful. We were told they laid out skins and furs for comfort.

On our way back to the museum grounds, I had to take this shot where the trees join to make an arch.

At the museum, Graywolf gave us a lovely presentation of tools and uses of herbs and weapons. This is a model of a chumah woman. They wore very little clothing due to the temperate weather on the coast.

Graywolf has worked on and been in several movies and tv productions. One of the films he worked on (costume dept) was "Pirates of the Caribbean" with Johnny Depp. In his hands, he is holding the hair piece that he made for Captain Jack Sparrow to wear. It is actually a Chumash hair pin and you are supposed to wear two of them criss crossed at the top of the head. Johnny Depp didn't know what to do with it, so he put it on the side of his head! Graywolf loved it and that became a trademark of Captain Jack!

He took time to pose with the twins.

And here you can see how the hair pins are actually supposed to be used!

The Chumash people were very different from the other Native American tribes - in how they looked, dressed, and developed. Life on the coast was easy. They found everything they needed from nature and did not have to migrate to find food sources. They were incredibly peaceful - in fact there is no word in their language for "war". They loved to play games and had time to develop many ingenius tools and activities. They were the first tribe to develop interchangeable arrows, so they could use the same shaft, but different points when hunting - a large arrow for a large deer or a tiny arrow to hunt a bird or rabbit. They used whale bones as the doorway arches for their homes and even invented the sweathouse (steam room) with a large fire and smoke and then would rush out and cool off in the ocean. Their beds were built off the floor and they were master weavers. The word Chumash means shell money, for they specialized in making shell money and beautiful soap stone pots. They built the first tomol (canoe) so that they could sail from the mainland to the Channel Islands.

Here are some pictures of the exhibits in this small, but high quality museum.

Real Walnut Shell Dice (like what we made, but beautiful with the abalone shells as decorations).

We spent a whole day on this field trip and filled up with admiration and love for this amazing tribe of Native American Indians. The girls were thrilled when they spotted this design, which is one they painted on their fake canvas' earlier in the month!

The people who run the museum (Alfred, esp) are wonderful and I would highly recommend a trip to visit, if you are local. There is a nature hike on the weekends. Call for details, which can be found here. And there is a wonderful book put out by the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum called, The Chumash People. It is a great hands on resource for unit study.