School of Nature

Written by Cindy Morgan

One day at the pool some moms and I were discussing the virtues of different types of education: public school, private school, home school.

When the discussion turned to home schooling one of my friends said, “I will home school my kids. . . if all the teachers on Earth die."

 

Although not exactly playing hooky, the twins trade arithmetic problems for butterflies and lizards at Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach.

I could not have said it better myself. I love my kids, but I am thrilled to put them in the hands of trained professionals for six hours a day to teach them important skills like reading and double digit subtraction. But when our teachers went on strike a few weeks ago, I was suddenly plunged into a world I never thought I would see...the world of a home school mom. Cue the Twilight Zone theme music, please.

By the third day of our morning math and language arts program (when I couldn’t remember which way the greater than and less than arrows were supposed to point) it was clear to me that I had to step up my home school game. Solution: Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach.

If you have been following this column, you will know that my kids, despite our best parenting efforts, are no great fans of outdoor adventures. “Hike” is a dirty word and they infinitely prefer a swimming pool to a tide pool. Shipley was a brave choice. I am home school mom: Hear me roar. I think they were so excited to stop doing worksheets that they didn’t complain at all when we pulled into the dusty parking lot.

Shipley is 18 acres of open space that overflows with nature. We had barely entered the park when a pair of mallards cruised in front of us on their way to a little manmade stream. Between the ducks and the rabbit that darted by a few minutes later they were hooked—they didn’t even realize they were hiking. They also spotted squirrels in the undergrowth and we saw scores of lizards sunning themselves on overturned logs. We followed a monarch butterfly as it meandered lazily around the poppy-lined trail.

When the butterfly flew out of range, they discovered a ring of tree stumps they could hop around. I am sure a good experienced home school mom would have had some cool scavenger hunt sheet and would talk all about ecosystems and native habitats, but I was the in-over-my-head home school mom praying that they would be going back to school soon so I just stood by and watched them chatter away hopping from stump to stump. We did identify a few birds and plants but mostly we just enjoyed being outside in a spot where subtraction problems and synonyms were left far, far behind. We made our way around the trails, back to the manmade creek, and watched as hummingbirds landed to drink and finches bathed.

“Mom, did you know that when ducks blink their eyelid comes up from the bottom?” My daughter asked me as I watched the hummingbirds frolicking in the water.

“That’s interesting. Did you learn that at school?”

“No, I just saw the duck do it.”

At that moment, I felt like maybe I could survive another day of striking teachers. Maybe, just maybe I could do this home school thing again...if I had to.

What I spent: $15 on lunch after Shipley because the rookie home school mom forgot to pack one before she left home. Admission to Shipley is free.
What they learned: Mom is much better at finding cool field trip spots than she is at teaching second grade math
What I learned: To borrow a phrase...“I will home school my kids if all the teachers on Earth die.” But I will bring them back to Shipley for another dose of nature.
Shipley Nature Center, 17851 Goldenwest Street, Huntington Beach. 714-842-4772. Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. www.shipleynature.org.