Another school day, another day at a State Park. Our home school scheduled a river swim today and it was awesome!

We have always loved Henry Cowell State Park. It’s in Felton and simply gorgeous. We typically go up for nature walks and to look for banana slugs. But today we went with friends to simply have a good time.

A Little Positive Reinforcement
I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to enjoy nature on a great sunny day knowing tons of other kids are stuck in a classroom. The satisfaction doesn’t come from knowing the other kids are missing out, but rather from getting the positive reinforcement that what I am doing for my kid is actually making her so incredibly happy.

The river was perfect, the temperature warm and the beach large and accommodating. The parents were on the bank (and some in the water) as the kids explored, swam and fell from a great swing that dumped them into the water.

Fishing of a Different Sort
I am so grateful that I am able to manage my workload in a way that I can shift things around to attend these events. Sure, I checked email, but it was quietly and I don’t think Katie ever noticed. I also helped catch rock fish, leaf fish, twig fish and root fish with the little kids who were trying to catch all the fish they could (um get it? They weren’t real fish!).

We came home, collapsed and focused on just getting some reading done for the school work portion of our day. We can’t wait to go back.

Could a Little Innovation Save our Parks (and Schools)?!?
Now, if we could just figure out a way to leverage the State Parks and our schools, maybe we wouldn’t need to cut budgets and close the parks. The parks seem like the perfect classroom to me!