A Mixture of Learning Experiences

Over the last couple of days, we have engaged in a variety of educational experiences including book learning, hands-on learning, and a field trip.   I have been spending some time teaching my 10 yr. old son some new techniques in spelling and listening to my 8yr. old begin a biography about Rachel Carson, an environmenalist.  In addition, the girls were ecstatic about cutting and coloring the paper dolls that went along with the chapter about the Byzantine Empire.

Justinian and Theodora Paper Dolls

Masha Allah,  the older three children and I participated in a watershed class at Pocahontas State Park where they learned about current environmental problems and solutions.    The instructor used a model of a town(enviroscape)  with a lake to demonstrate how the daily activities of people, businesses, and farms affect the health of its lake in addition to the health and economy of the town itself.

Enviroscape

After the indoor portion of the watershed class, we all hiked down to Beaver Lake from the nature center,  followed the path that the water would take downhill, and noticed what it might pick up along the way.

Tracking the water

After a marsh/wetlands game, we finally make it down to the lake.  Here, we found that the water had taken much soil and debris with it along the way. Therefore,  succession or eutrophication due to erosion has been filling up the lake.

Lake Succession

So far, I have enjoyed the beginning of this week with the children, alhamdulillah.  It has had a nice balance between at home activities and out of the house activities.  Also, I feel that the blend in presentations has been beneficial by meeting a wide range of learning styles.

Autumn at Lake Anna State Park

 

Fall Foliage at Lake Anna State Park

 

The weather was a bit overcast and chilly, but quickly became sunny and enjoyable as we journeyed to Lake Anna State Park to explore this water-oriented state park for the first time.  We were delighted to have visited in the autumn as it is  very popular with those who love water sports  in the summer.  So, for us the park was almost deserted and we were able to enjoy ourselves with much privacy, alhamdulillah.

Deserted beach

 So, they were able to wade and frolic in the water and enjoy themselves as the water temperature was still warm enough, alhamdulillah.

It was a good thing that I had brought a few extra clothes along for them to change into because they got soaked, masha Allah.

Washing Up

One of the highlights of the trip for me was spotting a bald eagle.  This was the first time most of us had seen one before in its natural habitat.  

Bald Eagle

Also, I found watching the waves as they came ashore from the wake of a motor boat to  be  a very peaceful and reassuring sight as well as sound, masha Allah.

Waves upon the shore

My four year old found the “pink” grass dancing in the wind very intriguing.

Pink grass

This state park is just fantastic this time of year especially if you like water oriented activities less the crowds.  When I asked my husband where all the people were, he reminded me that summer was over and it now is football season!

Fun, Sun, and Lots of Learning

Crossing the Rappahanock River entering the Northern Neck

This past week we traveled to the Northern Neck of Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay to visit family and explore the area.   I grew up across the Rappahanock River in the Middle Peninsula, but frequently traveled all over that region in my younger years.   

We make the yearly trek at the same time as  the Junior Ranger camp at Belle Isle State Park.  This year the theme was “Junior Rangers All Wet.”   Our three oldest children studied about water and the Chesapeake Bay watershed through arts and crafts, games, functional projects, and other hands-on learning activities, masha Allah. 

Old sink oyster reef

Fish printing

Seining

 They caught some minnows, jellyfish, a silverback, and a baby bluefish. 

Learning the proper way to hold a crab

While the older children were at camp in the morning, the little ones and I also did some exploring, masha Allah.   There aren’t any public beaches in the area except for the state park, but we were able to go beach-combing on a neighbor’s property.  They had their own little nature camp that morning. 

 

 

In addition to the camp, we went birding on kayak and canoe and spotted several species of birds in the marshes and coves that we had never seen before, subhannallah!

Green Heron (juvenile)

The boys also went out fishing and were very successful coming back with four Spanish Mackerel and one Bluefish which we ate for dinner, alhamdulillah.

Reeling in a Bluefish

It was lovely time spending time with family and at the same time learning about the Northern Neck.  Even being from the area, I rediscovered as well as learned many new things on this trip, alhamdulillah. 

What a magnificent sunset on the last night of the trip, subhannallah!  Insha Allah, until next year.

Be sure to check out more pictures of the trip here.

Up the Creek with an Inflatable Dinghy

Up until this past weekend only my husband along with the three older children were able to go boating, but when the inflatable dinghy was finally inflated and put to the test, we were ALL able to float in the water at Bear Creek Lake State Park,alhamdulillah!

Even though I grew up on the water, I had never learned to row a boat.  Therefore, I had to get acclimated pretty quickly how to get this thing moving so some of us could follow the rest of the family in the canoe, insha Allah.  It wasn’t so difficult, but our eighteen month old baby, Siddiqah ,wasn’t very contented for long.  My husband ended up tying a rope to us and pulling us along so I could tend to her in the boat, masha Allah.

Towed

How different the perspective was from the water than from the shore, masha Allah.

Bear Creek Lake

Our quest for identifying unusual sightings continues, as we discovered these huge egg masses all over this 40 acre lake, insha Allah.

Unidentified egg mass

The next day we were so excited to find a way for all of us to be able to paddle down the creek, we traveled to Pocahontas State Park, masha Allah.  Here we spotted a red shouldered hawk for the first time ever, alhamdulillah!  We frequently find feathers from these hawks, but had never actually seen one in real life.

Red Shouldered Hawk

Click here to view more of our photos from these two trips to the state parks, insha Allah.