Usually the Same, But Always Different

I take a “shoot a bunch now, purge later” approach to picture taking on our walks. 90% of these probably need purged.

When we take our neighborhood walks, we usually walk the same path. You’d think after a year and a half, it’d get boring, but the kids and I don’t mind it. We’ve learned that if we stay alert, we’re likely to find something new or changed from the last walk.

Maybe it’s an unknown birdsong we hear, a wildflower that’s arrived with a change in the temperature, or realizing that weird-looking squirrel in a neighbor’s yard is, in fact, a citrus rat (EEEK!).

It’s discovering a bird we’ve never seen before, finding Sheddy the Raccoon’s treetop hangout, or finding a bunny burrow and seeing where the grass has been munched down by them.

It’s the creativity our walks lead to, like when we realize how many different birds we see in our neighborhood, which leads to us imagining all the birds as various cliques, groups, and staff at “Bird High School”, or the children’s story we made up about a lonely gallinule celebrating its birthday and the ducks who end up joining him.

This isn’t to say our walks are these beautiful, idyllic moments of being one with nature, steeped in educational growth and intellectual discourse. There’s talk about Minecraft, Netflix shows, Roblox, and world events. There’s arguments, complaints about the weather, dropped breakfasts, ant bites, etc. You know, regular life, typical kid stuff. But within all of that are these great moments of noticing, of discovery, and of creativity. It's taking note of the little things about our surroundings and each other.

And it might be my favorite part of our homeschool days.