All Blog Posts Tagged 'Nature' (47)

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Feeding the Ducks with Daddy

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Building the Foundation for a Love of Learning.

It is very exciting time at Building Blocks Preschool.  We just rolled out our new website and sharing our story.  We have been sharing our story but not getting our…

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. – Helen Keller

Being Green.  Thinking Green.  Outdoor Green.  Garden Green.…

I am the founder and Executive Director of the Building Blocks Preschool. We are a year-round Nature based and Reggio Inspired preschool.

In 2004 my husband Joseph and I decided to invest in our children’s early childhood education and in the Huron Valley Community. Our school resides in a 100 year old farmhouse that backs up to over 5,000 acres Highland Recreation Area ( A State of MI Department of Natural Resources).

Our school believes it is critical that children have the…

Now that I have blogged my first experience as a young, struggling teacher discovering the power of children's innate curiosity, I think it would be appropriate to reflect on my childhood. Where did my lifelong insatiable curiosity about the natural world - and how children learn best - come from?

Again, I'm going to use an extract from my recent book, Through My Eyes: On becoming a teacher, to explain where my curiosity was encouraged and…

In his national best selling book “The Tipping Point” author Malcolm Gladwell discusses a few reasons that some products and ideas become huge success stories and others do not. Mr. Gladwell argues that at some point in time "an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire."  Successful products or ideas that spread over a wide demographic do so not because of the direct actions of their creators but because they happened to catch the attention of…

The Foot Whisperer & Therapeutic Gardens:  Holland & Germany…

In the Nature as Therapy group of CN&N Christine Hohlbaum notes in her Nature as Healer comment:  "It is my understanding (and my own experience) that nature has many healing properties. . . For instance, it has been scientifically proven that taking a walk in the forest can…

Sunshine and springtime were rare bedfellows where I grew up. One day when I was four, my mother took me into the forest a few blocks from home. She had heard that the “Frog Pond," as it was known, was brimming with tadpoles. Cinching the deal that fateful day were scattered, caressing rays of sun . . .

Continue reading here: …

Last year, Amy Chua managed to push a whole set of collective parenting buttons when she asserted in the Wall Street Journal, and later in her book…

Happy New Year!

I recently had the opportunity to take two very special hikes on Mount Tamalpais, the mountain near my home that is laced with trails for seemingly every mood and workout. One I took when one of my closest and oldest friends came to visit, and the other I took on…

At first glance, it seems a trophy pose, particularly as the boy in the photo…

Writer's Note:

This article references the experience of orphan children, their care environment and an observational methodology called Empowerment Photography (as it is viewed in the context of what is termed eco-psychological and nature therapy).  

Ecopsychology considers the connection between our self and the rest of nature to be essential to mental, and thus, ecological health.  In this respect, ecopsychology offers a way…

Ecopsychology:

Reconnecting with Nature

December 10, 2009

Tatiana Casey

Dept. of Psychology

 …

Ecological Identity: The Naked Truth

Ecopsychology is the coalescence of the fields of psychology and ecology in which the the connection between our Self and the rest of nature is considered to be a symbiotic expression of Truth essential to our mental, and thus, ecological health (Ammel & Manning, 2009, p.14).  When I speak of this “Truth,” I am referring to the non-duality intrinsic to the relationship that shapes the reciprocal sharing we have with our…

Swan…

Our oldest came in the kitchen while I was fixing dinner last night (turkey burgers) and saw me sporting the new CRPA (Cowpasture River Preservation Association) hat that I got in the mail today.  She giggled and said, “Do you like your new hat, Daddy?”

 Yes, indeed I do.  These busy days have me pining over the leisure hours and days we spent…

http://reconnectnature.blogspot.com/

In the Park - Santiago Creek…