I hope it rains sometime soon because it's very dusty on the hiking trails right now. Fifth graders can't seem to walk without a fair amount of shuffling, which exacerbates the problem. On the bright side, there are always a variety of animal footprints in the dust too (at least until some shuffling kid obliterates them...). This one is from a Raccoon. The temperature seems to be holding steady in the mid to upper seventies, and the skies are a crisp, autumn blue.

I'm trying to focus on doing things with the kids that they couldn't do at school. We've been doing a lot of community studies this week, scrambling around looking at leaves, dirt, and wild animals. I think about that when I'm at home too. The boys spend a lot of time trying to avoid doing their homework, and I can't say I blame them. Homework is almost always dull and repetitive. It would be so much better if we had the time and energy (not to mention paternal agreement) to homeschool them.
Sometimes the kids I teach at work tell me that they wish it was their real school. A girl last week waxed eloquent about how she felt a real connection with nature and the world at the end of her science camp week. I don't think the average public school fosters that sort of connection. The kids need to be out there doing things. They need to feel more connection. It's a shame that so many of the parents are spending most of their time and energy struggling to survive in an increasingly complex world. How can we raise children properly if we can't even raise ourselves? How can we pass along wisdom if we're still trying to figure things out? We just have to do the best we can.