Learning to ride a bike was not exactly a fun experience for me. I'm physically awkward and uncoordinated, and the whole balance thing does not come easily to me, which is a bit of a problem when you're trying to ride around on 1" wide wheels. I can still picture the parking lot where my…
Last week I shared a little bit about my experiences interacting with nature as a child and how those -- and Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods -- have affected my parenting philosophies. Then, in this weekend's newsletter, I shared some of the strategies we use to encourage outside play (sign up here to…
As I mentioned in this week's Weekly Reads post, I'm in the middle of re-reading one of my all-time favorite books, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. I was fortunate enough to attend an authentic Montessori school for 13 years (from the time I was two-and-a-half until I graduated 8th grade), and that…
There are a lot of things I love about living in the boonies -- the gorgeous views, the wide open space for the girls to run and play, and the quiet and solitude, to name a few. However, there are also some downsides, and one of those is that our girls miss out on some…
Wow, y'all had some creative and frugal ideas for organizing outdoor toys, and I wanted to highlight a few of those here: 1. Hanging milk crates. Just recently got so tired of toys all over my backyard that I found three old milk crates and hung them on the fence. It cost be about $6.00.…
How do you organize your outdoor toys? Do you have a designated toy storage area? Do you limit the number of outdoor toys your kids have? Do you store sports equipment separately from everyday toys? What's your biggest challenge when it comes to storing outdoor toys? What's your best piece of advice for others trying…