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21 September 2019 Other ways to enjoy Dartmoor - I've visited the moors with my children (and other's people children), I've walked and ran so now to horseback. The experience is so different, for a start the perspective - you can see further and wider than on foot! And you have a connection with you partner, in this case Marley, I go where he goes, we feel it together, breathing together, trip on a slippy path together - it's magical and I have a lovely morning ride.
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1 October 2019 Part of my John Muir Journey involved volunteering, and so I helped at the Health and Wellbeing Walk at Dart Valley Woods with DNPA and their partners Devon Recovery Learning Community Course. The day was about focusing on the forest, immersing ourselves and then responding. We did some walking, forest bathing practice (Shinrin Yoku) and some Chi Gong exercises. We let the forest guide us and had a fully restorative and relaxing morning, despite the driving rain!
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22 October 2019 Autumn is here so we go for a walk to take in all the colour changes, and we also have a play by the lake - nothing beats being out in the fresh air, connecting with each other and nature, we even squeeze in an ice cream.
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1 November 2019 I've had a busy week, work is manic, I haven't exercised as much as I would like to so what can I do? - get out at lunchtime :o) I'm lucky I work in such a beautiful setting, but no matter where you are I bet you'll see a bird, a bee or butterfly, dog walkers - just 10 minutes fresh air and connecting to the outside can improve wellbeing.
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31st October. When we lived on the edge of Walkmill we always explored it by going "down the pit road" past the Rugby club. Indeed that was what it was known to us as.." the pit road". When we found out the community woodland had been put up for sale and everyone was calling it "Walkmill Community Woodland " it all sounded a bit alien at first! We will do some discovering in the weeks to come about Walkmill's history as an open cast mine. Anyway, now we live a little distance away and usually drive there so we park in the car park and approach it from a different direction. On this occasion though we were dropping Rosie at our good friend Sue's house in Moresby for her sewing lessons. When I said we were off down the pit road Sue said she would join us, so we all went together (as in my poem ...see next post!) The first signs of ice were found and duly poked with a stick. Winter is coming.
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igcse
Sunshine Annie 13 NovFirst day of IGCSE !
On Friday the 19th of October Wessex Home Education Group Gathered inside at UWNR warmed by the wood-burner to start our work on an Environmental Management IGCSE.We had all purchased a coursebook and had briefed ourselves on chapter one : Rocks and Minerals And Their Exploitation .
Johnathan had prepared a power point and fond some news articles for us to look at .
We learned about :
The characteristics of different rocks , the rock cycle, and how rocks are formed.
Surface and subsurface mining .
The reasons for extracting rocks and minerals.
The impacts of mining .
Methods of landscape restoration.
How rocks and minerals can be used sustainably.
We then went out around the reserve and collected rock samples and discovered that the reserve is mainly made of metamorphic rocks
We will be continuing these sessions every few weeks over the winter until we have finished all Nine sections.
This will help towards completing our John Muir Award
IGCSE chapter two …
We returned to the reserve last Friday to continue with our environmental management IGCSE.The chapter that we looked at this week was all about Energy and the environment. We had all read through the chapter beforehand and, similar to last month, Jonathan took us through what we needed to know .
We learned about :
the names of fossil fuels and how they are formed
renewable and non-renewable energy sources
about how different energy sources are use to make electricity
the environmental , economic and social consequences of different energy sources
different demands for energy
how energy sources can be managed efficiently
current research into possible new energy sources
the impact of oil pollution
how the impacts of oil spills can be minimised
But this week we also did two experiments to go with the topic .
the first experiment was all about seeing the benefits of insulation , we had three jars , the first was just a normal glass , the second had a piece of paper wrapped around it and the third was wrapped in a sock .
We filled them with boiling water and took the temperature every five minuets for an hour.
The second experiment was all about cleaning up an oil spillage , we poured a couple of table spoons of vegetable oil in a tub of water and tried many different methods used to clean up a real spillage, all in all , none of them were successful.
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We went to Polbeth and West Calder Community Garden on a chilly November afternoon. We discussed what would make a good shelter, what we could not use (don't break off branches and don't destroy existing shelters). Work as a team, listen and communicate.
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When John Muir meets the shale experts, amazing things happen! Today we learned how to tell the age of the trees in the Polbeth and West Calder Community Garden. You don't just cut them down and count the rings. Children were amazed to discover that one of the oldest trees is over 120 years old! We also learned that a lot of the community garden trees were planted at the same time. AND....if you just left the land alone and did nothing, it would all turn back into woodland because that is what it wants to do. Fascinating!
