Naturalist Program | Talking Stick Learning Center

Nature, Writing, Literature: Winter Twigs and Germantown Flora

Posted by Paige Menton

· Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

Winter Twigs and Germantown Flora January-March 2014 Our winter workshop has included snow, research, snow, speculations, observations, and a little more snow. For the past several weeks, we enjoyed reading True Lies: 18 Tales for You to Judge by George Shannon. In each story, a character communicates something that is interpreted differently from what is literally said. Our group was very savvy in…

Nature, Writing, Literature: Freewriting and Freewalking

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, December 5th, 2013

Freewriting and Freewalking December 3, 2013 As we waited for everyone to arrive, we played a word game of creating sentences with each person adding one word at a time. After the first hilarious and inventive sentence, several young people asked, “Are you writing these down?” One person commented that we could add them to the blog. Here are the…

Nature, Writing, Literature: Words Enough to Capture

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, November 21st, 2013

Words Enough to Capture November 5 and 12, 2013 Make a list of 30 words you don’t think you can write without (the most fundamental words of any communication: the, and, of, etc.). Now write a response to this question, without using those words: What is the origin of the moon? A participant in our workshop created this prompt and…

Nature, Writing, Literature: From Leaf to Leaf

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, November 7th, 2013

From Leaf to Leaf October 22 and 29, 2013 Highlights of the past two weeks in our program included getting to know the trees of Awbury a little better. On October 22, we hiked over to the meadow near the pond and took a few minutes with tree guides to identify as many trees as we could within a defined…

Nature, Writing, Literature: One Small Square

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, October 24th, 2013

One Small Square October 15, 2013 Do squirrels remember where they bury their nuts? This seemed like an interesting question to contemplate as naturalists, and we speculated about how squirrels might retrace their steps to survive. We read what scientists have determined so far and what questions still remain in The Where, The Why, and the How. Then, approaching the…

S.T.E.A.M. Maker: Exploring the World of Makers, Artists, and Inventors

Posted by Asha Larsen

· Monday, October 14th, 2013

Exploring the World of Makers, Artists, and Inventors (October 8 and 10, 2013) Last week the Talking Stick Tuesday and Thursday 10-15 year old homeschool program went on a field trip. The weather was perfect, and after a short walk to the train station, we were on our way. Due to the careful planning of Paige, we fit so much into…

Nature, Writing, Literature: Expedition and Discovery

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, October 10th, 2013

Expedition and Discovery (October 1, 2013) I began our session by adding a card to our bulletin board of suggested books: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (the memory of this story had inspired my thinking about our adventures for the morning). This first card on the bulletin board beckoned others, in the course of the day, to…

Day Program: The Great Outdoors

Posted by Adam Thomas

· Friday, October 4th, 2013

The Great Outdoors September 26, 2013 What an amazing outdoor space we have at Awbury! Every time I come into work the arboretum seems to appear out of nowhere like an oasis in an urban desert. The Awbury Arboretum continues to do a fantastic job transforming the Garden Classroom into a safe and malleable space for learning and play. With…

Nature, Writing, and Literature: Jewelweed and Talking Trees

Posted by Paige Menton

· Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

Jewelweed and Talking Trees September 17 and 24, 2013 William Carlos Williams wrote of “the alphabet of the trees” in his poem “The Botticellean Trees,” and I began our workshop by reading an excerpt from this poem and asking everyone to write what the alphabet of the trees might be, look like, or sound like. Some responses suggested a list…

Homeschooling, Because Science: Forest Bathing

Posted by Heather Gray

· Thursday, September 19th, 2013

Forest Bathing The country that brought the world giant robots, giant moths, and little slices of raw fish on rice is now exporting another brilliant aspect of Japanese culture, Forest Bathing, also known as shinrin-yoku. There is no need to get bare or worry about public indecency charges. Forest Bathing is just the practice of being in nature, with as…

The Talking Stick Blog

Nature, Writing, Literature: Winter Twigs and Germantown Flora

Nature, Writing, Literature: Freewriting and Freewalking

Nature, Writing, Literature: Words Enough to Capture

Nature, Writing, Literature: From Leaf to Leaf

Nature, Writing, Literature: One Small Square

S.T.E.A.M. Maker: Exploring the World of Makers, Artists, and Inventors

Nature, Writing, Literature: Expedition and Discovery

Day Program: The Great Outdoors

Nature, Writing, and Literature: Jewelweed and Talking Trees

Homeschooling, Because Science: Forest Bathing

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