Free Range Kids

One of the big reasons we always wanted acreage was so the kiddos could run. I mean literally run. And jump, and skip, and swing, and dig, and sing out loud, and have quiet moments, without me having to watch them from the front porch keeping weirdos at bay with my "mama's watching" presence. My kids love to be outside in all kinds of weather, and always have.

A few years back

When we made the decision to move to Fort Collins last September, we also made the decision to home school Miles (Ella was too young, just turning 4). While this presented its own set of peaks and valleys, it really emphasized for me just how much we all learn when we get outside. We learn by seeing and doing. We learn by engaging in the poetry, the math lessons, the music, the engineering, the ecology that is all around us everyday. We also learn by calming our bodies and minds in the out of doors before setting foot into the housed learning environment. And I deeply believe we all learn by doing nothing in particular and giving ourselves downtime to process, both outside and inside our homes. 

A different perspective

Jumping rope and counting

We love spending long days at Lazy Fox with the kids. Because it was October when we bought the property, the days were warm and getting shorter. Soon enough it was cold, and even though the property has a monstrous machine shop (Ye Olde Machine Shoppe, as I like to call it) that seems so inviting and warm, the only utility is electric. With no heat, 2400 square feet of concrete and exposed rafters gets cold. We built the kids a cardboard fort, inside of which we put a space heater, an area rug, a table and chairs, some play kitchen equipment, and a "movie theater" for when it was too cold to do much else. This sufficed, but eventually the call of the farm quieted over the winter months.

Except when it snowed. There is a great sledding hill at the school across the street, and two acres covered in snow has a certain appeal to kids of all ages. And dogs. 

 

  

 











Maiden Spring and the warmer months brought us all back out to the Lazy Fox on a regular basis. No more Daddy spending hours at night there alone, working in the unheated spaces. Now we could all come, which also meant that together John and I could tackle the deconstruction of the house. (Watch for a few posts about that, I think.) And it meant that kids could run. Really run. Yippee! So our summer months have been spent with a mix of time at The Teeny Weeny Condo and running wild and free at Lazy Fox. Both Miles and Ella can truly lose themselves there for hours, whether alone, visiting with friends, or playing together.

Yes, we have a zip line

And really that's true for all of us. Which is just one reason we love it.