Little Acorn Learning ~Celebrating the Seasons with Children
We are all so proud of her and it warms my heart when I see one of my children discover a passion of theirs like Keira's new found love for music. When I was young, I would spend hours upon hours writing and creating art... its what I have always loved to do and I see the same excitement in Keira when she plays. 
xoxo
I was born in Manhattan and lived in Yonkers, NY until fourth grade. Then my mom and step-father moved us to Westchester, NY until they purchased their first house in Danbury, Connecticut right before I entered middle school. I'll always be a New Yorker at heart (and by the way I talk) but Danbury is the place where I really grew up. The rough type of growing up in small but tough city depending on who you chose for your crew. I must admit it wasn't an easy place to grow up and I didn't make the best decisions. By far.
One of my sidekicks from those wild times so long ago is now a professional photographer and we have reconnected in adulthood and discovered that all of this time we were both artists and creative souls... didn't even know it. We are lucky enough to have truly found ourselves and survived the craziness, coming out alive. I am so happy that we have this new-found adult friendship and whenever she comes back to town, we try to get together. On this particular day, we decided to go back to our old stomping grounds... and get some up-close photos - the things you do not normally see when walking down the city streets of Danbury. The unseen art. Katherine brought me to a beautiful graffiti tribute wall and showed me a few tricks on my camera.
It was the most fun and the most alive I've felt in a very long time. We are kindred spirits and ran up and down and in and out every nook and cranny we could find to look for the hidden art of Danbury streets. I felt like I was 15 again.
The best part was that we kept finding the same things - we had the same eye and saw the same art.
We went to a store we used to go to as teens and bought banana clips. I didn't even know they still sold those! 
I miss art. I miss creating it and looking for it. It was so wonderful to have someone else who appreciates it the way I do. That sees it too. I have decided I need more of that in my life. 
More art. More creative souls...
More feelings like that day of being so alive and free. Bliss.
I'm thankful I survived my time as a wild teen on those streets... and I'm even more thankful I can now go back and capture the same place with new eyes. 
This week in our Forest School we talked about the sense of hearing. We also talked a lot about the different types of birds in our area and the various sounds that they make. 
My sweet Brianna is now a part of our forest program. She was suffering from such extreme anxiety in Kindergarten that she was having panic attacks at home and crying horribly each morning for almost a month. We tried so hard to make it work but it got to the point that I realized she just wasn't ready to transition yet. I knew this deep down inside but I guess I had hoped for the best.
So we are exploring learning together right now... learning in the woods here, participating in various homeschool groups. We've had such a wonderful time and Brianna has begun to make friends and go off on her own without me to play.
I'm not sure where we will end up but right now she is still very young and we are taking each day at a time. I have always been very open to homeschooling but also love the community aspect of being a part of a school for the girls. Luckily, the events that I've been attending are a wonderful way to make tons of friends for both myself and Brianna. 
This week we took the children up to the field at Williams Park...
When you break the leaves there is a 'milky' substance inside...
And we talked about how the caterpillars lay their eggs there..
Brianna found one that had obviously helped hatch a hungry caterpillar who then proceeded to EAT the leaf it was born on :)
This really is a beautiful way to learn. Who knows... maybe all of the girls will one day learn at home. I'm open to the idea. 
Little Lilah and Brianna have been friends for a very long time. Lilah was in my childcare since she was almost two years old. It is so sweet that they are still so close - just like siblings.
Here Miss Jen took us to a special place in the woods where a big tree fell down after a big storm....
But look at the most amazing part...
The ROOTS all got pulled up - so huge and wonderful!
The children just LOVED this.
Autumn is truly here and there are signs of it everywhere. It is my absolute favorite time of the year.
On our way back to our picnic tables, we used our ears to listen for the animals in the forest. We heard so many beautiful bird sounds...
We then painted rocks to make our very own bird creations...
Below you see Brianna's bluebird and cardinal. :) Fun times. 
xoxo
