Friday, September 23, 2011

15 minutes outside

I picked this book up when the kids, Matt, Grandma Randy and I visited the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. This book wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be- I thought it was going to be Nonfiction story of this lady/author leaving her corporate life to start her own business Rebecca Plants, LLC. She started this business which she helps people design gardens for their own yard. Along with this change the introduction talks about how she realizes that she would like to make a New Year's Resolution to spend fifteen minutes outside with her children each and every day. Each chapter was a month of the year/season. Each chapter started out with this Nonfiction story line (which I enjoyed), but quickly moved to ideas for outdoor activities each month/season. Some of the ideas were not new to me ( I skimmed over these parts), but I did enjoy a lot of resources/references she wrote about throughout the book. I list below some o f my favorites from the book. Overall good read, not quite what I thought it was going to be, but definitely motivated me to spend more time outside with my kids.

http://www.rebeccaplants.com/ (her own site which is full of tons of info on plants, gardening tips, activities to do outside, etc).

www.monarchwatch.org/waystations

http://www.nwf.org/ National Wildlife federation

http://www.pocketnaturalist.com/ help you find retailer in your area that sell pocket guides for different topics (animal tracts, butterflies, flowers, weeds, animals)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

http://www.backyardcampout.org/

goexplorenature.blogspot.com

http://www.moonconnection.com/ I really liked the interactive moon phase calendar.

Two books related to the sky night I hope to check out soon: