Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Printable Outdoor Time Log

One of my biggest challenges as a Charlotte Mason home educator is and has always been spending the significant amount of time outdoors that she recommends. I've mentioned before that I'm not a Charlotte Mason "legalist", and we live in different times and places that may affect our ability to spend the four to six hours outdoors daily that she prescribes for young children. I think that we mothers must consider our own lives, and whether we can and should do better than we do in this area. For myself, I am convinced that the more time my children spend outside, the healthier they are. At the same time, the colder it gets here in Eastern Canada, the more I naturally tend to hibernate indoors.

I have decided to set my own goals for this winter. I am not as ambitious (yet!) as the ladies over at 1000 Hours Outside. (Head over there for exciting challenges and contests to get you motivated to get outdoors.) I've tried to set a realistic goal for my family of 10 hours per week, and perhaps once we've done that for a while, we can build on that. I have created an Outdoor Time Log to keep track of our hours outside. Feel free to print and use it if it's helpful to you.

I think setting goals and keeping track are going to be essential to our success in this goal, especially in these winter months!

How about you? How much time do your children spend outdoors weekly? Do you need to set some goals for outdoor time? What are some of your challenges in this area, and how do you overcome them?

4 comments:

  1. My goal is 30 min per day. This is one area of our lives where I wish that we still lived in the middle of nowhere, or at least out of town. :)

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    1. You would think it would be so much easier if you could just send them outside by themselves. The truth is, even though we live in the country, in the winter I find they don't stay out long if I send them out by themselves. I still have to go out with them. I take that into consideration, and I do a lot of snow shoveling so I don't feel like I'm wasting my time. I am in a good time period with my baby being able to walk and follow his brothers. Today the snow was too deep for him, though, and he would not keep his mittens on. I ended up taking him inside after about 10 minutes, and the other boys came in another 10 minutes later.

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  2. right now we do 1 h in the morning and another in the afternoon. (and it does take about 30 to get them dress and another 1/2 hour to clean up after we get back inside, the joy of winter. sigh)

    I think the 4 to 6 hours spend outdoor is a bit much during the winter!

    But also I think I would need a maid if I would spend that much time outdoor everyday (if I do not clean, nothing gets cleaned)

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    1. I totally agree. That's why I think everyone has to come up with a plan that's realistic for them. I think people did have maids in Charlotte Mason's day. I half remember her writing on the importance of choosing a good nurse for your children.

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