Last Child in the Woods Summary

I finished Last Child in the Woods, and, to keep notes, started a summary -- one or two sentences to sum up each chapter. And these are the sentences.

1 Most adults have fond memories of being outside climbing trees but today, kids don't go outside much anymore. Why?

2 Kids used to build forts and tree houses but today's kids don't even have grandparents who live in rural farms where they can play and see where food comes from.

3 Parks and open places are no longer places for kids to free-play--too much liability if kids fall out of a tree, and too many flowers they might trample.

4 Vacant lots left untouched can be wild natural areas. Nature relaxes us and can help with mental health.

5 Spending two weeks in the desert helped at-risk inner city teens. Most people today only experience nature as store theme-displays or in sensationalized nature documentaries.

6 Howard Gardner added a 'nature smarts' category to his theory of multiple intelligences. But it can only be developed by being in nature. Building forts teaches lots of other skills, including use of all the senses.

7 Lots of creative people--writers, musicians, etc.--list nature as an early inspiring influence in their creative life.

8 Being outside in greenery seems to calm and ground kids with ADD. Perhaps nature is as necessary for kids' growth as food and air.

9 Organized sports and busy lives can squeeze out time for free play outside. We think of free play as a luxury, but it's necessary for physical and mental health.

10 Emphasis in the news of crime makes parents afraid to let their kids play outside, but the risk is exaggerated, especially considering how much we sacrifice by letting fear confine our kids indoors.

11 Even families who do get out miss the beauty as they tear up the landscape in their ATV's. College science majors no longer know basic life forms in nature because they didn't learn that as children.

12 If kids view nature as far removed and all about abstract global warming and rainforests, how will they ever be passionate about protecting the environment? They need to love the nature near their homes first by playing in it.

13 Adults need to take kids out and share their own awe at nature. As an antidote to too much falsely stimulating entertainment, take them hiking or camping or even just for a walk. Watch bugs, grow vegetables.

14 Teach kids to be alert under your watchful eye to keep them safer in general; nature is great for teaching alertness.

15 Saving stranded turtles, keeping nature notebooks, gathering plants for food or medicine, even hunting and fishing can create a connection with nature.

16 Finland: 'The core of learning is not in the information . . . being predigested from the outside, but in the interaction between a child and the environment.'

Ho hum; I got bored with the book and started speed-skimming. So, I have nothing to say about chapters 17 and 18. I cracked down on myself the day before the book was due back at the library to make myself finish.

19 Nature and animals can coexist with people through innovative plans in urban areas: cities can plan wild, overgrown patches of land or rough, green 'pocket parks' and encourage wildlife to live there by planting native plants they like. ('Pocket parks.' I love the term. I like how it sounds when I say it out loud: 'pocket parks.' And the concept sounds good, too!)

20 Imagine an idyllic world where kids grow up in a natural green environment and a world where buffalo roam once more on the prairie. Can we do it? Yes we can! (MBTI: I sense some INFP here...)

21 For Christians, caring for the environment isn't earth-worship; it's good stewardship.

The End

Mystery Eggs

Miss M and I were looking in the yard for caterpillars and instead we found a leaf with some black spots on it. I once found a leaf with red things on it - and after I looked it up, I determined that the red spots were a growth from a fungus or something. I thought this was the same thing - a fungus that makes tiny tumors on the leaf. But then I looked under my Radio Shack 30x lighted magnifier and they look like tiny raisins; some even have tiny hairs stuck to them. And each black raisin has its own smaller spot of what looks like mud next to it. So I think they're eggs, and the hairs are probably from some kind of caterpillar.

This is the leaf:

And this is a close-up of the black spots accompanied with a smaller brown dot:

Maybe if I keep them all winter, they'll hatch in the spring.

Tree Idenitification

We're starting the Outdoor Hour Nature Challenge. The first week, we're to look for a couple of things to research and identify. We found a tree - the only one in our yard that's never been identified - and a mossy ground cover.

The tree is going to be difficult now. I looked up winter twig identification, but the twig is budding and you're not supposed to use new shoots, which is what the twigs are. But the buds aren't opened to leaves that can be identified. So I guess we're at a dead end until the leaves fully sprout. This is the tree we'll be watching come spring - the dead leaves under it, the trunk, and a budding twig. It has long pods with black flat seeds, my son says. It could be honey locust. Or some kind of willow. Or not.





And here's the other thing we're going to identify. It's from a patch of almost flourescent green mossy ground cover. This is one tiny plant pulled from the patch. It's less than an inch long, roots and all.



I'm guessing it's climacium, a moss that can be a ground-cover. Look at this picture - it looks very much like our specimen.