Nature Study Goals 2013 – What Did I Accomplish?
Goal vs. Accomplishments (original goals)
1. Study and journal ten new birds – Completed five new birds: Pine Siskin, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Mountain Chickadee, Spotted Towhee, and Common Raven.
2. Study and journal five new trees – NONE! What happened there?
3. Study and journal five new shrubs – Completed four shrubs: Toyon Berry, Chamise, Western Redbud, and Chinquain.
4. Take four new hikes: Completed all four!
5. Visit Yosemite National Park in all four seasons- Spring, Summer, and Autumn completed. Winter is coming up in January 2014.
6. Fifteen rocks collected and studied – We completed six of the fifteen rocks. This was a lot harder than I thought so we will make this a long term project.
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| Yosemite Oct 2013 – Hiking Buddies |
What Did I Learn?
The lesson I learned from these year long goals is that you need to keep any goals right in front of you at all times to remind you of your progress. I did make planner pages for most of the goals but I filed them too far back in my planner. I need to look at them each month and pick a few to work on at a time.
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| Bike Tour down Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park- November 2013 |
I also learned that my interests change over time. I love following my passions and right now I am inspired by the December Newsletter to visit more national parks…even some far away. I love the idea behind the national parks and during 2014 I will be sharing some more of my thoughts on that topic.
What About New Goals For 2014?
I will be sharing my new 2014 nature study goals soon. If you decide to make some goals for you and your family, please share them with me. You can leave me a comment or leave me a link to come look on your blog.
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| Top of Vernal Falls – Mom and Son Trip May 2013 |
Last Thoughts
This has been a year of huge change in my life…our family has grown and stretched in amazing ways. My biggest personal change has been my sixty pound weight loss. I can now hike farther and faster than I ever could and it has opened up a whole new life for my husband and I. We now can set bigger goals for doing more things on trips and share incredible experiences together.
My middle son and constant outdoor companion has moved to New York. He now scours the woods near his new home and shares many of those experiences with me through text and photos.
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| Mr. B – Nicaragua 2013 |
My daughter traveled to Bolivia and Peru while my youngest son traveled to Nicaragua. Both experienced the wonders of a habitat far different than our own. I loved hearing of their adventures and relived their travel through photos they brought home to share. Mr. B is hoping to go to Peru for an extended period of time in 2014…looking forward to seeing his experiences!
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| Death Road Bike Tour in Bolivia – My daughter loved it! |
I am so glad that over the years we shared the outdoors together creating memories and a growing confidence about not only traveling the world but experiencing the flora and fauna at the same time.
I hope this encourages you in your own endeavors to create nature study experiences with your children. Nature study will shape who they are on the inside as they learn to appreciate the creation we have right at home and then beyond.
I love the idea of setting nature study goals for the year. This has gotten me started thinking what realistic goals for 2014 could be.
And also, I thought you were looking pretty doggone fabulous but didn’t realized you’d lost so much weight! Way to go! (But I bet you could’ve still out hiked me even before that; I’ve got to get more fit!)
Do you know that I looked at the picture of you in your riding gear and though ‘Wow! Barb is so slim!’, then I read about your 60 pound weight loss. You look fantastic Barb, so healthy and sporty! You have inspired me to loose the 8kg that I am carrying in 2014 – and to get fit!
Thanks Jamie and Shirley Ann…I feel like a whole new person. I hope that I can inspire you to make and meet goals for 2014. When I started 2014 I never dreamed this would be a reality for me but it has been worth the effort and change in lifestyle.
What a great idea to set goals for nature! We never seem to get to it so I bet if I set goals then we would have something concrete to work toward. Thanks! Btw, you indeed look fabulous! We have some medical issues that are causing some drastic health choices in our family. I hope to lose that much this coming year as well. Thanks for sharing!
That’s a great idea to keep goals right in front of you to help you attain them. I think that was the challenge I had as well as this year. I went into the year with quite a few goals, but without the reminder of them, many of they are left unrealized.
Congratulations on the weight loss this past year. Very inspiring!!
Thanks Penny and Anne…
Wow, how inspiring – both the weight loss and the nature study goals! I’m looking forward to starting some nature study with my 3 year old when it warms up in ‘ol arctic MN. I should write down some goals, too! I love seeing the pictures of your older kids’ adventures, too. How fun!
Oh my goodness, Barb, LOOK AT YOU! You’re such an inspiration to me and you look amazing.
I should start setting goals for next year. Mostly we just wander, but a closer focus could be an interesting experiment.
Barb! I love this! I always have grand plans to stay on top of my nature study plans. ha. and now we are moving to the woods. I am going to try to make my own list like this to plan out our new year. Thanks for sharing, you are always an inspiration!
~Sheri
We had only one nature related goal this year. In September, we set the goal of 10 hikes before the end of the year. We did 9 before our 14.5 year old dog got too sick to hike with us. So, we decided to make the last hike a walk at a local park. The dog came on that one last walk with us, so the kids & I consider our goal completed.
Having a specific goal definitely got the family out on the big hikes more than we would have on our own.
Now, it’s time to sit down together & set more goals for the coming year. Overnight backpacking will be one.