Okay Charlotee Mason homeschoolers....

[illinoismommy]

I would love to make this a poll, but can you believe I don't know how? :O

We all know the ideal, but how much time do your children ACTUALLY spend outside every day?

(If anyone knows how to turn this into a poll please do)

[cobluegirl]

right now...not enough....it is way too rainy here..

[blossomnatalia]

yeah ...I am too embarrased to even start thinking about how much....and it is not because it is rainy.... :blush....
I want to..... I really do! Hopefully this summer will be better but that is not even the issue.
Too much to do inside and we get up way too late and before you know it ...it is lunch time and then nap time and then it is time to make dinner....and there we go, we did not *find* time to go outside....

I am slowwly doing better where we try at least to eat our lunch outside in the yard ...followed by some exploring time...

*sigh*...I don't know why it is so hard for me....it should be so easy!

[joandsarah77]

About an hour in the morning and 1-2 hours in the late afternoon. It is still too hot here. QLD Australia has the highest skin cancer rate in the world and heat stroke is only too real, so I am not taking any chances. between 9am-4pm I keep my kids inside.

[Punkie]

On a normal day I would guess that my son spends 5-10 hours a day... often at the higher end. He LOVES the outdoors. My dd probably spends around 3-6. We keep the back slider open, and they can freely go in and out. My ds chooses to eat his snacks outdoors and do all of his playing in the yard. My dd kind of bounces between the two. She plays out there for a while and then wants to play with her doll house, then goes back, etc, etc. I usually clean, check my email (it overlooks the backyard), and then go sit outside and read or do a craft. On days when I am doing work (on the computer), then I just overlook them with the windows open and move back and forth throughout the day.

We are blessed with very good weather and a nicely shaded yard with an open space and a stream behind it (there's a fence between the yard and the stream). Today is an exception - it has been WINDY with heavy rain all day. I think we spent a total of maybe 5 minutes outside while running to and from the car, lol.

[blossomnatalia]

On a normal day I would guess that my son spends 5-10 hours a day... often at the higher end. He LOVES the outdoors. My dd probably spends around 3-6. We keep the back slider open, and they can freely go in and out. My ds chooses to eat his snacks outdoors and do all of his playing in the yard. My dd kind of bounces between the two. She plays out there for a while and then wants to play with her doll house, then goes back, etc, etc. I usually clean, check my email (it overlooks the backyard), and then go sit outside and read or do a craft. On days when I am doing work (on the computer), then I just overlook them with the windows open and move back and forth throughout the day.

We are blessed with very good weather and a nicely shaded yard with an open space and a stream behind it (there's a fence between the yard and the stream). Today is an exception - it has been WINDY with heavy rain all day. I think we spent a total of maybe 5 minutes outside while running to and from the car, lol.


Well...that would be my ideal....But I live in a garage apartement type house (UPSTAIRS)....with an open yard..that goes to a quite busy road.....

If I am not outside with them.....NO OUTSIDE!

Joanandsara77 you mean to say you get out of your house hours before 9:00??
I am barely out of bed by then...and we don't even have breackfast yet.... :O

[Punkie]

I understand. :hugheart Our house in Florida was horrible for outside time. When we lived there I was excited to get 5 minutes outside before we all needed a shower from the heat and bugs. Ick. It is tough if your environment is less than ideal. We decided that the climate of the area and yard were two of our very top priorities for the last two houses, but that was new to us. Our first house was chosen before we had even thought of kids, so we had a teeny yard because we don't like to mow :P

[Herbwifemama]

Not as much as I'd like. I was on a lady's webpage where she talked about taking her day old child out into the woods for a moonlight walk. I want to be that mama. Right now were smack in the middle of a city with not a lot of options for pedestrians- but I've recently made a point to be outside at least once a day, so I'd say about an hour total, give or take. We spend between 20 mins and an hour outside in the morning (like 11), and then after her nap after 4ish, we go in an out on the back porch for bubbles or sandbox. I can't wait til we live in a place where I can send her out all day long only coming in for meals, bathroom breaks, and sleep. My ideal is CM! :)

[jenny_islander]

Over the winter, I would say about an hour per week. Now that temperatures are usually above freezing around the clock, we average 2 hours per day. I can't follow CM's recommendation to just go somewhere and sit because of the mud and the cold rain, so we ramble a lot, with short breaks indoors while I run errands. For every day that is just too windy and rainy to go out, there's one where we can stay out for 3 or even 4 hours.

[illinoismommy]

On a normal day I would guess that my son spends 5-10 hours a day... often at the higher end. He LOVES the outdoors. My dd probably spends around 3-6. We keep the back slider open, and they can freely go in and out. My ds chooses to eat his snacks outdoors and do all of his playing in the yard. My dd kind of bounces between the two. She plays out there for a while and then wants to play with her doll house, then goes back, etc, etc. I usually clean, check my email (it overlooks the backyard), and then go sit outside and read or do a craft. On days when I am doing work (on the computer), then I just overlook them with the windows open and move back and forth throughout the day.

We are blessed with very good weather and a nicely shaded yard with an open space and a stream behind it (there's a fence between the yard and the stream). Today is an exception - it has been WINDY with heavy rain all day. I think we spent a total of maybe 5 minutes outside while running to and from the car, lol.


where do you live?

some of our days look like this also, we have a nice fenced in backyard just off the kitchen so i can do kitchen stuff while david goes in and out :heart

[joandsarah77]

Joanandsara77 you mean to say you get out of your house hours before 9:00??
I am barely out of bed by then...and we don't even have breackfast yet.... :rockon

:giggle My kids are usualy ready to go outside around 7.30am. Since they are awake between 6-7am it would be hard to imagine how I could stay in bed.....let them jump on me for an hour maybe?? :lol

[Punkie]

where do you live?

some of our days look like this also, we have a nice fenced in backyard just off the kitchen so i can do kitchen stuff while david goes in and out :heart


We live in Colorado :)

[Katydid]

We are getting a fence really soon, so I hope our outside time will increase lots! :rockon

[illinoismommy]

yeah our main problems are the winter, and then the fact that in the fall the neighboring grain mill rains down excessive amounts of corn dust and we can't go outside for 3 months :mad (on our list of things to do is move away from grain mill but its not happening yet)

[Punkie]

Ew, the corn dust sounds yucky. In Florida it was sugar cane ash. Ick.

We are very fortunate that winters here are not bad. Even though we have snowy days, they are generally followed by a week of sunny days where the snow melts. It isn't a gray winter. On the snowy days we try to go sledding or snowboarding or even snowshoeing with the kids. Sometimes we just stay inside though. We decided that the most important thing was to make it part of our lifestyle, so the overall trend matters more than if we miss a day here or there.

We also have a lot of walking paths around our house, so I try to work that into our day by walking to places like the grocery store or library instead of driving. That boosts our outside time and really helps my dd to nap. My kids are really good at identifying wildflowers and birds, and they get to see a lot more if we venture out of our immediate area.

The walking paths are something we looked for in this house (just moved in December). At our old house we could walk, but to get out of our neighborhood was 2 miles each way, so that made it a lot more difficult to walk the kids anywhere. I'd have to run it in my jogging stroller, which would not be an option now that I'm pregnant.

In some ways it is nice that we have moved so much, because each time we learn a little more about what we want around us. I don't enjoy the moving process though :P

[blossomnatalia]

.....let them jump on me for an hour maybe?? :lol


hum...we do that a lo :P~t.....I am kinda sleep deprived :O....We have a very tiny house and they just run around and jump on me... but they wake up anwhere between 8:00-9:00....

[Strumbelina]

We are blessed with a wonderful yard with woods and creek. We have lots of windows so I can see the kids, though not as far now since the spring foilage is in high gear. They are out anywhere from 2-5 hours most days and there are some days its 10 hours and other days it isn't even 30 minutes. We love being outside. We eat outside, do crafts out there, read out there, all kinds of things.
I want to do more exploring with them though. That is a goal of mine.

[illinoismommy]

do you let your children play outside in the rain?

[Joy7]

My dd1 really wanted a rain coat and umbrella for her birthday one year so I figure as long as it's not too cold or lightning/thunder she can play outside in the rain for awhile. I try to get out there too and splash around with my kids as I think it is a classic childhood special experience. Also there are fun art crafts you can do in the rain.

[celestial princess]

I aim for at least two hours a day, but we also have a situation that is very conducive to outside time, even for babies. Our yard is partially fenced, but one portion is fully enclosed, so I let the babies play outside on the porch (used to be called a 'porch child' by my WV IL's :) ) while I'm standing right there cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry. If DSS is here, we try to do 2 hrs after school, so babies get some while he's doing school and some after - 3, maybe 4 hours. We don't have a whole lot of property (maybe 1/2 acre) but it's in somewhat of a valley, so it's really sloped. there are lots of big shrubs for erosion prevention, so there are lots of birds and squirrels, we have a bird feeder and insect houses -- I try to make the most of it, as far as having things available to spark their interest.

Oh yeah, in the warm weather, if there's no lightning or thunder, we always try to play in the rain and jump in puddles, me included and um, we do it barefoot.

Actually, that's my ideal, and now that it's warming up here, we manage pretty regularly, but if it's at all cold (like, less than 55-60 degrees) we're much less likely to do it.

[Teacher Mom]

I would definitely say most days a minimum of 2-3 hours. Beautiful, clear days- all day. I feel that our door opens to our outdoor room ;)

Rain? Yep. My kids put their swimsuits on and go outside and play in the rain (no storms, of course).

Somedays I go outside with them, but for the most part, I let them roam and discover and imagine and most of all, LEARN, all on their own.

[illinoismommy]

Also there are fun art crafts you can do in the rain.



:popcorn

[joandsarah77]

but they wake up anwhere between 8:00-9:00.... Wow! I wish :O

My daughter loves to play in the rain. I only let her do that when it's quite warm though.