Home School Jamboree!

Today, Friday Nov. 7th, Eagle Creek Park hosted their fall Home School Jamboree. Home schoolers from around the state came to learn all about nature. Since I was teaching a bird ID class, my co-worker Miranda Sears graciously took the photos. Thanks, Miranda!


Here is the Earth Discovery Center. This is where the magic of Home School Jamboree happens. This new building was opened just last year. It is also featured in the upcoming EEAI conference next weekend.

Joe Schmid, manager of Holliday Park, was teaching his classes on trees. He taught the children how to climb a tree like many foresters do. I have tried this and it is very fun!

Here I am teaching Bird ID. Since the birds were a little sparce, I had placed backup pictures on the trees. The kids would hunt for the pictures and when we found them we would talk about each bird. We would learn each bird's call along with some interesting facts about it. I am in the navy blue jacket next to the girl in pink. (Yes, I know, the kids are taller than me!)

Our fearless leader of the EELS department, Jeff Ward. He taught a program about flying monkeys and the Wizard of Oz. No, not really! He really taught about extirpated animals, animals that once lived here in Indiana. He covered animals like mountain lions, black bear, elk, porcupine and wolves. He is also one of the keynote speakers in the aforementioned EEAI conference.

Karen Johnstone led her classes on an exciting scavenger hunt. They were investigators looking for things animals needed to survive. They were looking for holes, looking under logs, checking for bite marks on leaves, and really exploring!

Brittany Wierda taught a class on orienteering. After they learned some basic skills, kids were able to test them out in the field finding objects. Put red fred in the shed!

Dawn Davis, coordinator of the event, is plum crazy after putting in countless hours of planning.She worked hard to make this wonderful event go off without a hitch. Great job, lady!
And thanks for ordering the warm, sunny weather!