Helen Hegener

Gotta share what Jody did yesterday. She and I were headed to town
yesterday morning, which means first winding down a dirt road about
half a mile to the state highway below the little mountain valley we
live in. When we got down to the highway there was a helicopter, a
horse trailer, and several other vehicles sitting in a field just off
the road, and we both wondered what was up, helicopters being pretty
rare in these parts. So we went over and asked them; turned out they
were wildlife biologists setting up to check out the local mule deer
population. Jody asked if they'd mind if she hung out with them, they
said no problem, so she hopped out of the truck and I went on to town.

She spent the day helping the biologists track, shoot (with sedative
darts), haul (in the helicopter sling), and examine the deer. She
said they'd locate deer already wearing radio collars with a radio
tracking device on the front of the helicopter. The marksman would
lean out and shoot the deer, then they'd land and put it into a sling
and haul it back to their base camp. There they'd do a sonogram for
pregnancy, an overall health check, pull a tooth (she said they're
like rings on a tree and will tell the biologists a lot about the
deer's overall health), give it shots of some kind and then help it
back to the herd.

Jody got to ride in the helicopter (WAAAAAY COOL, she says), help
with the deer, ask all the questions she wanted and answered lots of
questions for the out-of-area biologists. She said they seemed as
happy to have her there as she was to be there! She said she learned
SO MUCH, not only about deer and how the biologists work with them,
but she found out they've recently released 600 wild turkeys just up
the creek from us (!), they're *very* concerned about the cougar
problem in this area (our dogs tangled with cougars last year), and
the bighorn sheep population just north of us is making a comeback!

Not your typical unschooler's day, but I thought one worth sharing. <g>

Helen

[email protected]

Maybe the fascinating helicopter ride and interaction with the bioligists was not the "typical" unschoolers day, but these opportunities are non-existent in public school.

Imagine how the whole scene would have played out if it had been planned as a field trip for a class of twenty-seven students!

Kate Davis




Original Text:
Gotta share what Jody did yesterday. She and I were headed to town
yesterday morning, which means first winding down a dirt road about
half a mile to the state highway below the little mountain valley we
live in. When we got down to the highway there was a helicopter, a
horse trailer, and several other vehicles sitting in a field just off
the road, and we both wondered what was up, helicopters being pretty
rare in these parts. So we went over and asked them; turned out they
were wildlife biologists setting up to check out the local mule deer
population. Jody asked if they'd mind if she hung out with them, they
said no problem, so she hopped out of the truck and I went on to town.

She spent the day helping the biologists track, shoot (with sedative
darts), haul (in the helicopter sling), and examine the deer. She
said they'd locate deer already wearing radio collars with a radio
tracking device on the front of the helicopter. The marksman would
lean out and shoot the deer, then they'd land and put it into a sling
and haul it back to their base camp. There they'd do a sonogram for
pregnancy, an overall health check, pull a tooth (she said they're
like rings on a tree and will tell the biologists a lot about the
deer's overall health), give it shots of some kind and then help it
back to the herd.

Jody got to ride in the helicopter (WAAAAAY COOL, she says), help
with the deer, ask all the questions she wanted and answered lots of
questions for the out-of-area biologists. She said they seemed as
happy to have her there as she was to be there! She said she learned
SO MUCH, not only about deer and how the biologists work with them,
but she found out they've recently released 600 wild turkeys just up
the creek from us (!), they're *very* concerned about the cougar
problem in this area (our dogs tangled with cougars last year), and
the bighorn sheep population just north of us is making a comeback!

Not your typical unschooler's day, but I thought one worth sharing. <g>

Helen

gruvystarchild

---Oh my gosh.
I am incredibly jealous....what a wonderful day!
Serendipity.
Ren





In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., Helen Hegener <HEM-Editor@h...> wrote:
> Gotta share what Jody did yesterday. She and I were headed to town
> yesterday morning, which means first winding down a dirt road about
> half a mile to the state highway below the little mountain valley
we
> live in. When we got down to the highway there was a helicopter, a
> horse trailer, and several other vehicles sitting in a field just
off
> the road, and we both wondered what was up, helicopters being
pretty
> rare in these parts. So we went over and asked them; turned out
they
> were wildlife biologists setting up to check out the local mule
deer
> population. Jody asked if they'd mind if she hung out with them,
they
> said no problem, so she hopped out of the truck and I went on to
town.
>
> She spent the day helping the biologists track, shoot (with
sedative
> darts), haul (in the helicopter sling), and examine the deer. She
> said they'd locate deer already wearing radio collars with a radio
> tracking device on the front of the helicopter. The marksman would
> lean out and shoot the deer, then they'd land and put it into a
sling
> and haul it back to their base camp. There they'd do a sonogram for
> pregnancy, an overall health check, pull a tooth (she said they're
> like rings on a tree and will tell the biologists a lot about the
> deer's overall health), give it shots of some kind and then help it
> back to the herd.
>
> Jody got to ride in the helicopter (WAAAAAY COOL, she says), help
> with the deer, ask all the questions she wanted and answered lots
of
> questions for the out-of-area biologists. She said they seemed as
> happy to have her there as she was to be there! She said she
learned
> SO MUCH, not only about deer and how the biologists work with them,
> but she found out they've recently released 600 wild turkeys just
up
> the creek from us (!), they're *very* concerned about the cougar
> problem in this area (our dogs tangled with cougars last year), and
> the bighorn sheep population just north of us is making a comeback!
>
> Not your typical unschooler's day, but I thought one worth sharing.
<g>
>
> Helen