"It takes a village to raise a child"  This saying can be challenging when parenting in a society that promotes nuclear families.  One family recently 'adopted' me as an auntie to their children.  Then with the busy-ness of summer I found it a challenge to be a fair distance from them.  Instead of being able to see them so much I found a win-win way of connecting.  I sent little pictures and letters of my nature adventures.  It was a great way for me to further my own learnings in what I'd observed, a great way for them to learn about whatever nature aspect had caught my interest and a good way to further our connection.  

Here is a picture I drew after one of the children in our home ed group found a nest at the base of a beech tree in the ashdown forest.  We were in a wooded strip that boarders a stream next to some grassland. The nest was about the size of my fist, perhaps slightly bigger - tiny and so perfectly made.  I don't know who made it but it certainly looked like a very cozy home for a wood mouse or a field mouse!