Just a Word of Thanks: Participation in the Outdoor Hour Challenges

After my post last week on my perception of a lack of participation in the Outdoor Hour Challenges, I received a lot of feedback both in the form of comments and in private email. I now have a better understanding of what is actually going on.

There are lots of families who are participating but not necessarily putting up a link in Mr. Linky.

Reasons for the decline in links in Mr. Linky were explained quite nicely. Many of the participants don't have blogs to link to but they are participating as a family and are still really enjoying the assignments. Some of the participants did not fully understand that it was quite acceptable to post a link to your blog that showed your nature study for the week even if you didn't find the particular insect we are learning about. Some participants really took the summer "off" from blogging and so they didn't link but they are still keeping up the nature study each week. I think those were the main explanations that were shared.

Whew, I feel better now.

I really enjoy putting the challenges together but if you look at just the numbers, which I tend to do since my profession was as an accountant, it seemed as if the participation was waning. If there were really just a few that were still completing the challenges and enjoying the assignments, it seemed silly for me to put as much effort into them as I have been. I realized that sometimes you have to ask the right question and not just look at the statistics. :) I have it straight now and I am happy to keep up the challenges.

So we are off again and I am really looking forward to the coming weeks. Upon reflection, I realized that I actually am a few challenges "behind" and I need to get some entries put together. Look for them later this week.

If you don't have a blog but you are still participating, you can always leave a comment about your nature study. I would love to hear from anyone who wants to share, blog or not. I love the sense of community that comes with sharing and I know that others benefit from seeing how each of us completes the challenges in our own way.

Happy nature study,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

PS Don't forget my give-away for the Summer Kit from Hearts and Trees.....keep those links coming!