Oak Tree in an Acorn: Batty About Bats

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Batty About Bats

This year, Olivia's QUEST independent research project was about bats. She specifically researched the Madagascar Rousette bat and made a poster detailing characteristics about them using many different styles of graphic organizers.

She also sent a plastic bat she named "Watson" on a flat traveler's trip, where family and friends took a picture of the bat at a significant landmark and then logged information about the site before sending Watson on to someone else. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bill, who live on the island of Sardegna, hosted Watson for several weeks and sent pictures of many lovely places. Then Watson headed to London, England where he "saw" such amazing sited as "Big Ben", Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. Watson made it back to Georgetown, TX just in time for Olivia's QUEST presentation.

She did a puppet show to explain about all the neat places that Watson saw and things he did. The following week, Olivia participated in the QUEST fair at her school where she shared all her bat research with all the school kids and parents.

Olivia's is complimenting her friend on her QUEST presentation.

Olivia is sharing information about her bat research with her school principal.

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Why the title, "Oak Tree in an Acorn"?

Well, really it's all about perspective when raising the girls. It helps me to think about the grand scheme of parenting and remember that what we do now affects how our little acorns will grow. Like an oak tree, we want them to be strong in their words and deeds, be able to withstand life's storms, set and reach their goals, and be people that others can lean on and trust.

We have an oak tree planted in our yard that came from an acorn my dad planted in a pot. This acorn came from a huge oak tree that was planted in the backyard of my dad's childhood home. My dad's father also planted this tree from an acorn he found on his hunting lease in the early 1960's. Our tree is thus a family heirloom, a "family tree".

It was the year of Olivia's birth when we planted our little sapling. It looked so very sad that winter with no leaves; it was, basically, like a stick rooted in the ground. Five years later, though, it stands 9 feet tall, and we continue to nurture it and watch it grow. We hope one year it will produce acorns of its own, and we can continue to pass on this family heirloom. We hope to remember it's example of how each acorn has the potential to be an oak tree, and how our acorns, Olivia and Genevieve, will one day, with help from God, become mighty oak trees themselves.