THE NATURE-SMART CAREER: 11 New Jobs For a Nature-Rich Future

by Richard Louv | Mar 24, 2014 | Columns by Richard Louv | 22 comments

About the Author

Richard Louv is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Children & Nature Network, an organization supporting the international movement to connect children, their families and their communities to the natural world. He is the author of nine books, including "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" and "The Nature Principle." His newest book, "Vitamin N," offers 500 ways to build a nature-rich life. In 2008, he was awarded the Audubon Medal.

What if high schools and colleges helped students create a nature-rich future, helped them become outdoor entrepreneurs? By that, I don’t mean careers devoted only to energy efficiency. That’s important, but there’s a whole new category of green jobs coming and some of them are already here — nature-smart jobs.

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These careers and avocations will help children and adults become happier, healthier and smarter, by truly greening where people live, work, learn and play.

Here are some exciting careers that you – and your kids – may never have considered:

1. Nature-smart workplace architect or designer. Studies of workplaces that have been created or retrofitted through biophilic (love of nature) design show improved product quality, customer satisfaction and innovation. Successful models include the Herman Miller headquarters building, designed for abundant natural light, indoor plants, and outdoor views, including views of a restored wetlands and prairie on company grounds. After moving into the building, 75 percent of day-shift office workers said they considered the building healthier and 38 percent said their job satisfaction had improved.
2. Restorative employee health and productivity specialist. To reduce employee stress and boost morale, companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Sunset magazine promote on-site organic vegetable gardens. The company Airbus now uses wilderness retreats as a reflective catalyst for leadership training. At least one company offers weeklong nature camps for adults who need to recharge their physical, emotional and intellectual batteries.
3. Nature-smart residential builder. They’ll specialize in window-appeal (the view of nature from inside the home) — not just curb appeal. They’ll know how to place a new house in sync with the sun’s movements, use local materials to reflect the nature and history of the region, install a super-insulated green roof that can last 80 years, design for natural air-conditioning, and weave nature in homes and offices in even the most crowded urban neighborhoods.
4. Nature-smart yard and garden specialist, who will help homeowners and businesses reduce traditional lawns, and replace them with bird-attracting native vegetation, butterfly gardens, chlorine-free natural swimming ponds, organic vegetable gardens, beehives, places to raise chickens and ducks and gather eggs. As local governments continue to loosen regulations on yard farming, and as nearby production of food becomes more important, this specialty will become more popular.

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5. Urban wildscaper. Urban designers, landscape architects, and other professionals who develop or redevelop neighborhoods that connect people to nature through the creation of biophilically-designed buildings and preservation of natural land will be increasingly in demand. They will design and establish biodiverse parks, urban forests and community gardens, wildlife corridors and other wild lands. Seattle recently announced plans for a massive urban forest that will produce free food. Wildscapers will also manage wildlife populations.
6. Outside-In decorator, who will bring the outside in, creating or improving our homes to nurture health and well-being through nature: “living walls” of vegetation that purify air; indoor vertical vegetable gardens with automatic drip-irrigation systems; biophilic decorations such as twig furniture; fluorescent lights that adjust throughout the day via light sensors at the windows; bird-warning elements for windows; indoor water gardens and other living features. So will individual homeowners decorating their own homes. This goes way beyond Feng Shui.
7. New Agrarian. Who’s that? Urban farmers who design and operate community gardens. Designers and operators of vertical farms in high-rise buildings. Organic farmers and innovative vanguard ranchers who use sophisticated organic practices to produce food. The focus is on local, family-scale sustainable food, fiber, and fuel production in, near, and beyond cities.
8. Health care provider who prescribes nature. Ecopsychologists, wilderness therapy professionals, are going mainstream. Some pediatricians are now prescribing or recommending “green exercise” in parks and other natural settings to their young patients and their families. Hospitals, mental health centers, and nursing home are creating healing gardens. The Portland, Oregon parks department partners with physicians who send families to local parks, where park rangers serve as health para-profesionals. In the U.K., a growing “green care” movement encourages therapeutic horticulture, ecotherapy, and green care farming.

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9. Green exercise trainer. Exercising indoors and outdoors seems to produce different results. Even when the same number of calories are burned. Outside exercise appears to have better results, especially for psychological well-being. Green exercise trainers can help individuals and families individually or by organizing “green gyms” and family nature clubs. “People walkers” can help the elderly take a hike.

10. Natural teacher. As parents and educators learn more about the brain-stimulating power of learning in natural settings, demand will increase for nature-based schools and nature-based experiential learning, providing new opportunities for natural teachers and natural playscape and school garden designers. Librarians can be natural teachers, too, creating bioregional “naturebraries.”
11. Bioregional guide. We’ll see the emergence of the citizen naturalist who, as professionals or volunteers, help people get to know where they live. One organization, Exploring a Sense of Place in the San Francisco Bay Area, guides groups that want to have a deeper understanding of the life surrounding them. Think of these guides as nature-smart Welcome Wagons who help us develop a deeper sense of personal and local identity.

The list of possible careers can go on. Stream restorers, law-enforcement officials who use nature for crime prevention and improved prison recidivism, specialists in nature-based geriatric services.

See more examples in the comments below. Once the entrepreneurial spirit kicks in, it’s easy to start thinking of new products and services. And when people begin to consider the career possibilities of human restoration through nature, their eyes light up: here is a positive, hopeful view of the human relationship with the Earth, a way to make a living and a life.

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Richard Louv is chairman emeritus of The Children and Nature Network and the author of “THE NATURE PRINCIPLE: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age,” from which this piece is adapted, and “LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.”  This column was first published in April, 2012. 
Follow Richard Louv on Facebook and @RichLouv on Twitter
More Reading and Resources
The Nature-Rich Career: How a Child’s Outdoor Experiences Helped Shape a Young Woman’s Future
It’s Time to Redefine Green Jobs: Thoughts Following the First-Ever White House Summit on Environmental Education: Richard Louv
The Hybrid Mind: The More High-Tech Schools Become, the More Nature They Need
Don’t Tear Down that Fort: Ten Lessons (and more) that Kids Learn from Building Their Own Tree Houses and Forts — if Adults Let Them
Hope by Design: Five Great Examples of Nature-Rich Places
 A New Role for Landscape Architecture: Robin Moore
Forward to Nature: The new Nature Movement Isn’t About Going Back to Nature, but Forward to a Nature-Rich Civilization
What If We Truly Greened America?

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Connecting Kids and Nature: Working Towards 10 Million Kids Outdoors

National Wildlife Federation has worked to connect children and youth with nature for decades, inspiring children through Ranger Rick magazine, working with educators to get kids learning outdoors, and helping parents find new ways to engage their children outside.

Today, the amount of time kids spend outside is alarmingly low--only minutes per day--while screen time is at an all time high (upwards of seven hours).

Why Connect Kids and Nature

 42  6

The nature of childhood has changed. There's not much nature in it.
American childhood has moved indoors during the last two decades, taking a mental and physical toll on today’s kids. The negative impact of decreased time outdoors includes a doubling of the childhood obesity rate--accompanied by an incremental hundred billion dollar cost to our health care system--as well as declining creativity, concentration and social skills.
Some say it takes a village to raise a child. At NWF, we say it takes a backyard, a playground, a park.
Studies show outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances imaginations and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performance. In addition, children who spend time in nature regularly are shown to become better stewards of the environment.

Fast Facts About Outdoor Time and Children

• Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)
  
• Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media in a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). (Kaiser Family Foundation)
  
• In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008)
  
• Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007)
  
• Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)
  
• The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)
  

http://greenteacher.com/

Berkeley Adventure Playground

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656



http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656 

The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina was opened in 1979. It is a wonderfully unique outdoor facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively.  Come climb on the many unusual kid designed and built forts, boats, and towers. Ride the zip line or hammer, saw, and paint. By providing these low risk activities Adventure Playground creates opportunities for children to learn cooperation, meet physical challenges and gain self confidence. Pictures of a fort building project. The concept for Adventure Playgrounds originated in Europe after World War II, where Lady Marjory Allen, a landscape architect and childrens advocate, studied children playing in the "normal" asphalt and cement playgrounds. She found that they preferred playing with parts that they could move around and manipulate to make their own makeshift structures.  The formula for Adventure Playgrounds includes Earth, fire, water, and lots of creative materials.

Who should come?Adventure Playground is designed for children seven years old and older, however younger children are welcome as long as they are within arms reach of a participating adult. Parents of older children are encouraged to participate (see below) and help out with safety for all children. Everyone needs to sign the walk-in waiver when you come in. What should everyone wear?Everyone must wear sturdy shoes like tennis shoes, NOT flip flops, sandals, crocs or clogs. Stepping on a nail is a possibility and sturdy shoes protect feet. Wear clothes that can get dirty, wet, painted on and you may consider bringing a change of clothes for wet or muddy days. Warning: Our playground paint is water based tempera (school paint) and .( red) may not come out of clothing even with pre treating. The other colors actually have soap in it but that makes for slippery painted surfaces when wet. How can I as a parent or adult help when I am there? When you are here, please, watch your child, respect our staff and our rules. Keep your cell phone in your pocket. Be present for your child. if you need a break from supervising them, register your child as a drop in and we will watch them. Please, Don't read a book, or get caught up in your phone. You children need your attention and we need your help. Do not let your children under the age of 6 ride the zip line, even though you  think they can. Teach them to use good judgment and if what they are doing is destructive and dangerous- please stop them and cleanup. Remember children build these forts. Staff are making sure the playground is safe, you need to be sure your child is safe. Pick up the wood on the ground ( which is a trip hazard) and put it in the wood racks. If it is naily wood put it in the red zones. If you see things that might be dangerous, or if your child gets hurt, please tell the staff- so they can fix it  and help you. Before you leave, if you didn't finish your project, take it apart and put the parts back in the wood racks or take it with you. Please have everyone return all the tools ( including paint, brushes and clamps)  back to the shed and put all unnaily wood to the racks, and any naily unsafe wood to the red zones.   Adult Helper Cards We have 5 X 7 job task cards for adults to learn about each job that they can help with, just ask at the desk. Jobs include: Small wood helper-Assisting kids with clamps and picking out the soft woods for them to learn to saw and hammer on. At the base of the trolley we need help shoveling sand at a 45 degree angle so the children slow down and stop.  We do ask that you do NOT HELP children onto the wooden seat at the top of the trolley platform. If they cannot do it themselves, they are not ready to ride yet. We always need people to assist staff behind the tool counter passing out tools to the children. Please clarify that job with staff so you know which tools should NOT go out .

We are always looking for volunteers to help in the playground- must be 16 or older. Students can get community service hours helping on weekends or in the summer. If you or your child is interested, please call us for an interview and to fill our our paperwork.

Adventure Playground is one of the Marina Experience programs and has been written up as a top 10 playground in National Geographic.
 It was voted the Best Creative Playspace in Diablo Magazine. YELP has rated us 4.5 out of 5. We have been written about in the Chronicle, the Boston Globe and Newsweek as one of the Top 5 playspaces in the country. 

 “Drop-ins”Children seven years and older may be signed in by their parent/guardian to stay in the playground without their parents for up to three hours.
All “Drop-ins” mush have a waiver on file and pay the Drop-in fee.
No Drop-ins on Sundays unless fee is paid in advance.

Every adult who enters the playground must sign in on the waiver at the entrance for themselves and their children. 

IS THERE A FEE?  Individual FamiliesFREE for individual families: parents/guardians who accompany 4 children or less. If you are a large family, call please.
 Groups

• 5 children or more, regardless of how many adults/parents you have
• Organized programs of any size (daycare programs, summer camps, church groups)
• Multiple small families who meet at the playground with 5 children or more -
  including individuals coming in from gatherings (like birthday parties) happening outside Adventure playground in Shorebird Park.

All groups must make reservations and pay the group fee ($73-$174 depending on group size).
Summers and weekend days are very popular with the public. The only way to keep the Playground safe is to control the numbers by limiting groups. So, if you come in a group (5 children or more) without reservations, you will be asked to leave.

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

Learn More about Adventure Playgrounds and Unstructured Play

• You’ve probably read this very popular article from The Atlantic called “The Overprotected Kid” from April 2014 which argues in favor of adventure playgrounds and risk taking in childhood.
• Darell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of KaBOOM.org, visited adventure playgrounds in Europe. He wrote “I’m Gonna Sue! How Lawsuits Are Depriving Our Children of Play” (Huffington Post, May 2010) with reference to the wonder these amazing adventure playgrounds provide for our children.
• Read about the importance of adventure playgrounds on Adventure Playgrounds: A Children’s World in the City website. Lia Sutton also has a wealth of links and research on her site.
• Listen to “Adventure Playgrounds a Dying Breed in the U.S.“ from NPR.org (March, 2006).
• The Project for Public Spaces website runs down “Elements of a Successful Playspace” and says: “Experts often recommend adventure playgrounds, which let different ages find their own “level” of activity which suits them best. Older children will actually discourage younger ones from activities too risky for their age.” In fact, they go on to point out: “Adventure playgrounds are often said to be less dangerous than traditional playgrounds because participants are more alert (Bartlett, CERG).“
• Berkeley’s Adventure Playground website (only open on weekends)
• Huntington Beach Adventure Playground website (only open during summer)
• Urban Adventure Playgrounds: The Coolest Places You Probably Never Played As a Kid (WebUrbanist, 2007)

Last Child in the Woods

Currently reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
An amazing books that discusses Nature Deficit disorder in Children and how disconnected children have become to nature due to a range of influences e.g. technology, stranger danger, time limitations, ease of access to nature, organized sport.

Sit Spot - desire to find a special place in nature where I can just 'sit' and 'be'.

A developing bond with natural world than can form a foundation for environmental stewardship p44

.....the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level. p43

peace inducing elements.

p 57 Here you can hear things; in the city you can't hear anything because you can hear everything.

Seeking to find relatively undistributed tracts of land to use for solitude; seeking peacefulness, replenishing the soul, making connections to (flora and fauna) nature and rediscovering my freedom. An emotional refuge.

Organizers of nature activities should strive to make the experiences as unorganized as possible - but still meaningful.

- a mentoring adult who taught respect for nature.

That while knowledge about nature is vital , passion is the long distance fuel for the struggle to save what is left of our natural heritage. Passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young, it travels along grass stained sleeves to the heart., If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment we must also save endangered indicator species: the child in nature.

"Pay Attention" (not be careful)

"NSW had 'such incredible diversity and opportunity for adventure' that he no longer felt the pull of the travel bug," Henry Brydon

It's not the lanugage of painters,
but the language of nature which one should listen to.....
The feeling for things themselves,
for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.        Vincent Van Gogh

p353 Such organisations are recognizing that the human child in nature may well be the most important indicator species of future sustainability.

p355 the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and the health of the Earth are inseparable.

greenhour.org
kids daily green hour

Nature journal
greenhour.org/content/activity/detail/1525
kids outside info

California - Irvine Adventure playground outdoor, nature, campfire building, cooking, astronomy, gardening,
New kids must complete a safety course before they can take up hammer, nails, and build a fort. Adult must accompany kids less than 6 years of age.
http://funorangecountyparks.com/adventure-playground-irvine-university-park.html

This is a BIG deal! Why?

• The Irvine Adventure Playground is one of only 3 such playgrounds in the United States. According to the NPR story, “there are roughly 1000 scattered across less litigious Europe.”
• Unstructured play is essential to every child’s development. These spaces allow kids to build forts, play in the mud, and get creative with unstructured play outdoors!
• Play opportunities at typical playgrounds are limited to the equipment provided. Here, play and imagination spill over into every corner of the park.
• It will be open and staffed every day with a minimum of two people from 10am to 5pm.

Berkeley Hunting Beach - play in mud and build forts, pond with rafts, rope bridge, 'zipline; tire swing, water slide, and mud.

Respect the nature integrity of place

p292 'look at the world in a way that takes nothing form granted. Everything is phenomenal everything is incredible, never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed'.

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.

www.greenteacher.com (magazine)
Book:learning with Nature Idea book
www.arbordy.org

Pics from Mt Stirling walk to Craig's Hut in May 2016.

Happiness at home.

There is so much to be grateful in the last week it really is brilliant.
I landed in oz, welcomed by mum, over to Thai cargo and collected all my personal effects without any hassles.
Drove home, so much fun, brilliantly smooth roads and drivers that actually follow the road rules.
Awesome to sleep in a big comfy bed under a mountain of blankets with a hot water bottle!!
When for a short bush walk and have another long one planned for the coming weekend.
Medicare card reactivated - yipeee.
Completed first aid course and WWCC - all good.
Purchased a car - the silver bullet.
On a roll............happiness, joy, kindness and gratitude abound.

Love

Just did an online quiz and this is the results:

This Simple Test Will Help You Find Out What You Really Want In Life

LOVE
You are ruled by your desire to be connected to others. Whether it is a romantic connection you seek, or the deep abiding intimacy of family or friendship, it is what fuels you and keeps you motivated. You have a warm and compassionate soul and a nurturing spirit which draws others to you. You see people for everything that they can be and all the wonder that they contain within them; and this drives you to connect to them. It is no doubt that no matter where life's journey takes you, you will always be surrounded by those who care for you and a bountiful love which encompasses you.

I'm so happy with my life

 I'm really happy and seem to be able to live in this state of joy recently thanks to many daily practices. Mindfulness has contributed significantly to my well being and just letting things 'be' and they sort themselves out :).
Making a conscious effort to be positive, not gossip, say kind words has really improved how other's respond to me......much more cheerfully and positively.
Sharing stories of what went right on the weekend and not the things that didn't go quite right - in the end the mission was accomplished and I couldn't have wished for a better team to work with. Thank you Da, Phet, Pao, Na, Boula, Dr P, Bossy and all the girls, teachers, principal, village head and parents. You have enriched my life so much.

--------
This article has most of the daily practices that I feel I have incorporated into my life, especially over the last 12 months.
I'm not perfect but I find joy in small things, I smile a whole lot more than ever before, I am way more grateful
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/choose-happy/
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” —Abraham Lincoln
Happy people realize happiness is a choice. They are not held hostage by their circumstances and they do not seek happiness in people or possessions. They understand that when we stop chasing the world’s definition of happiness, we begin to see the decision to experience happiness has been right in front of us all along. Research in the field of positive psychology continues to reinforce this understanding.
But simply knowing that happiness is a choice is not enough. Fully experiencing it still requires a conscience decision to do so each day. How then might each of us begin to experience this joy?
Consider this list of 12 Intentional Actions to Choose Happiness Today. Embrace one new action item… practice all of them… or simply use them as inspiration to discover your own.
1. Count your blessings. Happy people choose to focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative. They set their minds on specific reasons to be grateful. They express it when possible. And they quickly discover there is always, always, something to be grateful for.
2. Carry a smile. A smile is a wonderful beautifier. But more than that, studies indicate that making an emotion-filled face carries influence over the feelings processed by the brain. Our facial expression can influence our brain in just the same way our brains influence our face. In other words, you can actually program yourself to experience happiness by choosing to smile. Not to mention, all the pretty smiles you’ll receive in return for flashing yours is also guaranteed to increase your happiness level.
3. Speak daily affirmation into your life. Affirmations are positive thoughts accompanied with affirmative beliefs and personal statements of truth. They are recited in the first person, present tense (“I am…”). Affirmations used daily can release stress, build confidence, and improve outlook. For maximum effectiveness, affirmations should be chosen carefully, be based in truth, and address current needs. Here is a list of 100 daily affirmations to help you get started.
4. Wake up on your terms. Most of us have alarm clocks programmed because of the expectations of others: a workplace, a school, or a waking child. That’s probably not going to change. But that doesn’t mean we have to lose control over our mornings in the process. Wake up just a little bit early and establish an empowering, meaningful, morning routine. Start each day on your terms. The next 23 hours will thank you for it.
5. Hold back a complaint. The next time you want to lash out in verbal complaint towards a person, a situation, or yourself, don’t. Instead, humbly keep it to yourself. You’ll likely diffuse an unhealthy, unhappy environment. But more than that, you’ll experience joy by choosing peace in a difficult situation.
6. Practice one life-improving discipline. There is happiness and fulfillment to be found in personal growth. To know that you have intentionally devoted time and energy to personal improvement is one of the most satisfying feelings you’ll ever experience. Embrace and practice at least one act of self-discipline each day. This could be exercise, budgeting, or guided-learning… whatever your life needs today to continue growing. Find it. Practice it. Celebrate it.
7. Use your strengths. Each of us have natural talents, strengths, and abilities. And when we use them effectively, we feel alive and comfortable in our skin. They help us find joy in our being and happiness in our design. So embrace your strengths and choose to operate within your giftedness each day. If you need to find this outlet outside your employment, by all means, find this outlet.
8. Accomplish one important task. Because happy people choose happiness, they take control over their lives. They don’t make decisions based on a need to pursue joy. Instead, they operate out of the satisfaction they have already chosen. They realize there are demands on their time, helpful pursuits to accomplish, and important contributions to make to the world around them. Choose one important task that you can accomplish each day. And find joy in your contribution.
9. Eat a healthy meal/snack. We are spiritual, emotional, and mental beings. We are also physical bodies. Our lives cannot be wholly separated into its parts. As a result, one aspect always influences the others. For example, our physical bodies will always have impact over our spiritual and emotional well-being. Therefore, caring for our physical well-being can have significant benefit for our emotional standing. One simple action to choose happiness today is to eat healthy foods. Your physical body will thank you… and so will your emotional well-being.
10. Treat others well. Everyone wants to be treated kindly. But more than that, deep down, we also want to treat others with the same respect that we would like given to us. Treat everyone you meet with kindness, patience, and grace. The Golden Rule is a powerful standard. It benefits the receiver. But also brings growing satisfaction in yourself as you seek to treat others as you would like to be treated.
11. Meditate. Find time alone in solitude. As our world increases in speed and noise, the ability to withdraw becomes even more essential. Studies confirm the importance and life-giving benefits of meditation. So take time to make time. And use meditation to search inward, connect spiritually, and improve your happiness today.
12. Search for benefit in your pain. This life can be difficult. Nobody escapes without pain. At some point—in some way—we all encounter it. When you do, remind yourself again that the trials may be difficult, but they will pass. And search deep to find meaning in the pain. Choose to look for the benefits that can be found in your trial. At the very least, perseverance is being built. And most likely, an ability to comfort others in their pain is also being developed.
Go today. Choose joy and be happy. That will make two of us.

No idea who wrote this......not me.....it's about love

Remember why you wanted to be a minimalist....

+ R E M E M B E R   W H Y   Y O U   W A N T E D   T O   B E   A   M I N I M A L I S T   I N   
T H E   F I R S T   P L A C E
Going back to the beginning when you decided that this was what you wanted is actually very inspiring. You can re-evaluate what it is that you want from this journey and remind you of why you started.

+ C O N T I N U E   T O   E D I T   Y O U R   P O S S E S S I O N S 
Sometimes I find myself going to things that I have already decluttered and finding things that I no longer need, so keep of editing your possessions until you only have what makes you happy

(http://www.thetomorrowatdawn.com/2016/01/maintaining-minimalism-tips-to-keep.html)

Why do I want to become a minimalist? I just feel that I own too many things and if I can physically own less then it will create more freedom.
Freedom to do whatever I want - to travel, to move to another country, to spend more time on experiences that are of greater value to me than my possessions. I don't want my possessions to own me. I want to own what I need, not excess stuff.
If decluttering is just the first step in the minimalism journey that is fine by me.
I have already done my bedroom, now when I walk in - the physical space just brings me more joy - the joy of being in a room that is neat, tidy and orderly - containing joyful items. That makes me happy.

I am also focusing on less screen time in particularly less facebook, so I have limited myself to 3 mins on FB each time on log on and then close FB. Overall it's going well and now I don't have this constant urge to 'check' FB. Honestly no information of any importance will actually come to me via FB - it's just other people's stuff. I find most people use it as a 'brag book' to post aspects of their 'wonderful' life or only aspects of their life that are 'wonderful'. I resist the urge to post and now will really limit my social media time.

Pics from cycling trip to Sri Lanka in Dec 2010/Jan 2011.

On the other hand, the act of removing possessions from our home accomplishes many of those purposes. It is not a temporary solution that must be repeated. It is an action of permanence—once an item has been removed, it is removed completely. Whether we re-sell our possessions, donate them to charity, or give them to a friend, they are immediately put to use by those who need them.

Removing possessions begins to turn back our desire for more as we find freedom, happiness, and abundance in owning less. And removing ourselves from the all-consuming desire to own more creates opportunity for significant life change to take place.

As you seek to get your home (and life) organized, challenge yourself to remove the unneeded things in your home. Rid yourself of the extra weight in a permanent manner. Carry a trash bag from room-to-room. See how big of a donation pile you can make. Or help eliminate debt by selling them. It doesn’t matter so much how you remove them, as long as you do. For it is far better to de-own than declutter.

Joshua Becker

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/dont-just-declutter-de-own/

""The three c's of life; choice, chance and change. You have to make the
choice, to take the chance, if you want anything to change" A. Allen
Antoine Allen

 http://www.antoinespeaks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/most-people-wont-share-this-because.html?m=1

career: position, package, place

View work as a contribution to others - this is the reward.....

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.”
The statistics concerning work in America tell an interesting story. On one hand, we hate work. On the other hand, we can’t seem to get enough of it.
For the most part, Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs:

• 70% of employed Americans are disengaged from their work.
• 18% of workers are actively disengaged—meaning they aren’t just unhappy; they are busy acting out their unhappiness.
• 74% of employed workers would consider a new job opportunity if one was presented.
• The 4-Hour Workweek has spent 7 years on The New York Times bestseller list.
• Americans count down the years to retirement at age 65 and CNN defines early retirement as the ultimate “American Dream.”

Americans are not happy with their work and do not enjoy it. But we refuse to slow down and take any break from it:

• Compared with other industrialized nations, U.S. workers rank 1st in hours worked (1,800 hours annually).
• The typical American middle-income family works an average of 11 more hours a week in 2006 than it did in 1979.
• 53% of adults check work messages at least once a day over the weekend.
• Americans leave a half billion vacation days unused each year.
• We struggle to find even one day of rest each week.

These statistics paint an interesting picture of our love/hate relationship with work: We don’t like our jobs; but refuse to spend less time at them. Why is this the case?
Most likely there are a number of reasons. Sometimes, our legitimate financial needs require us to work long hours. Sometimes, our jobs require us to be on-call and available at a moment’s notice. Other times, our employers simply do not provide us that type of flexibility.
But I think there is something deeper going on here. After all, all of this is happening in one of the most productive and wealthiest nations in the history of the world. Why then, given our vast supply of opportunity, do we work such long hours in jobs we hate?

If we could discover the deeper reason for this discontent, we could find relief in both areas: both a greater appreciation for our work and more space for rest.

The real reason we have such a love/hate relationship with work in our society is because our motivation for it is all wrong. We do our work for the wrong reward.

Typically, we do our jobs simply for the purpose of earning a paycheck at the end of the day. Work is that thing we do through which we make money so we can do all the other things we really want to do.

But money as a means to fulfillment will always fall short. It will never fully satisfy the longings of our heart—in their own right, power and reputation and fame never satisfy either.
When money is the reward, we can never earn enough. We are always left desiring just a little bit more.

This is a problem with our modern understanding of work. If we are only doing it for the sake of the paycheck every two weeks, it will never be enough. We will always be left searching for more—putting in just a few more hours, skipping another day of vacation, heading back to the office on another Saturday morning.

Do we work because we love our jobs and find fulfillment in them? No. We do it because we believe the paycheck makes it all worthwhile—or at least, a little bit bigger paycheck will make it all worthwhile.
But it never does.
We were designed to work for something greater than money and possessions and property. (tweet that)

Instead, view work as contribution to others—this is the reward. Our work contributes to the good of society. It moves us forward. It makes us better as people. It enriches our lives.

Whether we are bagging groceries, delivering mail, sweeping streets, or managing others, we can view our work as an act of love to the people we serve.
And when we change our motivation, we discover work is not something to be avoided—it is meaningful.

Please don’t view your work as something to be endured or avoided. Don’t view it merely as a means to a paycheck. Change your focus. Develop a deeper appreciation for the contribution you are making (or find a job that will).
This will always result in a new love/love relationship.


You are absolutely right about that. Consumerism holds us hostage to many desperate acts.

Don't play it safe..........resist the seductions of our society.....mid life crisis

And most of all, don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control. These, too, are nets. Above all, resist the fear of failure. Yes, you will make mistakes. But they will be your mistakes, not someone else's. And you will survive them, and you will know yourself better for having made them, and you will be a fuller and a stronger person.

It means not just going with the flow. It means not just "getting into" whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. Originating your own values. Thinking your way toward your own definition of success. Not simply accepting the life that you've been handed. Not simply accepting the choices you've been handed. When you walk into Starbucks, you're offered a choice among a latte and a macchiato and an espresso and a few other things, but you can also make another choice. You can turn around and walk out. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before.

But either way, either because you went with the flow or because you set your course very early, you wake up one day, maybe 20 years later, and you wonder what happened: how you got there, what it all means. Not what it means in the "big picture," whatever that is, but what it means to you. Why you're doing it, what it's all for. It sounds like a cliché, this "waking up one day," but it's called having a midlife crisis, and it happens to people all the time.

http://chronicle.com/article/What-Are-You-Going-to-Do-With/124651/

How is this serving the child?

How is this serving the child?

http://www.littleearth.school.nz/blog/how-is-this-serving 

By

Tessa

on 20 Apr 2016

Our young children are constantly asking questions.  They do this for information, to clarify, to connect, to fill silence - for a huge host of reasons.  Somewhere down the track we lose that tendency and as adults we don't seem to question things nearly enough. 
When we genuinely and deeply care about children, however, we need to be questioning what it is they are experiencing and exposed to, or alternatively, are missing out on.   Alfie Kohn speaks the very core in us when he says "too many educators seem to have lost their capacity to be outraged by outrageous things".  Our sector has gotten off course in many areas and it's important not to just follow suit or accept the 'norm' as being acceptable. 
Justifications can be made for a lot of things, and it is easy to get swept up in the current and go with what we see happening all around us.  OR we can be brave and ask our own questions.  We can ask what is in our power to change? What is truly best for children? Which 'experts' are actually credible and also fit with our gut instincts?  What is it like for the children in our care?  How would we like this experience? 
Maybe what we need to accompany our questions is a good solid answer, one that acts as a yardstick for measuring our uncertainties against.  If we look at what Dr Montessori espoused, our role is to serve children.  Not lead them, ‘prepare’ them or isolate them from the real and natural world, but to SERVE them. 
Service comes from looking at the needs of the other, not of ourselves.  Knowing this, we can create the question, ‘how is this serving the child’? whenever we come across new ideas, doubts, or the ‘norm’ that doesn’t necessarily sit well with us. We also need to know it is about serving the child right now, not asking how it will serve them in years to come.  We want to focus on today, knowing that tomorrow will take care of itself.  Too often, a justification for some of the less heart-centred practices can be about creating independence in the child, or resiliency for later years, when at this age love and kindness have to be at the fore.
Our question then, has to be ‘how is this serving the child?’ whenever we come across new ideas, doubts, or the ‘norm’ that doesn’t necessarily sit well with us. 
We can look at what we are currently doing and say, yes it may be different from what else we see but it feels right, and for the children and families we serve it is preferable. 
This takes a certain courage, and willingness to step outside the norm, but in keeping with service to the child, there is no other way.  Once we start to question, our only way is forward, to forge on a path based on what we believe and with the ‘tribe‘ of like minded educators we connect with when we share our views respectfully.  We can follow our hearts and know that change for children can start small. 
We cannot change the whole system but we can certainly make the best choices possible for those we do serve.  In doing so, we can hope to send out ripples of heart centred, kind practice which others may just be looking to be swept up in. 

Decluttering progress!!

A note on my decluttering!!!
Since I let the bike go I feel an incredible mind shift has occurred. I am now able to go through my other possessions with greater clarity and determine which items are to be kept, which to try and sell and which to donate or toss out. It's weird that I should have this clarity and ease now, but it's here and I am happy to embrace it.

This weekend my goods will be for sale and I'm hopeful that at least some of them will go. Those that don't get sold....uuummmm..... I hope to find a place to donate them. The challenge the shoes and dresses is that I need to find a person just the same size as me, and who is willing to buy them. The shoes won't just fit anyone, nor will the dresses.

Lots of other Bric-a-brac for sale - jewellery, TRX, yoga mat, children's books, teaching resources, bike parts, tubes, bike stand, ornaments, scarves, etc.

What is the feeling behind the words? Being Kind over being right

http://kristinecarlson.com/what-is-the-feeling-behind-the-words

If you are present, you’ll choose to be kind over being right, and you can choose to truly listen to the hearts of your closest companions. You can choose to listen to the feelings over the content or words of what is spoken from the heart.

One of the easiest things you can do is shower those around with you with appreciation and praise, and watch everyone around you perform with more ease and grace.

You can also realize those moments when someone is feeling taken for granted and may not risk saying so.

Being committed to authentic expression comes with some risk—but what lies unspoken leaves resentment lurking in the shadows and often can be the demise of a wonderful relationship. And, your truest relationships, whether it be your spouse, friends, co-workers or children will appreciate knowing that they can count on you to be honest with how you feel so that they have the opportunity to honor your heart and feelings with a pure reflection of love and genuine appreciation.

One of the most beautiful things about age, is that we know when it’s important to allow our authentic expression to emerge heartfelt and loving without apology—as we are calling in those true connections to support us in living our most vibrant lives.

By Kristine Carlson|April 21st, 2016|

Just placing this here today so that I can digest it.

Ouch - letting go

I decided that I would sell my red Cannondale Road bike that I have had for several years and haven't been riding that  much recently.

I advertised it on FB and people were interested. This guy came today and purchased the bike for USD$320 (AUD$414)and I tossed in really old bike shoes with cleats (I have a new pair), the bike stand, tyre levers, a seat cover, repair kit and a great chain cleaning kit. He was thrilled.

I'm trying to prove to myself if I can let go of the Cannondale then I can let go of any of my material possessions. I don't want to be owned by my possessions. They can all be replaced.

The bike in fact has been the love of my life for over 10 years - which is more than any personal relationship that I have had with an intimate partner!!

That bike had done a couple of trips to France, a few Phuket Triathlons , cycled Japan on beautiful smooth roads, cycled in Laos and a Cairns to Karumba trip in Australia in 2011. I had so much enjoyment riding that bike.
Anyway I had owned the bike since 2004 and it had served me exceptionally well but it was time to let it go..... I am a little sad but it's ok - it's just a bike for goodness sake!!

I hope the new owner enjoys that bike for the next 10 years. Carbon forks and seat post, weighs less than 10kg, smooth and fast, odometer. Let it go!!!

12 Steps for Self Care......never give up on your dreams

My Dream .....to feed my soul.....with nature....

Helen: My dream is to be in nature, embrace the beauty, live somewhere to feed my soul.

Sometimes it requires giving up the person we want to be in order to fully appreciate the person we are. Joshua Becker. 

Simplify my life

Simplicity is not about deprivation.
Simplicity is about greater appreciations for things that really matter.  becoming minimalist

If realizing your dreams is more important to you than buying stuff, minimalist is for you.  becomingminimalist

Helen: My dream is to be in nature, embrace the beauty, live somewhere to feed my soul.

Sometimes it requires giving up the person we want to be in order to fully appreciate the person we are. Joshua Becker. 

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-10-most-important-things-to-simplify-in-your-life/
Summary

1. Your Possessions - this will be done in a couple of days!!!

2. Your time - this seems to be under control

3. Your goals - 1. Nature School 2. Lotus 3. Health and Fitness

4. Your Negative thoughts - working on this

5. Your debt - no debt

6. Your words - listen more and talk less

7. Your artificial ingredients

8. Your screen time - this is an area that needs considerable work

9. Your connections to the world

10. Your multitasking - working on this

Considering a Forest School?

Sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream no one else can see but you. David Wolfe.

My Dream : Nature School
I feel as an Early Childhood Educator I can't live without doing this!!! Children need nature to foster their independence, creativity, problem solving skills, cognitive abilities, collaboration skills, social skills, fine motor skills, self management, IMAGINATION and all importantly connecting with nature so that they grow up caring for the environment at a deep level.

 

http://cedarsongnatureschool.org/   (near Seattle, USA) They offer international training.

 http://erinkenny.com/?page_id=322  Erin Kenny - awesome website

https://www.forestschools.com/bush-schools-australiasia/ (not really any good)

http://preciouschildhood.blogspot.com/2012/05/bush-school-nature-education-in.html

http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6d48060b8468d7bc51fe79695&id=af9b1a58aa

http://www.naturallearning.net.au/blog

Actually ...... we don't have rules - we have agreements, a concept I took from Teacher Tom Hobson when we worked together in Australia. Reaching agreement with children is far more effective than the adults dictating countless rules. Children have been consulted, they take ownership and it is not just another silly thing adults tell them to do ... nobody likes to be told what to do, I certainly don't!

How do we reach agreement on the Rule of 3?
To start off we have a meeting with the children to talk about boundaries, preferably as equals, not with the adult sitting on their 'throne'.

• First question from the adult "Does anybody like getting hurt?" Usually lots of comments about getting hurt, some blaming others for having hurt them in the past but always consensus that they don't like getting hurt. "What can hurt us?" This is where we are looking for physical, verbal and emotional hurt. "Ok, should we then agree  that we are not going to hurt ourselves?" Lots of agreeing and there we have agreement number 1.
• "How about hurting other people, is that ok?" "Nooo, we don't hurt other people" Here a conversation might start on who can or can't be hurt, adults, babies, baddies but with further conversation we agree not to hurt others....agreement number 2!
• "Do you like it when somebody breaks your favourite toy?" Discussions on who broke what of whom is likely to follow with self righteous indignation and we can agree that we won't break or damage things that don't belong to us including the natural environment and we have agreement number 3! 

When we think about it, all the rules we make are made to protect the children, the adults and the environment. So now that we have reached this agreement, the next time we see a child climbing up the slide we can suggest "remember our agreement? Are you feeling safe? Are you likely to hurt others or damage the slide? No? That's fine then".

So in conclusion, in the Rule of 3 we as a community agree that:

• 1. we try not to hurt ourselves,
• 2. we try not to hurt others and
• 3. we try not to damage property/environment!​

 

 

Niki Buchan  

Niki is a Childcare Services Manager and Early Childhood Educational Consultant with 35 years experience in this field locally and internationally. She has helped to set up nature-based settings internationally and is the author of the practical reference book "Children in Wild Nature" published by Teaching Solutions in 2015. 

Save the Dates!

20th July 2016 International Conference with Alistair Bryce-Clegg

 http://www.naturallearning.net.au/coming-up-soon.html conference details in Sydney 9-3pm $220 not really nature more play based
27th September to 6th October 2016 join Niki on a Study Visit to Scotland

Exploring respectful relationships in Forest Schools and Nature Kindergartens in Scotland!
​ This is an opportunity to really experience nature-based pedagogy with a particular focus on respectful relationships between children, educators and management with our highly experienced Educational Consultant and international study tour facilitator, Niki Buchan.

Cost $5500 inclusive of GST 
10th & 11th March 2017 National Nature Pedagogy Conference  This will have Doug and Niki (there is also the conference in May 2017) 

This conference appears to be National whilst the other one in May appears to be International Association with Doug and Claire (see below)

 http://www.naturepedagogy.com/index.html

 

http://bushkinder.blogspot.com/ 
Doug Fargher - children who spend time in nature are more coordinated, run, jump, leaping, physical, creative, imaginative, natural learners, fantastic socially, see each other as a resource, work as a community, 

MARCH 20th 2016 (only the last 5 years have we had bush kinder)
The International Association of Nature Pedagogy launched today.
What a privilege to be on the board with leaders in the field from all over the world.💚🌱🌏
We aim to promote and support Nature based pre-schools, Nature and Forest Kindergartens and Nature Schools around the world
with
Claire Warden - Scotland
Richard Louv - Children in Nature Network USA,
David Sobel - Antioch University, USA
Sara Knight - UK
Anders Farstad - Hvalgard NaturBarnehage Norway
Zazie Mackintosh - Auchlone Nature Kindergarten, Scotland

 

International Association of Nature Pedagogy Conference - Australia 2017

Date: May 2017 in Melbourne Claire and Doug

Details: Excited to announce we will be holding our first Australian International Association of Nature Pedagogy Conference in Melbourne, in May 2017. This Global Conference will be an opportunity for members and those interested in joining the Association to bring together Research, thoughts and experiences through engaging keynotes and experiential workshops on Nature Pedagogy. Join Claire Warden, Doug Fargher with National and International Colleagues including Norway and the USA for two days of Inspiration. Invitations to present a 'research into practice' session are now open. Please email - claire@claire-warden.com
More details to follow!

Member Offer: Discount will be offered to members
 

 

“Bush kinder offers a very inclusive and relaxed environment that allows the children to be children and explore aspects of childhood that they may not get to explore in other areas of their lives.” Tanya Jones, Alexandra and District Kindergarten

Home Study

The Cedarsong Way Teacher Training Home Study Packet includes a copy of Erin Kenny’s book “Forest Kindergartens: The Cedarsong Way”, The Cedarsong Teaching and Program Guide, Erin Kenny and Robin Rogers’ book “Nature Notes Journal: Documenting Your Emergent Curriculum” and The Cedarsong Way hour-long documentary DVD.
Cost:
$125 for the complete home study course.

The Cedarsong Way Forest Kindergarten Teacher Training Program:

Cedarsong’s Forest Kindergarten Teacher Training Program is designed to prepare you to start your own Forest Kindergarten program and will also teach you how to apply the principles of the forest kindergarten model to any pre-existing program. You will learn in detail about the distinguishing features of the Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten model, called The Cedarsong Way, including total nature immersion, child-led flow learning, child-inspired emergent curriculum, inquiry-based teaching style and authentic play. You will also learn how to make your outdoor program a success by understanding the most critical elements such as appropriate clothing, working with parents, and risk management. This detailed training consists of a total of 20 hours of training over the course of four consecutive days. You will have an opportunity to observe the Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten program in action (7 hours), as well as engage in practicum (3 hours) and have a chance to meet with the Cedarsong teachers (2 hours). You will also have 8 hours of question and answer time with Cedarsong Director and Forest Kindergarten Program Designer Erin Kenny.
At the start of the training you will receive  the Cedarsong Teacher Training packet which includes the Cedarsong Way Teaching and Program Manual (54 pages), Erin Kenny’s book “Forest Kindergartens: The Cedarsong Way”, Erin Kenny and Robin Rogers’ new book “Nature Notes Journal: Documenting Your Emergent Curriculum” and a copy of the hour-long Cedarsong documentary DVD.  After completion of the Teacher Training, you will receive a Certificate verifying that you are a Cedarsong-certified Forest Kindergarten Teacher. This training course is eligible for 18.5 clock hours from the Washington Continuing Education Credit authority. Cost: $1100.
Transportation, lodging and food are not included, although we can assist you with information about finding affordable lodging during your stay on Vashon Island, WA. To enroll in the Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten Teacher Training, email our office for a registration packet. 

2016 FOREST KINDERGARTEN TEACHER TRAINING SESSIONS:

Jan. 19-22*; Feb. 16-19*; March 15-18*; April 19-22*; May 17-20*; 

June 14-17*; July 3-6*; July 10-13*; July 17-20*; July 24-27*; Sept. 20-23; Oct. 11-14; Nov. 15-18; Dec. 13-16

*This session is full
**This session has one spot left

 

CEDARSONG™ FOREST KINDERGARTEN

(for ages 2-6 years old)

An entirely outdoor preschool

located on Vashon Island, Washington, USA

Cedarsong Nature School opened the first U.S. Forest Kindergarten based on the German model of Waldkindergartens, distinguished by its commitment to total nature immersion, interest-led flow learning, emergent curriculum, place-based focus, inquiry-based teaching style and authentic play. Nature Immersion is defined as “unstructured free time in nature resulting in an intimate, deep and personal connection to the natural world”. Over the years, we have developed THE CEDARSONG WAY teaching method. One of the cornerstones of this unique method is that there is no pre-determined curriculum. Rather, lesson plans flow organically each day from what nature presents and from children’s interests. The goal is to tap into the children’s sense of wonder about nature while teaching basic environmental and natural science principles in the field. Teachers’ roles are as mentors and guides, actively modeling curiosity and engagement in nature while allowing children’s interests to lead the day.
Cedarsong Nature School’s philosophy is that children need to spend a large portion of their day outdoors to get the stimulation and natural learning experiences they are born to crave. We believe that hands-on experiential learning is the best educational approach for children. Being outdoors provides them with not only fresh air, it encourages imaginative play, creativity, hand-eye coordination, balance, physical strength and mental clarity. When children’s natural curiosity is encouraged, learning flows organically from stimuli encountered in the outdoors.

CAMP TERRA™:

A NATURE IMMERSION* CAMP

Explore the magic of the northwest forest with its enchanting wild plants at Camp Terra™, a unique nature immersion camp for kids.
Camp Terra™ is located on 5 acres of private undeveloped native forest land in the Paradise Ridge area of beautiful Vashon Island, Washington. Camp Terra provides an opportunity for children to immerse themselves in nature and provides opportunities for a stimulating, hands-on approach to environmental education. *Nature Immersion is defined as “unstructured free time in nature resulting in an intimate, deep and personal connection to the natural world”.
The camp atmosphere is non-competitive, allowing group bonding and encouraging individual empowerment. The Camp Terra program is designed and taught by internationally recognized Forest Schools Expert and Nature Immersion Specialist Erin Kenny. Camp Terra has the same interest-led flow programming as the Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten, using The Cedarsong™ Way teaching method.

 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/cedarsong-nature-school/cedarsong-forest-kindergarten-emergent-curriculum/10153678727958071 

Quite often when the forest kindergarten children get ready to climb, they remove their shoes, having discovered that it is safer to climb barefoot than with boots on. Since Cedarsong children are allowed to engage in activities that involve minimal risk, they are encouraged and guided to assess any risk that might be present such as slippery branches or a weak dead limb. This results in children who are risk aware. Cedarsong children also learn how to "fall safely", a skill that must be learned from experience. Since climbing is considered a minimally risky activity, we have established certain safety rules such as children are not lifted to any branch (they must be able to climb on their own to a desired branch) and they are not to climb any higher than two times their body height.

 

http://www.upworthy.com/see-adorable-photos-of-7-forest-schools-from-around-the-country?c=hpstream

Luckily, Danes aren’t the only ones taking early childhood education back into nature.
There is a growing movement of forest schools right here in the United States as well. Here are just a few of them (and they’re all pretty awesome).

1. Cedarsong Forest Kindergarten (Vashon, Washington)

2. Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center (Mystic, Connecticut)
The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center preschool certainly lives up to its motto: “nature is our niche.” The preschool is situated on a 400-acre nature preserve, complete with meadows, ponds, hiking trails, and plenty of rocks and trees to climb on. They consider these grounds to be a “living classroom,” which is a pretty cool concept!

4. Worldmind Nature Immersion School (Denver, Colorado)

 Located in Colorado, Worldmind Nature Immersion School has its fair share of extreme weather. But no matter the season, one thing remains the same. Kids spend the entire day outside — they don’t even have an indoor facility!

6. Mother Earth School (Portland, Oregon)

The forest school movement is continuing to expand in the United States (and around the world), taking kids out of structured classroom and back into nature. 

http://lancasteronline.com/features/trending/losing-our-grip-more-students-entering-school-without-fine-motor/article_c0f235d0-7ba2-11e5-bf0d-5745f74f9717.html

“It’s just our busy world. There’s real pressure to get your kid involved (in organized activities) earlier and earlier, so there’s less time to play in the backyard. … Kids need to manipulate their environments to understand spatial concepts. They usually learn not by being told, but by doing.”

Calender says the years between birth and 3 are “instrumental in core muscle development” and recommends parents incorporate a mix of gross and fine motor skills into at-home play.

While Warwick kindergarten teachers continue to focus on fine and gross motor skills through center-based and instructional activities, parents shouldn’t stop providing hands-on opportunities once their kids are school-age.

“They can continue to use the activities they’ve worked on in the preschool years, mindful to keep a balance with screen time,” says Calender.
Today’s children also spend less time outside, where they might have more opportunities to explore how their bodies move through space, learn to balance and figure how to handle toys and tools in relation to one another.
“Rather than sit and color the way they used to do, our kids are part of the burst of technology,” says Cunningham. “It’s amazing to see a kid who can swipe an iPad, but you put a pair of scissors in their hand and they don’t know what to do.”

Welcome to Cedarsong® Nature School!

Cedarsong® Nature School provides nature immersion programs to foster physical, emotional and mental balance through an authentic connection with the natural world. Nature Immersion is defined as “unstructured free time in nature resulting in an intimate, deep and personal connection to the natural world”.

Our goal is to increase awareness of and connection to the natural world in order to foster compassion and empathy for the earth and all its inhabitants. To further this goal, Cedarsong Nature School offers 

nature immersion classes, programs, and camps de 
signed for people of all ages.

Cedarsong Nature School encourages students  to engage all their senses and increase their observation skills through its commitment to child-driven flow learning, emergent curriculum and inquiry-based teaching style. The flow of learning is interest-led and determined by the natural rhythms of the seasons; Our curriculum emerges organically with no overlying structure, schedule or agenda.

Part of our mission is to carefully record notes regarding  each year’s plant growth, and animal and insect activity, creating a database for the public record. It is our goal to not only reach people who have a predisposition towards nature but also those who do not have access to this type of experience, such as people who live in urban environments.

 

http://www.atoddlerinthetrees.com/7-questions-to-ask-when-considering-forest-school/

7 Questions to Ask When Considering Forest School

April 7, 2016

When I read about forest schools here first about three years ago, there was hardly any information about them.  None of the fancy documentaries and movies and articles and news programs that have profiled this great and legitimate path for learning.  Part of me wishes I had all that information too, it would have been less daunting! But part of me also knows that I probably would have made the same decision anyway.  If anything, the decision might have been a little easier for me, since I had to trust my gut instinct on that whole kooky notion of leaving my then two and a half-year old out in the woods all day, weather, elements and all.

Still, while it was my gut instinct that helped me go for it, there were some key questions that I ended up asking myself.  Not just when we first thought about it, but then again and again in the first days and weeks, even months, to determine and redetermine that this choice was the right one for us, and I thought I would share those here for those considering the forest schools program either here in Denmark, or in the multitude of other countries where these types of schools are also offered.  And none of these questions have anything to do with whether you’re an outdoors person yourself or if you enjoy making rations on a bunsen burner etc.  My point it, you don’t necessary have to be the “forest type” yourself in order to go for it, but you do have to believe and trust that all this forest stuff is ultimately a good thing.

Do you fundamentally believe that being outdoors all day, every day is right for your child?

This is the first question because it is probably the most important one, and I can’t stress that enough.  First, because it is critical that you think about this experience from the perspective of your child.  You know your child better than anyone, so really go with what your instinct is on whether this is a good fit for them.  In some cases, you might find that it’s all the recent articles and shows and all of that which have made the “idea” of forest schools appealing to us as adults as the next shiny thing, overlooking what might be the best fit for our child.
But on the flip side, it’s probably more likely that we have the opposite problem.  Meaning that, it might be that time outside and independence and self-driven exploration is what are children are craving.  But we as parents might have envisioned something else – like early education, and tutors and Mandarin Chinese.  If forest school is right for your child, are you willing to set aside whatever expectations you had so that your child gets what they need, and not what you thought you wanted?
The second reason that it is important is because there is a high chance you might doubt yourself in your decision.  More than once.  Especially on the days when your children might struggle a bit.  And if you’re an expat in Denmark, for example, they won’t just be getting used to the forest – that’s actually the easy part – but they will also be getting used to the culture and language.  It will seem easier some days in the beginning to pull them out and start all over with something safer…more traditional…so ask yourself, do you fundamentally think this is right?  If you do, go for it and remember that core belief on the days that you doubt yourself.

Do you trust your forest school institution and your forest school teachers?

This is arguably just as important as the first.  Trust is a critical part of making the forest school system work because by definition, we expose our kids to environments and challenges and tools and countless other things that have an element of potential difficulty or potential danger to them.  Good forest schools are run by extremely caring, trained staff who are capable in the areas they need to be good forest school teachers.  They might not follow the same protocols or have the same daily newsletters or all those doo-dads of traditional schools, but outdoors, in the woods, they have a complete handle on the situation.  Do you feel that they do? Do you trust that they do? Do you feel that the experience is there between the teachers and the institution so that when you leave after dropping them off for the day, you do so with confidence?

Are you okay with a different sequence to learning?

It’s a common misconception that while the children are out in the woods “all day” that they’re not learning anything, because they are busy playing.  But that’s not at all the case.  I’m still floored sometimes when my daughter will recite back the alphabet or spellings to me, or addition sequences, or strings of rhyming words…not to mention when she identifies plants I shouldn’t touch or random bird species I’ve never heard of.  I didn’t teach her those things, the forest school did.  But they don’t teach with traditional pen and paper, with desks and blackboards.  So learning occurs but it’s entrenched in their day and it often comes in different sequencing or at a different pace that we might expect? Are you okay with that?

Are you comfortable with dirt?

It goes without saying perhaps that children at forest school get dirty.  Really, really dirty.  They relish dirt, and it’s all part of their playground: dirt, mud, sand…you name it.  It will be on their clothes (constant laundry), in your car (constant car wash) and in random places you didn’t expect.  Making time for baths is a must.  So is scrubbing under fingernails.  So is replacing clothes and gears on a regular basis, not to mention having two sets of everything on hand.  It’s a good kind of dirty (remember the two kinds?), but it still is dirty.  I read in an article once that one of the main reasons teachers didn’t take their kids outside is because parents would call and complain about how dirty their kids would come home.  Would the parent calling be you?

Are you okay with a lot being out of your hands?

As our children transition to any school, we face the increasing pressure to be comfortable with the fact that much of their day is away from us.  But in forest school, there is also a good part of the day that’s out of your hands.  If you wanted to drop by and check on them at the school, they wouldn’t be there – they would already be out and about on their daily explorations.  You might not know exactly where they are because the original location for the day wasn’t the right one for some reason so they changed course to follow a deer herd, or chase the sun, or take advantage of a patch of fresh snow for sledding.  If you do have trust, as mentioned above, in the school and teachers, are you willing to follow through on that and trust that they are making the best decisions for the child/children throughout the day without your input?

Can you be on time?

In our school, we have a lot of flexibility on the drop-off window which is a godsend for parents. But in many places in the city, the children get an earlier start and unlike ours who ride public transport, they often take a chartered bus that departs at a given time.  Which means that if you miss the bus, you also miss school.  If you are looking at an institution that buses, or that has a fixed early non-negotiable departure time, can you realistically make that time every morning?

Are you prepared to be considered just a little bit weird?

Perhaps you might even be considered a hippie? But if you run in circles where choosing schools to align with prep schools is a thing, or where traditional schooling is highly valued, are you comfortable with friends and acquaintances thinking you’re slightly off-kilter? If you’re truly comfortable with yourself and the answer to the first question, what some other people think is the least of your worries, but even with high confidence, it alway stings the heart a bit when someone questions your parenting or choices.  And it certainly does happen (it usually sounds something like “That is so exciting that little Bobby goes to the woods all day…of course, we could never do that, I would never be able to feel that he was safe out there” or, “It’s so fantastic that Suzy does nothing but play all day – what kind of tutors have you lined up for her to make sure she will ever learn to read? “).  Are you okay shrugging off the comments of others from time to time because you fundamentally believe that being outside all day, every day is good for your child?