350 Day!

Today is International Day of Climate Action, promoted by 350.org, whose mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

Today people in 181 countries are coming together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 5200 events around the world. people are gathering to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.

We began our celebration today by joining about 30 students, teachers and parents who gathered this morning to clear land on school property to create a vegetable garden. Led by two dedicated permaculturists from the organization Huertas Donde Sea!! our group toiled hard for four hours under the tropical sun, swinging pick axes, working shovels to dig up grass, using the wheel barrel to cart it away.

Yes, it could have been done faster by a small group of adults using machinery (and some adults thought that might have been a good idea), but that would have missed the point. Creating a garden isn't something to get done quickly, with as little work as possible, so you can check it off your list.

Creating a garden is about communing with the Earth. Touching it is a good place to start! Planting a garden, in the manner of permaculture, is also about creating community. A small group of adults doing it all with machines would have totally missed the greater purpose. And moments of clarity like this one, from a seventh grade boy as he dug in the dirt:

"I am suddenly remembering that I used to garden with my grandmother when I was little. I loved that time with her and with the earth. Now I spend most of my free time watching TV or playing soccer. I'm glad I came today. Can I come next week?"

For more information on climate change and the international day of action, visit 350.org For a cool video on climate change check this out.

Super Natural Adventures in the Classroom

Now that 2009 is in full swing we can truly appreciate what little free time we have, both as parents and teachers. I know I have my work cut out for me this spring if I want to keep all my proverbial balls in the air. One exciting new project I’m working on is getting Super Natural Adventures into the classrooms of my two youngest sons (or more accurately, getting those children out of the classroom!) Both Michael and Will are going on class field trips this spring and SNA is hopping on board to film their adventures and turn them into segments to post on the website.

Each field trip will be different in the content (and characters) but they will both get the children out of the deductive, structured style of learning they’re all too accustomed to and out into the wild world of inductive education. With inductive learning, children become co-teachers of their lessons as they are able to experience the world first hand and draw their own conclusions.

What ‘s interesting about inductive learning is that teachers don’t need to give the children information in the form of answers, but rather questions that allow them to process and interpret that information for themselves. In short, the teacher is helping the students learn on their own. In the article, “The Many Faces of Inductive Teaching and Learning” by Michael Prince and Richard Felder, it is stressed that internalization of information occurs when children are able to connect what they’re learning in the classroom to the outside world. (Cue SNA video clip…)

Super Natural Adventures is a perfect example of inductive learning and can be used in any classroom for any age group. Simply determine which unit of your lesson fits in with the SNA content (i.e. environmental issues, ecosystems, animals, and the list goes on…) and plan a field trip with your students to explore and learn first hand. The kids will be in charge of researching the content, developing a story line and ultimately shooting the video. And the real bonus is that once they post the video online, they’re able to share their experience with the rest of the world, which gets them more than a little enthusiastic about doing the project!

Let me know what video ideas your class comes up with!

Parents and Educators Love Super Natural Adventures!

We are receiving some great feedback on the site and on the overall concept of SNA.

Here are some of the comments:

"I found SNA phenomenal!!! What a wonderful idea and a great teaching tool. I couldn’t keep quiet about it to my friends (moms)...I am sooo impressed... The videos are educational, fun, well-done, so professional--just amazing. Your kids do a fantastic job on them. They make it so upbeat and exciting."

--Veronique, mom of two, San Jose

"My kids really enjoyed watching the videos. They can't wait to get outside now and have their own Super Natural Adventure! Thanks for inspiring them!"

--Tom, father of three, New York

"You are fantastic parents who have learned how to give your children an opportunity of a lifetime -- a REAL EDUCATION!!!!!"

--Mrs. Nash, elementary school educator, instructor for teachers, Milwaukee

Thanks for all the support, educators and fellow parents!

Let's continue to get kids excited about nature and the environment!

Today Show Focuses on the Importance of Kids Connecting to Nature

It's not just SNA suggesting that kids get outside! There's a world-wide movement taking place!

The Today Show recently did a peice on Nature Deficit Disorder and getting kids outside. I hope you too are getting more and more inspired each day to send your kids outside to have their own Super Natural Adventures! Encourage them to share their experiences on our site.

School-Age Kids Free to Play Unsupervised?

An article a few months ago in the Los Angeles Times talks about how a woman named Lenore Skenazy of New York City gave her son the freedom to "play" freely and how she set off a maelstrom of criticism for it.

For the LATimes editorial Click here

For the original article by Lenore that set off the firestorm Click here

Heaven knows how I'd be persecuted if people in the States really knew the freedoms we've given our kids since moving here! After our first year in Costa Rica we came back to Milwaukee for the summer and rented an apartment downtown. It was a ball for all of us to be in such an urban environment after so much jungle! But we brought with us our newly-cultivated freedoms.

One day the kids were bored (no jungle to roam!). So, similar to the woman profiled in the article above, Steve and I gave them (ages 8, 9 and 11 at the time) one of our cell phones, $20 and the suggestion of exploring the lakefront park down the street and perhaps visiting the nearby children's museum (which Steve and I were active in helping to found when we lived in Milwaukee and with which our kids were very familiar).

We received our first check-in phone call at the appointed time. "Hi Mom and Dad. We're at the Art Museum." "Really? Why not the children's museum?" "They wouldn't let us in without adults." "But the ART Museum does??" "Yes. We're checking out the exhibit on comics."

Later, we received an update call letting us know that they'd enjoyed the exhibit and were now having lunch on the museum's terrace (they had to split a sandwich because the $20 didn't get them very far!). They bummed around the park area, then came home at the agreed upon time.

Clearly, I'm in the camp of Skenazy, whose website states, "We believe in safe kids. ... We do NOT believe that every time school-age children go outside, they need a security detail." (Check out Skenazy's website, FreeRange Kids which is all about giving kids the freedom to be.)

The author of the LA Times article cites statistics to back up Skenazy: "We parents have sold ourselves a bill of goods when it comes to child safety. Forget the television fear-mongering: Your child stands about the same chance of being struck by lightning as of being the victim of what the Department of Justice calls a 'stereotypical kidnapping.' And unless you live in Baghdad, your child stands a much, much greater chance of being killed in a car accident than of being seriously harmed while wandering unsupervised around your neighborhood."

When someone we know (all info expunged to protect her...and us, from her!) with children of similar ages heard the story of our kids' afternoon excursion, she was dumb-founded and gave us a piece of her mind about how ridiculously irresponsible we were as parents. We actually had felt very pleased with ourselves, seeing that experience as an indicator of how we were raising such independent and responsible kids.

What do you think?