Getting Greener

This weekend our family is planting a fruit and vegetable garden in our yard. I'm slightly nervous, only because we haven't attempted to grow anything in the San Jose climate. In Nosara, we have fruit trees and wild cilantro. The plan here (based on what the kids want to grow) is to plant carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, watermelon and lots of herbs. Stay tuned to see what sticks! We' also starting a compost pile. These are two more "resolutions" we made as a family at the start of the school year.

Another resolution was to be sure we take advantage of every free moment to get outside and enjoy Costa Rica's incredible nature. Wednesday was a half day at school, so the boys and I took advantage of the open week-day afternoon and planned to head up the mountains behind our house to take a hike. The hike idea morphed into, "sledding" or "card boarding." Before leaving, the kids ran madly around the house searching for unused boxes to craft into "sleds."

After a precarious drive up the mountain to an ideal spot, the kids jumped eagerly out of the car, slipped under the barbed wire of the sloping cow pasture and hopped onto their boards. Weeeee! Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but it sure was hilarious either way. The scenery was so gorgeous, I felt like I was on the set of the movie, "Heidi."

In Super Natural Adventures news:

--Check out the latest SNA segment on paper (www.supernaturaladventures.com). In a variation on our SNA theme, this segment features several of Michael's classmates presenting the topic. They do an awesome job!

--Upcoming SNA segments include the interview Michael conducted with Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin and several other segments I shot with Michael and Will's classmates.

--The Jacobus brothers are currently featured in Kids LA Magazine and the tween magazine, Pixie. Boys' Life will feature an article on them in September.

Travel Creates Strong Family Ties

Anyone who has read this blog or my personal account of our Costa Rican escapades at www.gypsyjournalist.com knows that this whole adventure is all about us being together as a family--traveling together, learning together, growing together.

Nature For Kids, a great website, recently interviewed me about the impact of our lifestyle on our family. Here's a link to the article. Check it out!

"The Best Earth Day Ever!"

Earth Day 2009 in the Jacobus household was declared "the best Earth Day ever" by the kids.

The day kicked off with Steve and I heading off into the rain forest with an additional cameraman and Will's 4th grade class to shoot video for an upcoming Super Natural Adventures segment on the eco-system of the rain forest. What a fulfilling way to recognize Earth Day!

Late in the afternoon, Michael called from school to say his teacher was offering extra credit to kids who went to see Earth, the "new" movie from DisneyNature (who knew Disney had a nature division?? Everyone's getting in on the act!). The movie in fact is the massive documentary Planet Earth re-edited into a kid-friendly, movie-length feature. Those Disney people are SMART.

Normally, a movie on a school night wouldn't be remotely in the cards. But the kids had little homework and we all decided it would indeed be a great way to cap off Earth Day together (after playing outside for while first, of course!). The movie, like the original documentary, was gorgeous, concerning and inspiring. As we watched, each of us was thinking of our own Super Natural Adventures filming and the role we are trying to play to, like Planet Earth/Earth, get kids concerned about the state of the environment but also encourage them to positive action, not despair.

As we walked out of the theater, a massive lighting storm was lighting up the mountains. "Who wants to head up the mountain to check it out?" Steve asked. We were all in!

We drove and drove and drove--higher, darker night, brighter lightning--until we were at an amazing look out point, where we felt closer to the sky than the city far below. The lightning show was a spectacular, wondrous display by Mother Earth of her natural beauty and power. The fact that this was happening on Earth Day wasn't lost on any of us.

As we got back in the car, one of the kids starting singing, "Happy Earth Day to you..." to the tune of happy birthday. We all joined in and the lyrics sounded most poignant as we added the "...and many more!' line at the end of the first verse. We all then had a big laugh as Will started in on Verse 2: "How old are you?"

As we wound our way in the darkness back down the mountain, the conversation turned melancholy, with the kids stating they felt human beings had really messed things up for nature. "Would you be willing to radically--radically!--change your lives to make a difference?" I asked them. Without hesitation, they all chimed, "Yes."

This is how these seeds get planted with the Jacobus Family. Don't be surprised if in a year or so we REALLY have fallen off the grid...

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!

It's "Take a Child Outside Week!"

We're in the midst of "Take a Child Outside Week," an initiative started last year by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

It's fast becoming a national event, with a few hundred organizations around the United States signed on to participate this year.

What can you do to participate? Check out www.takeachildoutside.org and get some great tips for outdoor activities.

And while you're out there...don't forget to take some photos or video and submit it to Super Natural Adventures!