Have you spent time with a young child, outdoors? Have you been around a group of youngsters in a spring time meadow, filled with colorful blossoms and the happy sounds of laughter and giggling? Did you ever spend time in a deep dark forest as a child, feeling that quiet sensory experience that fills eyes, ears, nose, mind, and heart? Can you recall how it was to experience cold winter weather, with sharp winds, seeking that sheltered spot underneath giant branches, behind thick trunks? Can you recall dusk in the fields and forests, when the light slowly fades and the sparkling stars emerge from the deeper colors of the night sky?
Children are able to fully and unselfconsciously immerse themselve into the loving arms of Mother Nature. Seemingly able to slip between the human form and the natural gestures of flora and fauna, the young child is capable of living more completely in the natural world than the highly awake adult. Children dance in the sunlight and flit in the rain, rejoice in the smallest of insects or flowers, and rest in the tall soft green grasses of summer. A stick and a stream can occupy a child for a whole season! In playing, the child begins to grasp and develop concepts about physics, chemistry, light, mechanics, hydraulics, music, art, movement, and history!
We must recognize the rapidly diminishing access to the original playground of the Human Child which are areas of unstructured wilderness. Access to these precious resources is limited in most urban setting, in which reside the vast majority of today's young. The child used to reign over the meadow and wood, and now we are most likely to see green of painted tennis court, sculptured and manicured parks, or the front lawn as we head to and from the automobile, on our way somewhere.
Shining Star Waldorf School is deliberately counteracting the current trend to eliminate or reduce outdoor time while at school including the annihilation of recess even in the youngest grades, and is offering a four day elementary program that will devote 25 % of the week (Thursdays) to a nature-immersion all day outdoor year round program.
The Thursday program will be led by professional teachers who are well versed in the arts of survival, ecology, trekking, orienteering, farming, hiking, camping, plant identification, teaching, and exploring. The sites for the Thursday Program will vary in a wide sweeping arc in and around the Portland metro area.
Come join us as we pioneer a revolution in education that brings children back into the lap of Mother Earth and educates using a healthy outdoor focus each week. Lessons can be learned from the Book Nature that will benefit your child (grades 1-5) for a lifetime!
Our four day grades program begins in September with room for 30 children. Please sign up early!
Suggested Reading: Last Child in the Woods
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