Tell the DOED: Get Kids Outside and Learning!

I received this information in an email from the Sierra Club regarding the No Child Left Inside Act, which is currently being looked at by the Department of Education (DOE) for reauthorization.  The No Child Left Inside website states that the DOE is requesting comments on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, the official name of the act), as they draft new language in the bill.  The following is a sample e-mail provided by the Sierra Club that you may wish to personalize and send to the DOE at ESEA.comments@ed.gov.


The following is taken from the Sierra Club Website:

America's K-12 students need your support to make sure they have opportunities to learn about the natural world, get outdoors and develop a foundation for success in the green economy.  The Department of Education is currently considering the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (a.k.a. No Child Left Behind) and we need your help to make sure that environmental education does not get left behind.

Subject:  Please Include Environmental Education in the Elementary and and Secondary Education Act

Dear Secretary Duncan,

As you consider strategies to strengthen the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, I urge you to include the provisions outlined in the No Child Left Inside Act (S.866 and H.R. 2054), which would expand opportunities for environmental and outdoor education in public schools across the nation.

Environmental education has been shown to improve student achievement across core subject areas and increase engagement in learning.  A recent major study of experiential environmental education concluded that science test scores of at-risk youth could be improved upwards of 27 percent by outdoor environmental education.

Learning in the outdoors is also known to improve critical thinking, motivation to learn, self-esteem, conflict-resolution skills, problem solving, and classroom behavior.  Time spent outdoors during the school day would also help to promote active lifestyles that can help fight the obesity epidemic that threatens our children.  Furthermore, environmental education will give our students the knowledge and skills to tackle complex problems and succeed in the green economy.

Leaving environmental education out of the administration's priorities for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization would be a missed opportunity to improve student achievement and to address President Obama's priorities of energy independence, a strengthened economy, and a healthier nation.


If you are sending an e-mail, address it to ESEA.comments@ed.gov

For additional information regarding this bill, check out the No Child Left Inside website, the North American Association for Environmental Education site, and  the Open Congress site.

Autumn Days

There is just something about this time of year that makes autumn my favorite season. It is the changing leaves on the aspen trees and the ones that have scattered to the ground paving the the road in yellow as it winds through the aspen groves. It is the way the air smells when I take the time to inhale, taking in the smell of the sun, the ponderosas, the dry leaves and the crisp fall air. It is seeing the moon light up Pike's Peak, and it is watching the students who come up to camp enjoying just being and playing.

As I wandered around last weekend to watch groups of kids and families enjoying the outdoors for our No Child Left Inside Open House, I made my way across a field of tall dry grasses. I could hear voices of excitement but couldn't see the people laughing through the trees. I kept walking towards the sounds and voices. As I crossed through a line of aspens and pines on the edge of the meadow it was like a curtain was lifted to reveal a magical wonderland, a secret world. Kids were laughing, running, playing, carrying logs and sticks, engaging their parents, inviting them into their world of imagination and creation to build a fort from what they could find around them. I could have stood and watched forever as they added extra rooms, tried to fill in the gaps so that the wind wouldn't blow through, and sat inside pretending it was their home.

Here are a couple of quotes from 6th graders who have been inspired while sitting and just taking in the season that surrounds us now.

"I feel like I see these trees and bushes and rocks everyday in bits. They used to be like small strokes in large paintings. Now they are masterpieces all by themselves."

"Being adventurous makes you want to be more curious."

"The simple life of nature stuns me"

Find time to be simple. What better way to spend fall days than playing, soaking in the suns warmth, allowing yourself to slow down, to find your inner child and sharing it with those who you care about.

Growing Up (in the) Wild

The No Child Left Inside Family Fun Day at Sanborn Western Camps was a huge success this last weekend. Over 100 parents, teachers, children and their friends enjoyed a beautiful, Colorado fall day amid the golden aspens and tall Ponderosa pines learning about animals, building forts, roasting marshmallows, playing games, and loving the outdoors and their time together.

I had the opportunity to be a participant on a few of the guided hikes with my own children and a few families from my son’s school. At one point, while hiking on the trail, one of my “mom friends” called out to our kids to “stay with the group, it might be dangerous up there.” Her comment gave me pause. Sure, as far as predators go, we’ve got our fair share: red-tailed hawks, coyotes, bobcats, and more. And yet I realized I am far more comfortable with my child running through the woods than I am with him running through the grocery store (trees don’t tend to give you disapproving looks, I suppose).

Her comment, however, is indicative of an unhealthy shift that makes moms into community pariahs, roaming kids into deviants, and “safe” kids into screen-watching, computer-clicking, tech-savvy individuals—who have limited confidence in themselves because they have not been able to interact and connect with other kids through real, unstructured, free-play types of activities in the outdoors.

While building a fort with our kids, another mother regaled me with a tale from her college days (mid 80’s) where their outdoor leadership club hitchhiked from Ohio to New Mexico to go backpacking for a week. “Of course, it was much safer then,” was her comment. Really? Or is it just easier to dismiss an act of borderline foolishness (or youthful ingenuity?) as typical of a different time—especially when that “time” itself didn’t involve the level of instant information (or dis-information) that exists right now.

As parents and as youth development professionals, it is our responsibility to take care of our kids and the kids enlisted to our care, and to help them become responsible, productive, happy adults. It is our responsibility to assimilate as much information as possible and make responsible decisions regarding the well-being of our kids and campers. It is also our responsibility to allow them the freedom to make mistakes, deal with consequences, and to feel empowered by the good choices they can and will make.

I can only hope that, when and if my kids have the opportunity to walk to school, or go on a Lone Vigil backpacking trip by themselves, or ride their bikes to a friend’s house (with or without a parent at home), I will have equipped them with enough information to make informed, wise decisions. And, if their decisions aren’t the best, that—with a loving heart--I can help them understand and deal with the consequences, then grow and learn from the experience. One of my favorite bloggers, Lenore Skenazy says, "That’s why it’s called “self-esteem.” Not “parent-assisted esteem.”

As we all watched our kids tripping over roots without tears, getting poked in the eye with branches and laughing, slipping on moss covered rocks and quickly dusting off pants, lifting heavy logs as a team, sharing a treasured feather with a friend, chatting together in the outdoor lunch buffet line, and safely leading each other on a blindfolded trust walk through an aspen grove—I think we all realized a lesson about how strong and powerful and wise our kids really can be….and already are.