It is very interesting on Fridays when the age groups are completely mixed all day for Peace Circle, electives, nature literacy, community stewardship, snack, lunch, and HIVE. The children learn so much from each other in collaboration, reinforcing each other's ideas, and adding to them. At HIVE, often amazing solutions arise to address chronic issues. For example, almost every week someone puts "toilets" on the agenda. The problem being that sometimes people don't flush. The many creative invented spellings of toilet is a study in itself. This week after acknowledging that this is still a problem, discussion ensued. One student suggested keeping a tally of how many times an unflushed toilet is encountered on the chalkboard outside and then collecting data on whether this is improving, with a goal of zero tally marks. We were all excited by the idea. At the very least, it is something beyond just mentioning the problem every week without any action to attempt. Here are a few pictures from recent Friday electives.
One of the amazing things about IOS is that right from the beginning in kindergarten, students have a voice and a vote. In this clip two kindergarten students discuss an agenda item about how in group tag games they get tagged right away as soon as they are unfrozen. They are very passionate about this. It turns out that a previous ruling from a HIVE meeting has been forgotten that gave them a 5 second spacer to get away. No one was abiding by this ruling. It was a good reminder.
It is very interesting on Fridays when the age groups are completely mixed all day for Peace Circle, electives, nature literacy, community stewardship, snack, lunch, and HIVE. The children learn so much from each other in collaboration, reinforcing each other's ideas, and adding to them. At HIVE, often amazing solutions arise to address chronic issues. For example, almost every week someone puts "toilets" on the agenda. The problem being that sometimes people don't flush. The many creative invented spellings of toilet is a study in itself. This week after acknowledging that this is still a problem, discussion ensued. One student suggested keeping a tally of how many times an unflushed toilet is encountered on the chalkboard outside and then collecting data on whether this is improving, with a goal of zero tally marks. We were all excited by the idea. At the very least, it is something beyond just mentioning the problem every week without any action to attempt. Here are a few pictures from recent Friday electives.
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![]() It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of our country. At the Inside Outside School, we feature one of the seven "Dimensions of Human Greatness," each week. This week we worked with INQUIRY. It is a perfect time in the semester to be asking additional questions, focusing on what is of foremost importance to us in our study of the forces of nature as we are moving forward toward our EXPO where we will present our independent and small group studies to peers, parents and grandparents. We have a very special school meeting called "Peace Circle," every Friday morning to begin our elective day. This morning we heard the story of John James Audubon. At the age of 18 he was living in Pennsylvania where his father had sent him during the Napoleonic Wars. The young naturalist was curious about the Pewee Flycatchers that had built a nest in a limestone cave near their farmhouse. He moved his unschooling classroom into the cave, becoming a familiar feature to the pewees. John's inquiry: Where do these birds disappear to in winter? Will the same ones come back to this cave in the spring? Some great thinkers, like Aristotle, had claimed that small birds disappearing in winter, hibernated under water until spring. Some scientists of his day believed that the birds flew to the moon for winter. John was skeptical! John decided to put little bands around the feet of the offspring of the pewees. He was the first person (a teenager) to band birds in North America. From the seeds of John's passionate curiosity, eventually the Audubon Society grew with its mission "to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity." John James drew birds all the time, but he would burn his drawings every year on his birthday, hoping to improve his drawing over the course of the next year...human greatness in the making. The story of John James Audubon was such a perfect way for us to illustrate inquiry. After the story, we opened the doors to our theater. Meditating, we became so quiet we could hear bird songs from outside. Guess what? We heard "fee bee," the call of the Pewee Flycathcher's cousin, the Eastern Phoebe. This is one of the ways in which our woodland campus mysteriously synchronizes the beauty and magic of nature with our learning. Perhaps it was the call of the phoebe early this morning that reminded me about this book in our school library. I have come to the study of ornithology a bit later in my life, but our ornithology elective teacher this semester is a 12 year old boy, Sebastian Casarez. Sebastian is a member of both the Travis and Williamson County Audubon Societies. He began his inquiry at a very young age and has become a local bird expert. He will be honored next week by the Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center at the 8th annual Celebration of Children in Nature of Austin Collaborative's award dinner, (along with Inside Outside School's most excellent environmental educator, Rachel Brice.) Perhaps some of our students have stumbled upon something that will become a lifelong study for them already. One thing we know is that there will be new horizons in science, art, music, and mathematics for them to approach. Only false pride would cause us to think there are not additional errors in our understanding of the vast mysteries to clear up. Our important job as educators is to keep the love of learning alive. It is all too easy to close down an open mind.
Our yearlong theme is "May the Forces Be With You." Weather is one of the first investigations that several classes are beginning with. We are noticing the lack of rain, but since we are putting a new roof on the building, we are okay if the rain holds off another week. It is still hot and dry, but always a few degrees cooler in the woods where we gather in the afternoon for Nature Literacy. We are also offering Multiple Intelligence classes, (art, natural science, library and music) in addition to our Friday electives. This semester we have survival, helping hands, shop, theater, sewing, cooking, upcycling art, ornithology, mythology, science fair, apothecary and Lego robotics. All of that is happening as well as the important core classwork and the ongoing integration of the Seven Dimensions of Human Greatness. This week our dimension is interaction, so it is a perfect time for me to reach out to update you, our beautiful blog readers. Enjoy!
On Friday afternoons at 1:00, you will find the students at the Inside Outside School gathering in the library for the Hive. Over the course of the week, students add things to the agenda that they wish to introduce to the community. Looking over the Hive notes for this semester I made a list of things that have been discussed, debated, and/or decided: How did the survival skill class's shelter get destroyed? Where do we put boots and shoes? People are walking into the kitchen after the inside spaces clan just mopped. Can we have a pet day? Can we have book character day? Can we have opposite day/pj day/Pokémon card day? Talking vs. Gossip The trials and tribulations of Capture the Flag: people use decoy flags, people pretend they don't know where the jail is and wander around really looking for the flag. People give away the hiding spot by looking where it was hidden. Which side of the compost is the active side and which is not? Do we have a disaster plan? Bragging People don't flush/clean off the seat if you sprinkle. Sharing lipstick "Stop" means "Stop" Lola (the parakeet) got popcorn. Trash is being left on the porch after snack and lunch. Is it ok to catch lizards, frogs and dragonflies? throwing sticky weed bringing stuff from home that gets broken If you share your food who throws away the trash? Here is what is on the board so far for this week... I hope you enjoyed your glimpse into our Hive. You may have noticed that our Dimension of Human Greatness is posted on the Hive agenda each week. I will end with a quote I wrote down in our Hive notes recently from Molly. The dimension that week was "Identity." "You always have identity even if you are not talking about it."
Once we go into Spring Break, things begin to change so rapidly that the afternoon woods are not the same woods we visited in the morning. When we returned to school yesterday we were greeted by a blast of new spring greens. Our gardens and grasses are thriving after the rains we've had, and in some sections of the campus, we have deep, deep mud. That makes working on the "Buggy Pond," a real treat. Every day it changes and evolves. With the birth of baby goats, we now have goat milk. Rachel, our farm manager, faithfully trudges through the mud each morning to milk Pumpkin. It turns out that Miz Mocha isn't going to be a milk goat, although her little billy baby, Latte, gets plenty. Rachel's class is experimenting with goat milk yogurt. They are making their own yogurt culture. We have plenty of spring projects going, erosion control being one of the top priorities. Through a generous donation of materials from Whittlesey, we will be able to tackle the task. Erosion is one of the things that most schools cannot teach through hands on methodology. Not so at IOS! No text book teaching for us! We have erosion in the creek, uphill, downhill and all around the campus. ![]() Our gardens continue to grow and new things are planted almost daily. The students are learning how to rotate crops from season to season, how to manage pests, and when to harvest the perfect produce. Our yearlong theme, "What's For Dinner," has proven to be very rich ground for growing knowledge. Rachel Carson said, "If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years." The good fairies that nurture wonder have sent us a gift basket to open after the Equinox.
![]() In a group of very curious children at the Inside Outside School, I've been told mine has won the award for asking the most questions. I am proud of him for that achievement. I have been asked for my comments pertaining to raising a curious child. I am humbled by my King of Questions, but here is some insight into things that might have fanned his flame of curiosity a bit. Down a rabbit hole of what my husband would lovingly call “very derivative” researching, I became curious about curiosity. A very basic tenet in that area of research is that curiosity follows an upside-down U-shaped curve along the axes of knowledge and intensity of curiosity. When examined, that tenet fits very well with what we know intuitively. If you know nothing or very little about something, you are not that curious about it. It is simply unknown or very, very foreign to you. There seems to be no reason why you should pursue more knowledge about it. However, if you know a little bit more, it becomes a bit more familiar, and you start to think, “This is something that I need to know about,” (your curiosity intensity increases). It follows along in this way until you start to think of yourself as a complete expert and then, things get boring. There’s just nothing left to learn about that subject (your curiosity intensity starts along the down-slope, decreasing). Keeping this model in our head of how curiosity waxes and wanes, here are things that I think are useful for increasing your child’s natural curiosity.
Suggestions for big subjects and skills: cooking, building with wood or electronics, fixing, foraging, creative writing
In fact, you might want to take this a step further by pointing them to other avenues to continue their investigation. In the end, showing your child that you don’t know the answer will give them the confidence to keep looking. Occasionally, you get tired of the questions. That is ok and natural. Do not let this tempt you into telling your child false answers or non-answers (like “because I said so” or “just because”). Instead, the truth is best. Children understand a need to relax and rest. Give them tools to research on their own as early as you can in their life so that they can continue down their road of learning even when you need a rest. Do not be afraid to let children research independently at a very early age. Show them Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc. These websites even have voice search for children who are too young to read. Do keep an eye on what they are being exposed to, and set filters accordingly. But also do give them boundless fuel for their burning curiosity. Go to the library regularly and explore it all. Let them pull down stacks of cookbooks or computer books from the adult section if they wish. ![]()
Here are some examples of filling up these times with creativity and learning. In a car ride, read to children or play open ended games. One game we love to play is “What am I thinking about?” We tried 20 questions, but that was one game we ended up changing! Instead, we are allowed to ask as many yes/no questions of the thinker as we want. On a long walk, take a bag or two with you to pick up all sorts of things. Take lots of pictures to identify plants or structures later. Use a data connection if you have it to research on the spot. Learn some foraging skills to add an extra dimension to nature lore. When waiting at a doctor’s office or in a line, every magazine rack can become a game similar to “Where’s Waldo?” A notebook in your purse can be a canvas for your child. If they are too young to draw much on their own, let them dictate what you draw (it turns silly quick!), or give them a background to turn their scribbles into embellishment (my favorite was a cupcake sketch, then it gets decorated).
We were lucky because we were forced to give him what every child needs. If you want your child to keep asking questions, make sure you listen to those questions. Make sure you understand. Make sure you explore every facet of what they really mean.
Thank you, Susannah Martin for writing this beautiful recipe for a curious child! This semester we initiated a CSA. Eight families subscribed to receive a basket every other Friday. Our last baskets delivered on our final Friday of the semester were the best so far. We had turnips and radishes from "below"... and rosemary, mint, mung bean sprouts, peas, pea greens and pea flowers, mixed greens, chard, and nopales as well as items from cooking, craft and apothecary classes... pumpkin blondies, whole wheat bread rolls, peppermint patties, peppermint play-doh, Christmas tree ornaments and goldenrod tincture. We also finished up semester electives like survival skills, and theater (with mystery dinner theater.) This has been an amazing semester for our joy-filled community. We had our first Woodland Faire in November and our second school campout in December. At the end of each day, we "harvest" our favorite moments of the day. My favorite thing to harvest this semester was introducing nature journaling to the kindergarten. Our favorite spot has been the farmyard. Happy Holidays! Today is Friday. We have electives most of the day. The video above is our folk dance class. While they were dancing, the survival class students were making cordage out of ragweed. They learned a couple weeks ago that century plants are not good plants to work with when making cord. ![]() Count Chickula hatched here almost 2 weeks ago. Today we brought home 3 little lady hen chicks to keep him company. Sadly our duck Cheetah, the duckling that hatched here on October 1st, is still an only child, but she moved outside to the barnyard this morning. ![]() Our big hens have a new coop. They have just moved in this week and are very happy about the larger accommodations. Maybelline and the goats feel right at home going in to borrow a mouthful of hay throughout the day. Students in the photography class chose to focus their lenses on the barnyard this morning. These are the two goats that have been hanging out with our visiting billy goat, Little Dude, who goes home tomorrow. We hope to have kids in March. Our apothecary class just finished harvesting goldenrod on campus and making tincture. It is good for canker sores, allergies, eczema, arthritis, colds and flatulence. Sewing class is finishing up ghost puppets today. This is just about Friday. Soon I will report on our CSA. We have sent home CSA buckets 2 times so far this season. All this and reading, writing, arithmetic. What could be finer?
![]() CSA and Farmer's Market Stand at IOS this year! A CSA is a community supported agricultural endeavor. This year we are stepping into new territory as we introduce two new projects to our school family as part of our yearlong theme, "What's For Dinner." We plan to start small with weekly produce baskets for perhaps 5 to 7 subscribing families. The students will be integrating the development and application of math, reading, writing, observation and exploration tools as we take this new step together. Students will work at the school's farmer's market a few times this school year and volunteer at the Pflugerville farmer's market and community gardens. Our students will learn a variety of skills through these projects, including marketing strategies, customer service, budgeting, finance, recipe development, and self-confidence, but best of all, they will be having fun outside in the magic world of nature. You will be hearing more about this as we take our next steps. ![]() Our gluten-free cooking class had a blast cooking and baking our way through the year! We practiced important kitchen skills such as washing our hands beforehand, measuring ingredients, careful stove and oven procedures, rolling dough, and trusting our instincts as well as our recipes. Our class made many delicious foods this year, including homemade pretzels, cheesy herb pasta, cinnamon rolls, flapjacks, Earth Day balls, cute grilled cheeses and fruit snacks, smoothies, ice cream-in-a-bag and much more! They especially loved doing some blind taste-testing of apple varieties and cheeses. (If your child has an inexplicable desire for gruyere or Gouda, this might be why!) I hope their enthusiasm for all things culinary continues to grow as they do! |
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