Why?

The Inside Outside School students are down in the woods right now. They are outside and free to imagine they are hunting, evading the enemy, getting ready to meet the Queen, lost children who have to take care of themselves.  Imagination and unstructured outdoor play are two answers to why we have Nature Literacy time built into our daily schedule.  The Healthy Kids Outdoor Act has been proposed by  Rep. Ron Kind and Senator Mark Udall.  You can follow this link to learn more about it.     http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/2011/11/guest-post-by-rep-ron-kind-d-wi-why-the-healthy-kids-outdoors-act-is-important/ In the article it says that a study "found that the most direct route to caring about environmental stewardship as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11."  That is what I believe.  When you read about the background of most major environmentalist and naturalists, you find a common denominator, free time in the woods as children.  They didn't get into it by studying global warming and endangered species.  If you don't love something, why would you try to save it?   As for imagination, we got that going on as well.  It is one of the 7 dimensions of Human Greatness (Lynn Stoddard) that our school is committed to.  People are getting on board with this as well, trying to figure out what to do to put imagination back into school.  Here is another great link to follow: http://www.good.is/post/imagination-summit-discusses-creativity-in-schools/  If you click down below after reading it, you can find a video clip of Ken Robinson talking about the radical change needed in education.  We know all about the radical change needed and we are creating a model that makes sense.  Come check us out!