ALCAN ADVENTURE BLOG

As the (chirp, chirp) signs of Spring are beginning to appear and the (drip, drip) warmer temperatures are arriving; thoughts of gardening and preparations for our ALCAN Gardening Camp are underway. Kids and gardening? Why is this such a natural connection?

Top 10 Cool Things We Did at ALCAN Gardening Camp Last Year

10. Watered our flowers with rain water collected in whiskey barrels.
9.   Identified and thanked the helpful insects in our garden.
8.   Read aloud from gardening picture books and poetry.
7.    Started our own gardening journals.
6.   Wrote letters to local coffee shops asking for discarded coffee grounds.
5.   Experimented with composting and natural soil augmentation.
4.   Planted seeds and watched them sprout!
3.   Learned to recognize and name many common flowers.
2.   Prepared, planned, and planted a flowerbed at a bustling local business.
1.   Weeding races!

Caution: Participation may result in rosy cheeks, robust appetite, and dirty fingernails!

Sign up your 8-13 year old today, there are 3 weeks of ALCAN Gardening Camp to choose from. ALCAN GARDENING CAMP CLICK HERE

March 4, 2013 “The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” Peggy O'Mara, publisher, editor and owner of Mothering Magazine

As a parent and a teacher, I try to repeat this mantra to myself regularly. It has become a welcome friend in the journey to parenting to be proud of and to caring teaching.

What does it mean?

Imagine this scenario, your 6 year old, in her daily quest for independence and mastery of her environment, climbs into a tree at the park on your Sunday morning walk. With the mantra in mind, you consider your words carefully. With the choice of screeching in fear at your wide-eyed child, “Get down before you fall down!” or affirming her risk-taking behavior with an encouraging, “I knew you could do it.”

Which talk would you prefer your daughter to adopt as her inner voice?

In considering your own inner voice, the one that guides your adult decisions and life path, do you hear the talk your own parents chose? Is it their fear or their encouragement you hear?

By taking the responsibility of raising children to this level of intention, we guide our children in speaking kindly to themselves. A worthy challenge and a worthy goal.

March 1, 2013 “Take chances. Make mistakes. Get messy.”

Ms Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus series was certainly onto something with her far-flung field trips and hands-on approach to learning.

Parents know as well as teachers that asking questions and discovering the answers is the natural cycle of learning. Give a child a lump of clay, a sandy beach, a box of magnets, a flowerbed and envelope of seeds, paint and canvas, a butterfly net in an open field, or binoculars and a starry sky. Let the inquiry begin! For many children who spend their Autumn, Winter, and Spring learning in a traditional classroom; the opportunity to explore in the summers is essential to their development as lifelong learners and may be better suited to their learning style.

Ms Frizzle also knew that crafting these kinds of learning experiences inside the classroom was a monumental task. So she took it out of the classroom and handed it over to the students!

Learners grow in confidence and independence when give the opportunity to be risk-takers. Proponents of a constructivist model of learning describe a cycle of

For example,

A group of children are given a flowerbed, gardening tools, seeds, and access to information on gardening as desired. The leader reads a story to them and they begin drawing their ideas of how their garden will look. They are asked to provide a plan for the garden, lead the preparation and planting of the garden, observe with sketch books and photos the progress of the garden, and then reflect upon their experience through a presentation of their results and findings. The children are 8-13 years old.

Here is a look at their faces
ALCAN Adventure Gardening Camp - click here

To Register for the ALCAN Adventure Gardening Camp
click here