Happy 5th. Birthday*, Outside School!!! 🥳 🍰 🥂 💞

We just wrapped up our fifth summer camp at Alvarado Park, and already I’m looking forward to seeing the kids again next year! I still have space for the school year, so please let your friends and family members know all about it. The school year starts on 9/5/23, with applications due by 8/15/23. The school year is really where all the best adventures happen, all year ‘round!

Enrollment

Now enrolling for the Outside School school year program!

Apply by August 15!

For more information, please go to www.outside.school:

Nature News

Everyone really enjoyed climbing this summer, on rocks large and small, plus they found some great trees and logs. Those set the stage for all sorts of shops: pine cone, weapons hut, and even a bar. Cocktails only cost two leaves- anyone can afford that!

Yesterday, I was taking in views around me from Sonoma Raceway. I was struck by a few things:

-Fall is nigh! While there are still a lot of green leaves on deciduous trees, a lot of them are turning brown and scratching crispily along the ground’s surface as they blow by in the breeze,

-It was incredibly clear! How fortunate that this water year’s rains were abundant and there is far less smoke and haze than we’ve been accustomed to over the last few years,

-There’s still a lot of water! Pools of water amongst the agricultural fields have still not evaporated off nor sunk into the water table,

-Look at all that vegetation! This landscape is of a wide expanse of the northernmost part of San Pablo Bay. In the far background is Mount Diablo, while you can view a long line of green above the waterfront- people’s homes in the lowlands are surrounded by trees and other plants, leaving the largely protected rangelands in the hills to their typical summertime golden hues.

Inspiration and Resources

“California Department of Education: Schooling at Home”

Outside School partners up with families looking for alternative, organic, natural education for their families. As such, it is not a “school of record.” There are a multitude of ways to provide for your child’s education, and private school affidavits are now available in August instead of October! Find out more from the California Department of Education:

“The Hamilton Report”

“‘…I started secondary school and was placed in the lowest level set for every subject. No matter how hard I worked, I was told I wasn’t smart enough, that I had no potential, no future. Eventually, I was expelled for something I didn’t do, a grand finale to the years I spent in the headmaster’s office for alleged misbehaviour…

I, like so many other Black students, lost my confidence in school and struggled to see a future where I could be successful. But like any other child, I was born with potential. It was the system that failed me and almost destroyed my sense of confidence and many dream of living to my full potential. Looking back, it’s all so clear to me. Why would I believe in myself, if my school never believed in me?…’ -LH

The Commission recognizes that ‘race’ is a social construct historically used to categorize different groups of people based on perceived physical differences. It has been found that genetic differences within ethnic groups are actually greater than the genetic differences between different ethnic groups and there is no biological basis for defining differences by race.

Despite there being no biological merit in the concept of race, racism and race discrimination are still prevalent in (UK) society. The term race is still widely used in legal and policy contexts.”

Read it:

“US-German Satellites Show California Water Gains After Record Winter”

Finally, we had a substantial amount of rain last Winter and Spring! Here’s an article from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with supporting data in the form of photos and a video showing the difference it all made to get our area out of drought!

“Young adults are struggling with their mental health. Is more childhood independence the answer?”

By Holly Korbey for KQED, one quote from the article that speaks to what I do with Outside School (and why I do it) is, “‘When we are controlling a young adult’s experiences, and they go without that full range of emotional experience,’ said the center’s Director for Strategic Initiatives Courtney Joly-Lowdermilk, ‘we’re actually curbing people’s opportunities to live full lives, and have the full range of human experience.’”

“The Joys of Boring Birding”

I don’t actually know much about birding. I enjoy Forest Jarvis’s frequent facebook posts, so also enjoyed a basic primer on backyard birding. Check it out!

This month I have a special access pass to the Columbia Employee Store available only for my newsletter subscribers. If you want such access in the future, head on up to the “Contact” section above and sign up to receive my emails, not usually sent more than once a month.

*Actually, it started in 2012, but I got my fictitious business name and started operating with my current format on this day five years ago.

Take care,

Heather

Heather Taylor, EMT

Founder/Director/Teacher, Outside School (www.outside.school)

Founder, Teach Outside (www.teachoutside.org)

California Master Teacher

Feel free to forward to anyone you like!