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My day job during the summer is being the head teacher at an outdoor, nature summer camp. I work with the three, four, and five year olds and am blessed to work at a place, Common Ground, that is ideally based at the foot of West Rock Ridge State Park, and on a three building, high school campus that hosts a working farm. Our director, Rebecca Holcombe, and my colleagues are committed to “outdoor education,” “nature study,” fun, adventure, play, authentic, memorable learning experiences, and the growth and development of the whole child. During the “school year” I teach at Leila Day Nursery where we are also committed to outdoor education and nature study, and we put great stock in the notion that children learn through play and authentic, memorable learning experiences. Inevitably, and perhaps for some good reason, there is a bit more emphasis on fun and adventure at a Summer Camp and a bit more emphasis on “learning standards” and “assessment” at a preschool/nursery/Kindergarten school, but I am committed to the absolute continuum between pleasure, play, engagement, learning, and the growth and development of the whole child.

July in nature, for the plants and animals in New England, is a time of growth, development and maturation. Mary Holland writes:

“The young of most species are born, raised, and taught how to survive on their own within a few short months. Birds fledge. Insects hatch and mate. Tadpoles mature. Young turtles  and snakes, most without guidance or protection, learn how to secure food and avoid predators. On the other hand, most young mammals receive intense instruction from their parents  on everything from avoiding detection to hunting techniques. Flowering plants that were successful in attracting pollinators produce fruit. The spore-bearing structures of non-flowering fungi pop up and disperse their spores. Plants and animals alike make the most of the warm summer days.”

There is a lot going on in the natural world, but I am amused by Mary Holland’s construction, “young mammals receive intense instruction from their parents on everything from avoiding detection to hunting techniques.” I am struck by the intentional richness of the outdoor “curriculum”  for the “young mammals” at Common Ground Summer Camp. Compare the relatively long period of child-care and education required to raise immature, human mammals to maturity, and that required by a skunk.

“Striped skunks  give birth sometime between late April and early June in most of New England. At birth, young skunks’s eyes are closed , they have little hair, and they don’t hear until they are two weeks old. Now, two months later, they are bright eyed and bushy-tailed.  Weaned from their mother, this year’s young are starting to disperse, heading of on their own to find insects, small mammals, and fruit to dine on.” Skunks are sexually mature at one year old and start the process all over again. “They live 2-3 years in the wild but can live up to ten years in captivity.”

The three, four  and five year olds at Common Ground are learning about the forest, the farm, family and society, how to relate to their peers and people that are older and younger they are.  They are learning about, and we are helping them learn about, navigating overlapping social spaces and the natural world. They are learning about, among other things, transitions, in-between places, separating from loved ones, making new friends, trust, fear, being able to take care of themselves and their stuff, going to the bathroom in a busy, institutional bathroom and outside in the woods, composting/gardening/farming, picking blueberries, taking some of a plant without ripping the whole thing out the ground, patience, technique, cooking, how to build a fire, eating and enjoying their food, understanding where their food comes from, keeping hydrated, how to conserve their water on a hike up and down the mountain, sharing, playing together, dealing with adversity, not hurting one another, controlling their impulses, accepting limits to their behavior, playing with one another, dealing with other people’s anger, confusion and greed, being kind, communicating their needs and ideas, voicing their experiences and listening to others do the same, listening to one another and their teachers, being compassionate, learning about different plants and what they might offer to people and other animals, food and energy webs, mushrooms, worms, decomposition, insects, pollination, frogs, metamorphosis, turtles, shelter, snakes, how to hold a frog or a snake without hurting it, birds, singing, listening to the languages of the forest, chickens, turkeys, ducks, animal care, chipmunks, how to pursue what they are curious about and develop their powers of observation, squirrels, joyous movement, dancing, woodchucks, beavers, diligent, controlled movements, building things, solving problems, overcoming obstacles, sheep and wool, goats and interacting with animals both domestic and wild, the natural history of deer, coyotes and other animals, animal behavior, building and creating things, freedom, artistic creation and aesthetic enjoyment, responsibility, living peacefully on the earth, ecosystems like the wetlands and the forest, the air we breathe, where it comes from, the water we drink and where it comes from, the water cycle, the sun and energy cycles, the dirt and rocks that the plants and trees grow in and on, the trees ( those great connectors of different forms of life), cycles of the moon, creation and creativity, storytelling, resiliency, how to cultivate individual and collective interests, how to navigate, negotiate and integrate one’s own desires with the desires of others, how to respect and take care of oneself, how to respect and take care of each other, how to respect and take care of the earth. Children reach sexual maturity around 12-15 years old, although within most societies women  give birth to children between 16 and 45, and maturing adolescents become become full, participating members of adult society between 16-25 ( there is a lot of cultural anthropology, sociology and history going on with these numbers!). The average life expectancy of women is 81 years old and for men 78 years old. Life expectancy for African American men is 71 years old.

This whole contrast between the development of human beings and other animals may seem obvious or trite, but the basic question I am struggling with here is how much more “complicated” it is to raise children to “maturity,” and ultimately what “maturity” even means in the human context (and we haven’t even begun to really address sex, romance, desire, babies, living together, making a family, living in a community, making a living, political life, oppression, power, freedom, etc.). I am well aware that my answer here must be severely foreshortened and telegraphed, and must come under the guise of notes toward a future understanding of education and learning in the context of being and becoming human. I hope you will indulge me in a bit of philosophizing before we return momentarily to the practice of outdoor teaching and learning.

Jon Young writes in his basic text about bird vocalizations, What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets  of the Natural World, that “birds and other animals have exactly as much of a work ethic  as they need and not an ounce more. If a deer isn’t grazing, what is it doing? Resting. …If a wolf isn’t hunting what is it doing? Hanging out. And when wolves are hunting, they still conserve energy, working together for maximum efficiency.” His basic point is that “conservation of energy is a basic priority for all animals.” He argues that “there is nothing random about bird’s awareness and behavior, because they have too much at stake—life and death. Random behavior is a waste of energy, and any species that consistently squanders energy is ruthlessly eliminated from the game of life.” Young can think of only one exception, human beings, but I think his analysis  would be deepened if it included our immediate primate relatives and all other animals where play, curiosity, experimentation and “aberrant” and random behavior play a significant role in teaching, learning and the development of maturity. Nevertheless his basic insight into the animal world can provide a key into the difficulties, possibilities and potential pitfalls in caring for, educating and raising up human children.

Human children (and grownups) don’t function within the same basic law of the conservation of energy that the vast majority of the animal ( and the plant?) world operates under. The laws of survival, reproduction and the conservation of energy are not definitive for human development, teaching and learning, the production and reproduction of culture. In fact, while human beings have to eat, sleep, stay within a certain body temperature and maintain contact with other human beings, (and at certain physical and social extremes human beings operate under the exigencies of life, death and scarcity), human existence is also definitively marked by excess, abundance, chance, creativity, leisure, play, freedom and desire. Caring for and educating children, while it certainly involves meeting their physical needs, avoiding catastrophic danger and teaching them how to take care of themselves, also involves providing children with the opportunities to play, struggle, “waste” time and energy, explore, experiment, wander, wonder, create castles out of sand and pies out of mud. In fact all of human culture can be seen as different manifestations and emanations from the “play instinct” that seems to be at the core of human existence ( See Huizinga, Homo Ludens).

So what is the baseline, what are the basic parameters of teaching and learning, in ‘today’s society?” What needs, what ought to be taught? The answer to this question arises in the hermeneutic circle of intersecting cultural traditions, legacies, landscapes, horizons and practices of power and liberation of the multicultural world we live in. Elders and newcomers play with, work out, struggle over, and investigate  the mechanics of cultural production, reproduction and transformation. And of course cultural production is interweaved with, and a necessary condition of, the production of material circumstances without which human beings can neither thrive or survive. Let me just throw out there that as someone with a basic familiarity with the educational systems in the United States, far too much time, energy, space and practice is devoted to arbitrary bodies of knowledge, anachronistic customs and traditions, pointless systems of behavioral management, and a far more sinister inculcation of symbolic violence on the bodies, hearts and minds of today’s youth. So what way out of the madness?

Outdoor education, nature study, forest schools and other manifestations of an earth centered curriculum, both inside and outside mainstream educational institutions and practices, is one of our last, best hopes to rethink, reimagine, and restructure what we are doing as educators in the (post) modern world. Let me briefly summarize  five “orientations” that outdoor eduction/nature study can provide for us in general as caretakers and educators of children.

1. Focus on the basic needs of the child: eating, hydrating, going to the bathroom, playing, exploring the world, physical movement, resting, interacting with others in a positive, supportive, loving manner, making one’s way through each day.
2. Encourage tangible, sensuous, tactile, “hands on” experiences with the world, with water, air, earth and sun, trees, plants, animals, tools and toys.
3. Cultivate gratitude for the earth’s abundance and gifts, and for the love and guidance we receive from our elders, mother earth and father sun, the ancient trees and all the animals and sacred plants ( if you want to fight with me over the overt gendering of the earth and the sun, let’s go for it; know that in the end I am for a genderful, gender-fluid world.)
4. Cultivate our basic critical and creative powers of observation, curiosity and engagement with the world in the process of becoming lifelong learners, where ordinary experience is quintessentially and intimately connected with the process of discovery and the “wildness” of the woods and nature ( John Fowles, The Tree)
5. Affirm a basic joy in existence: moving from a basic affirmation of one’s desire to move and to feel in relation to the infinitely fascinating world; to compassion and love for other  human beings, animals, and the earth; to a deep, fundamental joy in existing with others on this good earth, to a sense of peace, enthusiasm, concern, gratitude, and skillful means in taking care of oneself, taking care of others and taking care of the earth.

So… get outside and enjoy these hot summer days for all they are worth. Experience the natural world with the children under your care or who you are responsible for “educating.” Stay hydrated, don’t let the heat get you down. Rather uncover your innate capacity for curiosity, wonder, pleasure, delight, joy and awe. Hold a frog, turtle or snake. Go splashing in a stream. Climb a mountain and savor the view from the top. Listen to the birds. Find a farmer’s market and collect blueberries or buy some fresh corn and have fun shucking it. Go forest bathing in the woods. Cultivate your enthusiasms and interests and share them with the children. See what they are interested in and help them find ways of finding out more about what they are interested in at a deeper level. Work in a garden. Find a natural spot in the midst of the hustling bustling city, or find a new trail you want to explore or a farm to visit. Get outside and spend time in nature and see how it changes how you look at things, what your priorities are, how you want to live your life.