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Spring is here, the air is clear, warmth penetrates our bones.

This morning, my student was explaining that they had gone down to LA for the weekend. Upon hearing the news that they may stop at a hotel on the way back, they protested and demanded they get back that same day so they wouldn’t miss any Outside School.

I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned all the things that make me up- not everybody knows me as well as I know me. ;) Outside School is my life’s work, my contribution to society and the Earth.

I’m finally starting to wake up to the world again. Still proceeding cautiously through life, I’m doing everything I can to remain as physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy as possible.

Last month, my husband and I visited the area around Calaveras Big Trees, where my family spent a lot of time camping when I was a child, and our friends now have a trailer in a private campground. They love visiting, hanging out and looking at the trees, saying they feel so relaxed there, and completely away from the normal stressors of everyday life.

So untrue! We spend about an hour a week volunteering in the park (we’re committed to at least 40 hours per calendar year), and I ❤️ badges!

“‘…I’ll bet they don’t know what’s going to happen to them today.’ ‘No, nor you either,’ Billy remarked philosophically, ‘nor me, nor anyone.’

Hooray! It’s the first week of the school year!

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!

Lisa Sigurgeirson Maxx and I have been following each other on social media for years. So when she asked me to be on her podcast, of course I answered that I would! 

Today we’re celebrating the last day of the school year by having our families join us for pizza. I can’t believe another school year has passed already!

This rain these last several months has been incredible! I’ve never experienced so much since I started teaching 100% outdoors in 2007. It’s so cool to be able to actually view the watershed filling up from the bottom up (except for runoff).

I was thinking about how the things that’ve kept me going the most over all these nearly 21 years of teaching are words. I remembered this because I got a note from one parent, who let me know their child was sad to learn that they hadn’t signed them up for summer camp again this year.

I always feel honored to take part in thesis and dissertation research. I participated in Steph N. Dean’s dissertation, “A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Teachers Who Implement Outdoor/Environmental Education within a K-12 Setting,” at George Mason University.

We recently had some experiences that led me to believe we are doing the right things, according to others we interact with. We have been fortunate enough to:

Do you have a place, in the world,

Last week, as we started our walk up into the hills with stepping aside and looking slightly away so we could seem less threatening. We wanted to let a cow pass, walking along to meet up with the rest of its herd.

Woohoo!!! I love cruising around up in the hills, making constant new discoveries.

School is starting up again! In the last couple of years, I’ve really ramped up the work of giving back to the Alvarado Park/Wildcat Canyon by setting goals for litter pickup and invasive species removal.

Summer camp was so amazing this year. When I started doing these camps, I thought it would be a preview for potential school year families.