The Solution Natural Education With outdoor classroom
Classrooms as wide as a river and as high as a mountain are gaining popularity at numerous in the school.Enrolling in them are students who seek to learn about the environment firsthand.A variety of venues from land to water, beach to mountain are being used. They vary in length from daylong white-water raft trips to week-or-more hiking and camping. They also vary in the amount of physical stamina needed.
The example of natural education is camping, climbing, outbound, tubing, mountain biking and hiking.etc. This program is a good alternative in school.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Natural learning environments inspire a burning desire to learn, the key to a productive lifestyle.
What is education, knowledge in basic skills, academics, technical, discipline, citizenship or is it something else? Our society says only academic basics are important and that is based on collecting knowledge without understanding its value. How about the processing of knowledge, using inspiration, visionary ambitions, creativity, risk, ability to bounce back from failure, motivation? Most education institutions don’t consider these skills. These skills are associated with understanding the value of knowledge. There is a huge disconnected gap and this is a problem for high school students in particular.
Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and many other super achievers never finished grade school. They succeeded because they knew how to research, collect information for a selected project and process knowledge. Classroom environment does not work that way, it focuses on the collection of knowledge without a clear purpose, other than high-class grades. If the purpose does not motivate, other than to please the teacher, then there is nothing to process outside of memorizing answers for test. The typical student is academic challenged while being motivation starved. Lack of motivation is lack of knowledge processing skills. The typical college graduate will have a professional skill that supplies life’s basic needs, that’s all.
What is education? The answer is, all elements in the opening paragraph and more, relate to education and all should be considered. This would be ideal and sounds good, but "all" is not possible where performance must be measured. Only what can be measured will be selected and the measuring tool is the written test. Anyone who does not have the ability to put clear thoughts on paper is labeled a failure. All natural skills, including knowledge processing, does not count. The fact is, what is exercised grows stronger, what is ignored stays dormant. The classroom exercises the collection of academics, leaving all other natural skills in the closet.
Test does not measure intelligence or ability, it does not measure how the mind processes information, how motivating experiences develop persistence, or how the mind sorts out instincts, opinions, evaluations, possibilities, alternatives. Knowledge by itself has no value, it is like a dictionary filled with words. Words by themselves have no value, it is the process of stringing them together that gives them value. How they are strung together determines the level of value. Now our education system is becoming a system that memorizes the dictionary. When students have memorized selected knowledge, then they will be given a one-day test, based on dictionary knowledge, which will influence employment opportunity for the rest of their life. Natural skills are not considered. Is this how America became the worlds' economic leader? NO! Knowledge only has value when used with a process and process in an artificial environment is not predictable or measurable.
Achievers in life use inspiration and motivation to overcome barriers. Teaching to the test does not inspire or motivate anyone, memorizing does not inspire a love to learn, in fact, it does just the opposite, it turns off the desire to learn. Education’s goal should be to develop a love to learn that stays with students throughout a lifetime. Education should be a lifetime experience, not limited to the youth years.
Educators are switching to test because there is a crisis in education of their own making and society wants measurable results. This pressure is passed on to political leaders who base political decisions on what is measurable, which is academic test and test are based on acceptance of the status quo. Ever student must now accept the status quo and be an academic intellectual or be labeled a failure. Natural talent and knowledge processing skills does not count. Students receiving the failure label are growing in numbers and percent, all because the system measures selected knowledge on a one day standardized paper test.
Consider the parent who is having a problem with a word processor. On their own, they can’t solve the problem. They have been collecting knowledge for years, but their knowledge processor is in hibernation. With any new gadget, someone has to teach them, they can’t figure it out for themselves. Their thirteen-year-old boy comes to the rescue. He has limited knowledge, but he knows how to processes available information. He explores the word process problem until he finds a solution. He is not unusually smart, this is a teenager’s natural approach to finding solutions.
All young children have a natural talent for creative process of information. It’s during the teen years that natural creative processing is replaced with the status quo. The status quo memorizes knowledge and forgets how to process it. In the classroom, memorizing is what counts. Standardized test reinforces the status quo. It kills creative processing ability. Status quo attitudes will follow them into adult life where they will have to ask their children for help.
Today, the education has a new tool on the market. Behavior control drugs. Any student who refuses to accept the status quo is labeled a troublemaker and will be drugged. The student now behaves in the classroom with glassy eyes and school officials receive high performance ratings. The student may get passing grades and land a job with a comfortable wage, but that will be all. Teenage dreams of great ambitions are gone.
Fact: Self-made millionaires are not "A" students in the classroom. The way they process knowledge is in conflict with classroom priorities. The self-made millionaire has a vision, then he researches specific knowledge, applies intuitive knowledge and process all the elements, searching for a workable solution. Finding alternative ways to do common tasks makes millionaires. The secret is vision, research and processing, not pre stored knowledge.
The typical employer wants employees with dictionary knowledge, not visionaries. They want employees who follow orders, are willing to do repetitive tasks, be happy with a limited role, and accept the status quo. Repetitive tasks' is efficiency and this is where profits are made. Also, the status quo prevents the exposure of blunders by leaders. Too many blunders and profits disappear. In a status quo environment visionaries become bored quickly and soon receive the troublemaker label by offering alternatives or exposing blunders, sometimes leading to dismissal, yet, their ideas increase efficiency and create new sources of profits for the company. In the long haul, visionaries are the one’s who make above average wages no matter what their formal education level. The education system now has the tools to kill off this type of person, behavior control drugs! As these students move into the workforce, status quo and blunders will kill off the typical business.
What can be considered a quality education? A quality education is custom design that addresses the unique abilities of each student and has a positive emotional experience. Custom education evaluates natural talent and how the student learns. This is why home schooled students out perform classroom students. Parents learn what works and does not work, then focus on what works. With this method, students develop a love to learn and learning becomes a lifelong process.
What type of education environment, do you think, will produce consistent winners?
Note: As I write this, e-learning is becoming an education model that the present system cannot compete with. It is focusing on what motivates rather than what the system thinks is good for students. It is also leaving out politicians, textbook industries, testing companies, and unions. These forces are now fighting back, trying to maintain a system that is in their interest, not the students. At this time, they are focusing on standardized test, which seems to be a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo.
What is education? The answer is, all elements in the opening paragraph and more, relate to education and all should be considered. This would be ideal and sounds good, but "all" is not possible where performance must be measured. Only what can be measured will be selected and the measuring tool is the written test. Anyone who does not have the ability to put clear thoughts on paper is labeled a failure. All natural skills, including knowledge processing, does not count. The fact is, what is exercised grows stronger, what is ignored stays dormant. The classroom exercises the collection of academics, leaving all other natural skills in the closet.
Test does not measure intelligence or ability, it does not measure how the mind processes information, how motivating experiences develop persistence, or how the mind sorts out instincts, opinions, evaluations, possibilities, alternatives. Knowledge by itself has no value, it is like a dictionary filled with words. Words by themselves have no value, it is the process of stringing them together that gives them value. How they are strung together determines the level of value. Now our education system is becoming a system that memorizes the dictionary. When students have memorized selected knowledge, then they will be given a one-day test, based on dictionary knowledge, which will influence employment opportunity for the rest of their life. Natural skills are not considered. Is this how America became the worlds' economic leader? NO! Knowledge only has value when used with a process and process in an artificial environment is not predictable or measurable.
Achievers in life use inspiration and motivation to overcome barriers. Teaching to the test does not inspire or motivate anyone, memorizing does not inspire a love to learn, in fact, it does just the opposite, it turns off the desire to learn. Education’s goal should be to develop a love to learn that stays with students throughout a lifetime. Education should be a lifetime experience, not limited to the youth years.
Educators are switching to test because there is a crisis in education of their own making and society wants measurable results. This pressure is passed on to political leaders who base political decisions on what is measurable, which is academic test and test are based on acceptance of the status quo. Ever student must now accept the status quo and be an academic intellectual or be labeled a failure. Natural talent and knowledge processing skills does not count. Students receiving the failure label are growing in numbers and percent, all because the system measures selected knowledge on a one day standardized paper test.
Consider the parent who is having a problem with a word processor. On their own, they can’t solve the problem. They have been collecting knowledge for years, but their knowledge processor is in hibernation. With any new gadget, someone has to teach them, they can’t figure it out for themselves. Their thirteen-year-old boy comes to the rescue. He has limited knowledge, but he knows how to processes available information. He explores the word process problem until he finds a solution. He is not unusually smart, this is a teenager’s natural approach to finding solutions.
All young children have a natural talent for creative process of information. It’s during the teen years that natural creative processing is replaced with the status quo. The status quo memorizes knowledge and forgets how to process it. In the classroom, memorizing is what counts. Standardized test reinforces the status quo. It kills creative processing ability. Status quo attitudes will follow them into adult life where they will have to ask their children for help.
Today, the education has a new tool on the market. Behavior control drugs. Any student who refuses to accept the status quo is labeled a troublemaker and will be drugged. The student now behaves in the classroom with glassy eyes and school officials receive high performance ratings. The student may get passing grades and land a job with a comfortable wage, but that will be all. Teenage dreams of great ambitions are gone.
Fact: Self-made millionaires are not "A" students in the classroom. The way they process knowledge is in conflict with classroom priorities. The self-made millionaire has a vision, then he researches specific knowledge, applies intuitive knowledge and process all the elements, searching for a workable solution. Finding alternative ways to do common tasks makes millionaires. The secret is vision, research and processing, not pre stored knowledge.
The typical employer wants employees with dictionary knowledge, not visionaries. They want employees who follow orders, are willing to do repetitive tasks, be happy with a limited role, and accept the status quo. Repetitive tasks' is efficiency and this is where profits are made. Also, the status quo prevents the exposure of blunders by leaders. Too many blunders and profits disappear. In a status quo environment visionaries become bored quickly and soon receive the troublemaker label by offering alternatives or exposing blunders, sometimes leading to dismissal, yet, their ideas increase efficiency and create new sources of profits for the company. In the long haul, visionaries are the one’s who make above average wages no matter what their formal education level. The education system now has the tools to kill off this type of person, behavior control drugs! As these students move into the workforce, status quo and blunders will kill off the typical business.
What can be considered a quality education? A quality education is custom design that addresses the unique abilities of each student and has a positive emotional experience. Custom education evaluates natural talent and how the student learns. This is why home schooled students out perform classroom students. Parents learn what works and does not work, then focus on what works. With this method, students develop a love to learn and learning becomes a lifelong process.
What type of education environment, do you think, will produce consistent winners?
Note: As I write this, e-learning is becoming an education model that the present system cannot compete with. It is focusing on what motivates rather than what the system thinks is good for students. It is also leaving out politicians, textbook industries, testing companies, and unions. These forces are now fighting back, trying to maintain a system that is in their interest, not the students. At this time, they are focusing on standardized test, which seems to be a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo.
Peace Education with Culture and natural education
Natural Education Zen Home School is an online Natural Education Information and Resource Center. Natural Education is reality based education. Like the Taoist view of life, Natural Education is the continuous process of looking to nature to discover reality. And, like the Zen way of seeing life the way it really is, Natural Education tells the truth. The whole Natural Education movement that Zen Home School is propelling is based on the fundamental awareness that nature's laws are the truth of reality. We live and survive on nature's terms, not on the delusions of human beings. How we sustain life on our small planet completely relies on harmony with nature. Zen Home School is dedicated to offering exceptional educational tools and teachings that help encourage a smarter and greener way to live in harmony with nature and each other. For success, on our small planet, we need to be awake. We need to stop the violence in our minds that makes us destroy life. We need peace education to remind us how beautiful the natural world is and how beautiful life can be when we are not fearful or angry. Peace Education and Natural Education teach awareness with appreciation. A true spiritual life is based on cultivating the capacity to understand the interconnectedness of all things, the Interbeing, as Thich Nhat Hanh puts it.
outdoor education with natural education
Outdoor education usually refers to organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses, and group games. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.
Unschooling - Solution Natural Education Process
When my husband Jeff and I talked about moving out to the country and teaching our child about the ‘real world’, we really didn’t know what to call this form of education. The type of home schooling I’m familiar with aligns with the curriculum of the local school district, so I knew that wasn’t the best way to describe what we wanted to do.
We had visions of taking her out golfing and having her figure out distances to the hole using basic math skills, or taking her hiking and having her learn first-hand about ecosystems, or having her watch our dog or a cow give birth to their babies. My favorite dream is taking her backpacking through Italy to study the architecture, food, language, music and history.
I have realized that this form of education is what is being called "unschooling", also known as "natural learning", “deschooling”, "experienced-based learning", or "independent learning".
Both Jeff and I love facilitating adult experiential learning programs, meaning the participants run through simulations, scenarios, and activities that provide them with hands-on experiences. We feel that it is a more complete way to learn than just reading a textbook or completing some worksheets. By experiencing whatever it is you are trying to learn about, it becomes part of you, it seems to just get ‘in your bones’ and retrieving the information you learned is not a problem. Experiential learning has become such a big part of adult education, from outdoor adventure type programs teaching team building to computer-based simulations that mimic a real world experience such as running a store or a company. Children, teens and young adults could benefit from this approach also.
Instead, we as a society are forcing our children to sit still all day and listen to someone else talk about something that has no relevance or meaning to the child, and then they have to complete some report or write a test on material that still doesn’t mean much to them. No wonder children are bored and chose not to sit still in class, and that there are labels like ADHD, mind numbing agents like Ritalin, and drop out rates that are so high!
In researching more about unschooling, I was excited to learn that students are encouraged to find the learning path that works best for them. So, for example, if your child enjoys building model airplanes, you would incorporate activities around that passion to teach him/her about history of flight, engineering, math, physics, birds, etc. This way your child becomes empowered and can discover and then follow his/her respective intellectual destiny.
How do you help them discover their passions? Observe their interests – do they like watching fireflies at night or stare at the stars? Do they enjoy building forts or playing in the garden? Do they read books about knights and battles? Do they enjoy movies that feature dancing? These are the areas you would want to focus on and incorporate relevant lessons.
What if you feel that you are not overly creative? The good news is that often parents learn to free their ‘inner child’ as they start unschooling their own child/children. In a sense, parents find they, themselves become ‘unschooled’ too, and with that comes the freedom to be creative. In the meantime, the Internet has so many great resources and ideas. There are web sites specifically devoted to unschooling activities.
If you are thinking about unschooling your child, here are some things to consider:
• Transcripts: if your child decides to pursue a more traditional education at any point in time, you may need some form of a transcript. This is something you can create by keeping track of what your child is learning about. Keep a journal of his/her interests. Keep a portfolio of his/her work or have him/her do a scrapbook that can be used as a presentation package at a later time. This reveals more about someone than a typical college entrance essay!
• Standardized Testing:: many schools are moving away from standardized testing. Universities and colleges are also waiving the requirements for testing if a home schooled/unschooled student can provide a solid transcript and portfolio of his/her work. Chances are if your child picks a school that aligns with his/her goals for education and is excited about their course of study, the school will find a way to include him/her as a student.
• Support Materials:: Look for creative support materials – go to the library, used book stores, garage sales, and other places where you can find ‘second-hand’ or reusable supplies. Don’t forget to take your child/children with you and see what they are interested in.
• Support Network:: Form an online and local support network. There are so many parents out there doing this, or interested in trying it. You need the support and social as much as your children do. Plan educational outings to the zoo together or picnics on the beach. Share lessons using the strengths of each parent. You don’t have to go at this alone.
• Buy-In:: Talk to your children as this needs to be their choice, their passion, and you need their buy in and commitment. You then need to support them as they choose their learning path.
If you find your local community isn’t so supportive of unschooling, or if you want a little more structure before jumping right into unschooling, another option to look at is home schooling. There are some fantastic programs out there that holistic in design and model the principles of a Montessori or Waldorf Education.
Monday, May 5, 2008
natural methode of education
If the connection between the educational institutions because of nature or maintain? To answer this dilemma, this paper examines the impact of parental education to their offspring to school with a discontinuity in the achievement of parental education level. The discontinuity arises from changes in the minimum school-leaving age of the legislation took place in the seventies in Britain. This strategy shows the effect of parental education for parents with a lower taste for Education and may not be the general social returns of parental education. However, the policies are more targeted children at risk, not maximize their educational opportunities, the estimates of interest. In contrast to recent evidence, we find a positive effect of both parents in their children's school education achievements, if based on the natural parents. Step parents have no or a negative impact on children's education. In most cases, the endogeneity of parental education is rejected. These estimates that significant social returns of education to same-sex parent. The estimates are robust to the introduction of additional controls for income, labour force participation, fertility and environment quality, indicating that the effect of parental education is direct.
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