A day in the life: Erdkinder

From 9/10-9/13/2013, the ErdKinder students spent four days working out at Green Oaks Creek Farm, located just south of Pescadero out on the coast. The farm feels like a little slice of paradise, and going to the farm is a foundational aspect of the Erdkinder program. Montessori specified in her work "From Childhood to Adolescence" that the perfect place to run an adolescent program is on a piece of farmland situated between the mountains and the ocean. Green Oaks Creek is as close to the authentic in interpreting Montessori's vision as we could wish to find within striking distance of San Mateo.

Here are some photos from our week on the farm...

The van is loaded before we leave!

Setting up the big tent - it took a LONG time...

Preparing chicken for the grilling over the fire pit ...

Our table set for dinner in the outdoor kitchen

Cleaning up from dinner!

Amending flower beds in the ornamental garden. The dirt was hard and dry and it was extremely demanding work. We learned about NPK and used bone meal, oyster shells and rabbit droppings to fertilize the soil.

The garden (where weddings are held) is starting to look better.

Adding the ground oyster shells and enriching the soil with calcium.

The next day, back to weeding in the fields.

Beautiful produce ready for market.

Resting at the end of a long, hot day.

Picking strawberries as usual...

Some much-needed downtime on the beach!

We found a shrimp!

Dinner over the fire - pork chops!

 It's the big clean-up the morning we leave. Sweeping the outdoor bathroom...

 Scrubbing stove

 Organizing all the toiletries by the tub

 Spider webs - be gone!

 Oops - we broke the counter :( But it's OK. It turns out it was already broken and the farm folks re-glued the crack! Phew!

 Cleaning up "Ralph" the composting toilet

Scrubbing the outdoor vanity

And lastly - feeding all of our compostable/organic food waste to the pigs .. who will soon be....PORK CHOPS!

August Outdoor Education in Big Basin

This August, Ms. Richards and Ms. Ellis led a five-day summer camping trip to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The students were from both EC and the EK communities, but worked together to get all of the jobs around camping completed successfully.

We saw incredible gains in independence and self-reliance over the course of the week as students had to raise their own tents, cook, clean-up, feed the fire, take "coin-op" showers, and navigate by flashlight to the bathrooms at night. The up-tick in self-reliance and needing to "step-up" to responsibilities has been carried over into the classroom; students who attended camp have definitely stood out in the first few days of school as having a noticeable increase in self-confidence.

Enjoy our pictures below!

First, we had to stop and get all our food supplies from Safeway! The students did all the menu-planning and shopping.

Then, we found our site and had to put up our tents.

 Our site fully set-up among the redwood trees...

 Learning how to cook over the fire pit.

 Making eggs for breakfast.

 See below- our hike to Buzzard's Roost... a long, hot trek but fabulous views at the end.

We swam and played in the creek
 ...the water was super cold.

This student is getting flank steak ready for the grill

 Watching it cook

 Of course there were s'mores! And sometimes they got burned!

 We played guitar and sang silly songs.

 And we all went boogie boarding at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz...

 Later, when we had all swum in the ocean, we sat on the beach and made tie-dye shirts.

All-in-all, it was a great trip and we learned so much! We look forward to next year.