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News from Camp: September 1st, 2010

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

All Quiet in the Western Grove

It is much too quiet around camp since second term campers left on August 15. The fields, hills, and lodges are filled with great memories from the summer of 2010, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to spend this time with so many outstanding campers and staff.

One of our tasks during the weeks following camp is to collect and distribute all the lost and found items. We have mailed every major article from High Trails which has a name to the owner. Lost and found items with names from Big Spring went out late last week and early this week, so they may still be in the mail. We still have some jackets, boots, and other items of clothing which do not have names. Please let us know if your camper is missing something and we will do everything we can to track it down and send it to you.

A fun event took place here August 20-22: the Newhoma Mountain and Music Festival. Terry Hayden, Assistant Director at The Nature Place, lined up some great bands that played from mid-day until the wee hours on a stage set up in the Big Spring field. A number of 2010 camp staff stayed around to help with the event and other alums returned to listen to the music, as well as other music lovers who experienced COEC for the first time. The weather was spectacular and everyone had a great time.

The Newhoma Stage

Sam and Scott Shepard have been out in the hayfields since camp ended, cutting and baling the nutritious mountain grass which keeps our horses in good health throughout the year. Big Spring counselors Ian Stafford and High Trails wrangler Lacey Ellingson have also been helping out. Meanwhile, the horses are enjoying a well-deserved vacation in Olin Gulch where there is plentiful grass for munching now.

Our outdoor education program staff will arrive on September 2 and we will begin welcoming sixth graders to High Trails Outdoor Education Center on September 14. Among the staff who will be returning to teach during this program are wranglers Jenny Hartman and Lacey Ellingson, High Trails ridge leadersReggie Cahalan and Maya Ovrutsky and counselor Dee Shiverdecker. Big Spring staff from the summer of 2010 include David Cumming, Andrew Jones, Jeff Krueger, Kevin Robinson, Andrew Tromey and Ian Wilson. HT nurse Suzie Bartley will serve as nurse. Former Big Spring ridge leader Chris “BC” Miller-McLemore will also return in a leadership position. Chris Tholl and Carlotta Avery direct the program; they are assisted by camp leaders Elizabeth Rundle, Johnny Domenico, and Ryan and Ashley McGowan.

Hiking During the 2009 No Child Left Inside Family Fun Day

We have two exciting events this Fall in addition to our traditional schedule. On September 25, we will join with the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument to celebrate “Leave No Child Inside Day” by hosting a family fun day and open house. We will be offering a program of nature-based activities and hikes for families who would like to get their children outdoors for the day. There is no cost for the event.

2010 Stalking Education Theme=No Idea Left Inside

On October 15-17, we will again offer our outdoor education workshop, “Stalking Education in the Wild”. This weekend includes a wide variety of educational sessions led by experts in the field and is open to teachers, camping staff, parents, and anyone interested in learning more about living and teaching in the out-of-doors. Please let us know if you would like additional information on this event.

We are already thinking about next summer and have established our dates. The first term at Big Spring and High Trails will be Sunday, June 12 – Tuesday, July 12, 2011. The second term will be Friday, July 15 – Sunday, August 14. The four terms of Sanborn Junior will be June 12 – June 26, June 28– July 12, July 15 – July 29, and July 31 – August 14. We have sent this information to current camp families and will send additional information in October to camp families, former camp families, and prospective camp families. If you would like to receive our catalog and DVD or know someone who would, we will be happy to mail them at any time.

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Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Fun Activities, Newhoma Music Festival, Outdoor Education, Summer Camp for Kids, Uncategorized, alum event, summer camp in Colorado | No Comments »

A Glimpse Into The Portal

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Backpacking Adventures

At the end of one successful camp session, and on the eve of our next, we are both humbled and inspired by the power of summer camp.

Every day of this summer, at camps all across this county and globe, children are discovering a portal into an amazing place: themselves.  This journey can be simultaneously exhilarating and challenging; simple and complicated; fun and hard; crystal clear and confusing; liberating and frightening; but—most of all—it is their own.

For girls, many of the lessons build on the relational skills they have been developing since early childhood.  They learn to live together, compromise and deal appropriately with conflict, connect with the natural world, persevere, develop integrity and independence, respect the feelings and emotions of those around them, challenge themselves physically and safely, gain a sense of empowerment that will last a lifetime…and much more.

For boys, especially boys in the 9-12 year old range, summer camp becomes an essential “outlet” to help define their journey into manhood.  In their 2007 book titled “Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys,” Stephen James and David Thomas encourage parents to “be intentional with summers” by sending boys to camp.  Their reasoning states that:

Summit Day!

A number of great camps across the country are doing excellent work with boys.  Camps provide a rich opportunity for boys to experience appropriate risk—physically, emotionally, and relationally—in a completely different way than they can on their home turf.

Much of that difference, for boys and girls, comes from the daily exposure to and reality of the natural environment.  As participants in a ground-breaking research study conducted by the American Camp Association, we realized that camps scored slightly lower in the “physical safety” category than in many of the other “supports and opportunities” categories.  The ACA followed up with campers and realized that, for many, living in the outdoors (with deer, porcupines, and bear) can be a bit disconcerting for youth and thus, make them feel less physically safe than they feel at home.

Yet that subtle fear has a valuable purpose.  It helps young people understand their “position” in the world.  “There is a humility and seasoned wisdom to be learned in the natural world,” writes John Eldredge.

Turn a canoe sideways and it will tip.  Approach an elk upwind and it will spook.  Run your hand along the grain of wood and you’ll get a splinter.  There is a way things work….In the realm of nature, you can’t just order room service, or change the channel, or write a new program to solve your problems.  Your can’t ignore the way things work.  You must be taught by it.  Humility and wisdom come when you learn those ways, and learn to live your life accordingly.

Hawking the Horses on the 4-day Horse Trip

The natural world is a powerful teacher—and it teaches us experientially.  If you head out on a hike without a rain jacket, and it begins to rain (or hail) it is unlikely you will forget your rain jacket next time.  Similarly, at camp, if a camper loses a glove on a mountain climb and has to wear a sock on his hand instead,or hurts a good friend with a thoughtless remark, or makes some other mistake that involves a natural consequence, there will—over time—be a recognition that develops about “how things work” and “how much effort I have to put forth in order for them to work out the way I would like.”

Call it responsibility.  Call it self-awareness or self-efficacy.  Call it the basis of wisdom.  Whichever name or characteristic you choose, the result is still the same: a more thoughtful and insightful child who understands that he/she is part of the larger world…and not the other way around.

Camp is a great place to learn how people, ideas, life lessons, challenges, opportunities, and the natural world can all intersect and impact you as an individual and vice versa.  Those precious camp moments are ephemeral gifts which can make a positive impact forever.

So to our campsick friends we say, “Don’t cry because it is over; smile because it happened.”  And with each smile or story about camp, another lesson is learned, ingrained and owned by the camper.  It is a little glimpse through the portal into themselves: into the world of confident and thoughtful individuals who can live, work, and play in the outdoors…and love every minute of it.

Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Summer Camp for Kids, Uncategorized, summer camp in Colorado | No Comments »

Teaching By Being: How We Teach Campers

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Much of the impact we have as youth development professionals happens just because we are role models.  Campers look to their counselors for guidance, wisdom, and to learn more about the people they want to become.  The quote, “act as though what you do makes a difference,” is a perfect line for camp counselors–because who you are as much as what you do DOES make a difference.  Here is a list of 10 ways to help teach your campers essential life skills, to build a strong relationship with your camper, and to model happy, healthy, and enriching behaviors.

Summit Success on Mount Silverheels

1.  Respect:  A camper who is treated with respect at camp will have self-respect.  He will learn to cooperate and have empathy for others.

2.  Listening:  Listen to your campers’ stories, hopes, and worries.  Hear them and respond.  They will learn to listen to others.

Singing "Rocky Mountain High" at the start of a backpacking trip.

3.  Patience:  A camper who sees you are not afraid of failure, who sees you fiinish what you begin, will try, try again until he succeeds.

4.  Trust:  Keep your promises.  Your campers will be trustworthy.

5.  Work:  A camper who shares in the daily work at camp will learn to be responsible.

Practicing the art of the lasso, Big Spring Barn

6.  Honesty:  If a camper is taught and shown how to respect the truth, if he sees justice used to solve problems at home, he will know right from wrong.

7.  Time:  All children, not only at camp, spell love T-I-M-E.  If your camper owns enough one-on-one time with you each day, she will have confidence because she knows she has value.

Reading stories around the campfire together

8.  Downtime:  Give your campers time to read, reflect and dream for at least 20 minutes every day.  They will learn to take time for themselves.  They will learn to concentrate.  They will forget how to be “bored.” They will learn critical thinking and be set free to dream.

9.  Writing:  Give your camper time and encouragement to write in or draw in a journal.  Praise his efforts.  He will carry these efforts away to home and school.  He will connect writing with enjoyment and will then write with and for pleasure.

Great staff members help build great campers!

10.  Habits:  Campers need quiet time every day.  They need a good night’s sleep and regular meals of wholesome food, instead of sugar snacks.  They need to wash their hands and use good manners with everyone.  They need to be outdoors, instead of watching TV and playing video games.  Good habits make good campers.

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Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Summer Camp for Kids, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Go Play Outdoors

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

The research has been done.  The results are staggering.  Children spend less time in the outdoors than EVER before in human history.  And the impact of this fact will, inevitably, profoundly shift how our children, and our children’s children view their connection with and within this natural world.

West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief

In his excellent, and well-researched West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief,  Steven Kotler posits that “what we believe governs what we see.”  Basically, our belief systems (from religious, to spiritual, to biological, and back again) govern our perceptions—and what we perceive is the real world—Reality—is nothing more, or less, than what we believe.  Kotler’s concern, same as mine, is grounded in the current trend that has the human species moving farther and farther away from the natural world.  In essence, we are ignoring or shunning basic biological imperatives that allow us to see, to create, to value interconnections in the very natural world from which we came.

Not so, you say.  Our children (and some of us) are making connections and raising the collective consciousness through the strategic use of internet technologies, globalization, and instant access to information.  Yet in this environment of overwhelming information access, our human-animal brains are being put to the test.

Kotler frames his argument about the origins of our belief in both current and older brain research and studies.  Much of our “human-ness” comes from our ability to manage both “logos” and “mythos.”  Logos—or logic—is “information of the no-nonsense variety:  practical, clinical, scientific, secular.”  Mythos—or myth–is a “way to give meaning to events that exist beyond easy context.”    We are deeply entrenched in a culture that celebrates logos, bringing to mind the line and cultural motifs from The Matrix, “The world as it was at the end of the 20th century”.  A culture that, by and large, now shuns myth.  Myth was long believed to be an outward representation/explanation of our inner selves.   Our creation of personal “myth” explains the inexplicable, allows us to describe the indescribable, gives us the context to make sense and meaning in a world of random suffering, pain, and death.

Images of Haiti by Allison Kwesell

In the current scientific climate, however, subjectivity is out, and objectivity rules.  When we are confronted with glaring economic issues,  complex political initiatives, and public health conundrums—there are those who utilize logos in its myriad forms to find “a solution.”  Yet when those situations involve environmental paradoxes where human wants and needs trump multiple species, or when whole cities or nations of suffering humans seem to become “an issue”—that is our logos attempting to usurp our mythos.  We don’t connect, we think.

The Great Bower Bird

For all of that thinking, we are still losing ground in certain ways—and our connection with ritual is one of those.  If you watch the elaborate mating ritual of the Bower Bird during this last month’s seminal Discovery Channel series, Life , or the battle of the Giant Bullfrogs, or the painstaking (and multi-year) guidance a mother orangutan provides to her child, it becomes easy to understand that all of the natural world is governed by ritual.  And, yes Virginia, we are part of that natural world, too.

Meaning, for humans, is created through layers and layers of ritual.  This evolution of ritual eventually created a schema, or thought pattern, that made us want to know why something happened.  This desire to know why is one of the characteristics that make us uniquely human.  The “logos” sciences have helped us tremendously in this area.  I am happy to know that my toddler son’s runny nose is actually caused by a virus that my preschool son brought home and somehow shared with him (think prolific nose-picker) and not by a malevolent spirit (though I do wonder what possesses the nose-picker, sometimes…).

The cognitive imperative to seek out  “the answers to life’s persistent questions” is not only the charge of Guy Noir, it is inherent—biologically and neurologically—in each one of us.  Because of this, we have to reconnect our kids with nature because—without it–they are actually losing part of their evolutionary intelligence, health, and disrupting their neurochemistry.

Wild Turkeys on the move at Sanborn Western Camps

For example, if a child is completely disconnected from the food cycle, and has no idea that the meat in front of her was once living—or if that child knows that the sandwich she is eating was once, in some other place and time, a living, breathing turkey, yet she has no experience with “Turkey”—how will she be able to truly know to ask why. (Why am I eating this? How did this turkey live and die? Why does turkey taste so terrific?  What will happen to me when I die?)  And when she does bother to ask why, she’ll find a number of nutrition charts on line that define the essence of “Turkey” as its caloric value and place on the food pyramid…but nothing that allows her to experience “Turkey” in all of its squawking, fluffing, and preening glory. Nor will she be able to find anything that will give her the respect, understanding, and empathy toward a once living creature who has now arrived in a neatly package, hermetically sealed, plastic container on her lunch tray.

We are short circuiting our brains because we cannot make connections to the very world that has sustained us for the last 6,000 years.  Candice Pert writes in her book, Molecules of Emotion,

There is a plethora of elegant neurophysiological data suggesting that the nervous system is not capable of taking in everything, but can only scan the outer world for material that it is prepared to find by virtue of its wiring hook ups, its own internal patterns, and its past experiences.”  If our children scan the world in 50 years, and haven’t explored and played in the outdoors, then how will they ever understand its value and seek to preserve it?

The current logic and trends say they won’t….but with the continued efforts and wisdom of  camping professionals, educators, eco-visionaries, environmental activists, parents, youth development professionals, surfers, brain researchers, scientists, spiritual advisors, nature-lovers, active individuals, the health-conscious, and other progressive fields and industries—we are swinging the pendulum back to a more connected, present, and happier place: our backyards, parks, camps, natural recreation areas….our world.

The adventures never end....

Reconnect with nature.

Reconnect with others.

Reonnect with yourself.

Reconnect with wonder.

Go play outdoors.

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Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Kids and Technology, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Summer Camp for Kids, summer camp in Colorado | 11 Comments »

National Environmental Education Week

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

As the national Environmental Education Week comes to a close, we hope you have been able to enjoy the outdoors! Just because the week is over, does not mean

According to EE Week, this is an event that “promotes understanding and protection of the natural world by actively engaging students and educators in an inspired week of environmental learning before Earth Day. Studies show that environmental education (EE) increases student achievement in many ways. By engaging students in real-world problem solving, EE builds critical thinking skills. Many educators have found that incorporating environmental themes into the curriculum results in improved performance on standardized tests and other assessments. EE has also been shown to reduce student apathy and increase motivation.”

Check out this great video about being outside: Sesame Street: Outdoors with Jason Mraz

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Posted in Children and Nature, Education, Outdoor Education, Parenting | No Comments »

Adventures with the Five Senses

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

As part of the national Children and Nature Awareness Month, we wanted to share some extra special outdoor activities that you can do with your friends and family to get you outside and enjoying the spring weather in your neighborhood.  A great thing to create, and to bring with you to camp, is a nature journal or sketchbook.  If you start collecting all of your experiences (and a feather, cool leaf, and pressed flower or two) in a journal, then you will have a great record of seasonal changes, observations, and all of the outdoor fun you experienced in 2010.

Keep a Nature Journal on all of your adventures

Using our five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) is a great way to interact with the natural world and to learn and experience things you have never noticed before.  And, in spring, the natural world is coming alive again…so you should get out and enjoy it!

Think of every walk outside as a Five Senses Hike.  Be mindful of not only what you see, but what you can hear, smell, feel — even (with caution) taste!

Here are a few activities that will help you use your senses while you are outside this spring:

How Far?  How Close?  Get Some Perspective!
 (adapted from Today Is Fun and 101 Nature Activities)

Materials needed:

  • Nature Journal or Sketchbook
  • 100 inch piece of string
  • A day pack with everything you need for a fun afternoon outside (just like at camp!): water bottle, sunscreen, warm layer/rain layer, and wear sturdy shoes!

Hike up to the top of a hill, or anywhere you can find a view and see how far you can see.  Can you see a distant mountain range, a far-away hill, a tall building downtown, a really tall tree?  How many miles away is that particular place/object?  Bring a nature journal to jot down ideas about distance, and to sketch an image of what you are seeing.  When you get home, look up that place/object using Google Earth, or pull out a map with the features/intersections you could see.  Did you underestimate or overestimate the distance?

Before you head home, though, pull out your 100 inch piece of string and find an interesting natural area.  Place the string on the ground and explore the area along the string very carefully.  Look for signs of animals, birds, or insects; distinctive characteristics of any plant along the trail; texture of soil or sand; different colors, etc..  Record your findings in your nature journal.

By closely examining a very small area, one can discover wonders which otherwise might be overlooked.  Shrinking our field of perception often adds to our awareness.  Now think about how far you could see when you were up high, and how much you saw when you were down low.  How much more of the natural world would we appreciate if we just took time to see near, far, and everywhere in between?

Do You Smell What I Smell?

Materials needed:

  • An imaginative, descriptive mind
  • Your nose

Take a walk focusing your sense of smell on the nature around you.  What does the bark of the trees in your neighborhood smell like?  (We think Ponderosa Pine tree bark—which grow at camp—smells like vanilla or butterscotch)  What do different plants, flowering trees/bushes, or grass smell like?  Why do different things have different smells?

Once you have descriptions for the smells around you—have a smell scavenger hunt with your friends and family—see if they can find a “plant that smells like a skunk” or “a flower that smells like peaches.”  Creating the descriptions will be almost as fun as finding the correct natural object!

Sound Tapestry

Materials needed:

  • Nature journal/sketchbook
  • Colored pencils
  • Attentive ears

Take a walk to a park or local open space—find a comfortable, special spot in the outdoors (if possible, have some of your friends sit in an open meadow, others down in the trees and bushes, and others still near a stream or water).  Sit quietly and listen for birds, grasses, and other sounds in nature for 10 minutes.  As you listen to each distinct sound, think about what that sound “looks” like.  What color is it?  Is it a smooth, wavy, or rough sound? Is it loud or soft?  Once you have an idea what the sound looks like, use your colored pencils to draw a picture of each of the different sounds you hear.  After your ten minutes of listening and drawing, create a “key” for the sounds you heard at the bottom of your sketch.

Bag of Rocks

Materials needed:

  • Rocks of different sizes, shapes, textures collected from the outdoors
  • A cloth bag big enough to reach into
  • A heightened sense of touch

A blindfolded hike makes you use other senses

Head outdoors and find a collection of different rocks.  Have each person in your family, or each of your friends, chose a rock and “get to know it”.  How does it feel?  How many sides does it have?  What color is it?  Does it have any marks on it?  Is it heavy or light?  Then have everyone put their rock into a bag.  Mix up all of the rocks.  Each person must reach into the bag and attempt to find their rock WITHOUT using their sense of sight.  How easy is itto find a particular rock?  How is one rock different from another rock?  How does your sense of touch compare to your other senses?

Oh The Wonderful Things Mr. Brown Can Taste

Materials needed:

  • Edible plants field guide
  • Adventurous adult
  • A sophisticated palate

Remember the “5 Second Rule”? or the phrase, “God made dirt, so dirt won’t hurt?”  Though we do not recommend eating plant material or other items found in the natural world…there are certain things you can taste—and see ifthey taste like they smell!  (To make sure you aren’t tasting anything that could make you sick—check out a book on edible plants in your area—and never, ever, ever bite or taste a mushroom.)

Things you can bite, taste, lick in the outdoors:

  • Honeysuckle flowers and nectar inside
  • Pine tree sap
  • Juniper berries
  • Wild onions
  • Tree bark
  • Herbs like sage or rosemary
  • Grass (chew on the base and the leaf parts)
  • And, if you are brave enough, you can lick an ant…it tastes like lemon!

After using all of your senses in the outdoors, you can share your love of the natural world with your friends and family by creating a Nature Table to display your sketches, collections, natural treasures at home. (from nwf.org)

Make a Nature Table
There are many ways you can display natural treasures in your home:

  • Nature Table or Shelf: Designate a flat surface for shells, acorns, etc. Use colored fabric to protect the surface (and to add a decorative note). For a little extra fun, make it a mini-museum, using folded index cards as name plates for each item.
  • Vase: A clear vase can store a lot of less delicate items — rocks, shells, nuts, etc — in a relatively small space.
  • Shoe Holder: Place objects in a hanging shoe organizer with clear pockets, found at many dollar stores or other discount retailers.
  • Box It Up: The many different compartments in a tackle, sewing or tool box are great organizers.

What are your favorite sensory awareness games or activities to do in the natural world?  Do you have a nature space at home?

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Posted in Children and Nature, Education, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Uncategorized, summer camp in Colorado | 20 Comments »

Happy April 1st!

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Vote today for the two High Trails Projects!

No April Foolin’ here!  Along with EVERYTHING else we are doing in the natural world, we have some AMAZING things happening in the virtual world this April.  As part of the Pepsi Refresh Project, Colorado Outdoor Education Center and High Trails Outdoor Education Center submitted grant proposals for Building a Hands On Solar and Wind Learning Station and for Creating a High School Leadership Program for Colorado Students . Pepsi funds the top vote getter–so we are asking for ALL of your help this month.  Please vote for both of our projects once a day–click and bookmark this page/link to vote for both High Trails projects every day in April.

Join @sanborncamps for our #gno Twitter Party!

For those of you on Twitter, we have joined forces with Jyl Johnson Pattee who hosts www.momitforward.com and one of the most fun, successful, and interesting Twitter parties on the web: #gno (Girls (and guys!) Night Out).  On Tuesday, April 6th, we are hosting the #gno event and our discussion topic is: Picking a Great Summer Camp for Kids and The Benefits of Summer Camp for Kids.  We invite all of you to RSVP for the party and enter to win a Sanborn Junior tuition for the summer of 2010 or 2011.

We have an excellent line up of panelists, including American Camp Association representative Dawn Swindle, Bethe Almeras (The Grass Stain Guru), Lenore Skenazy (Free Range Kids), youth development expert Annie Fox, outdoor and classroom educator Jason Flom (prolific writer for Ecology of Education and Edutopia) plus plenty of camp parents and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the country.

If you have never participated in a Twitter party, this is a fun place to start and to find new friends, thinkers, and followers…plus we will LOVE having lots of Sanborn participants.  To follow us, visit our Twitter homepage and follow us–we always share LOTS of great information about camp, outdoor activities, the Children in Nature movement, education, parenting, blog updates and much, much more!

Up at camp (and offline), we had a lot of snow in March and are grateful for the moisture which means spectacular summer wildflowers and green grass.  After a wintery month, we are especially enjoying a few days of really warm weather right now.  Despite the snow on the ground, we know that Spring is on the way.  A few of our summer birds, including bluebirds and robins, have returned and we’re keeping an eye out for the first Pasque Flower of the year.  The summer staff will begin arriving in less than two months.

Speaking of staff, we have some great people returning for 2010.  At Big Spring, Sam  will head a crew of wranglers that includes Andrew Robbins, Will Ostendorf, Andy Johnson, and Danny Berry.  Ridge Leaders will be Kevin “K-Rob” Robinson, John Brown, Chris Huber and Andrew Jones.  Mike Potts will be back as the “Art Dude” and Falcon Craft will be the “Co Art-Dude”.  Returning counselors include Taylor Emanuels, Brendan Jones, Matt Malloy, Branden Manuel, Fred Schmidt-Arenales, Zach Schoenfelt, Ian Stafford, Eric Carlson, Eddy Rutledge, Jeff Krueger and Ryan Schilling.  Margo Cromack, Teresa Day and Holly Lehmann will return as the Big Spring nurses.

Maya Ovrutsky, Reggie Cahalan and Jessie Spehar will be returning to the High Trails staff as Ridge Leaders in 2010.  Maren, Ashley, and Rosie will work with wranglers Jessie Tierney, Bea Raemdonck, Lisa Boyko, Lacey Ellingson and Jenny Hartman.  Returning counselors include Kimberly Foster, Hannah Eldredge, Sara Maurer, Keenan Meyer, Lacey Meyer, Kelly Muedeking, Amanda Oates, and Heidi Schoedel.  Megan Clover will be a trip leader and program specialist

We have begun our Spring outdoor education program and are excited to provide experiential, nature-based classes for 25 schools over the next six weeks.  Among the staff who will be serving as teachers for this program are Ian Stafford, John Brown, Brendan Jones, Andrew Tromey, Jessie Tierney, and Heidi Schoedel.

Our April will be filled with putting the finishing touches on improved programs and trips for this summer, renovation projects to improve our facilities, hiring the last few summer staff and counting the days until camp begins.

Enrollment is significantly ahead of last year and several grades in both terms of High Trails are filled or close to filling.  Big Spring is also nearing completion in several grades, especially in the First Term.  Several Sanborn Junior terms in both camps are filled and building waiting lists.  Families interested for the summer of 2010 should call to check availability.  As always, we are happy to send our brochure, DVD and references to any interested families.

Phew…can you believe summer is just two months away?  We can and we are READY!  We can’t wait to begin creating the fun, adventure, and friendship of the Summer of 2010!  Til then, THINK SUMMER!

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Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Fun Activities, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Summer Camp for Kids, summer camp in Colorado | 6 Comments »

How Can I Promote Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy in My Children?

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Proud Mountain Fisherman

What is the difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy? Self-efficacy, or empowerment, is the belief in one’s self. Children with skills of empowerment believe that they are effective in the world and have learned their strengths and weaknesses. Self-esteem is inexorably linked to self-efficacy…but our culture and society tends to promote “strong self-esteem” as a goal on its own, forgetting that in order to “feel good” about yourself, you have to “believe” in yourself and your abilities.

In our schools and families, we are quick to say, “I am so proud of you for completing your class project”—terrific words of encouragement, shared in order to promote good self-esteem—yet we should ask ourselves what we are really saying. By saying “I” or “We” we are owning the accomplishment ourselves, and not giving full credit to the child. Better to say, “How do you feel about what you accomplished?” Then the child can say, “I really worked hard to get my class project done on time, and I feel really good that I was able to help Emily with her project, too.” To which, as a teacher or parent, we can add, “You did show a great deal of dedication to accomplish the project, and you were also very generous with your time and demonstrated great teamwork and creativity when you helped Emily.”

When we perceive we don’t have time to promote self-efficacy in our children, or we think a broad blanket of esteem-enriching encouragement will suffice, we are doing our children a significant disservice. Rather than developing necessary resilience on their own, they will fall into a pattern of seeking their sense of self from outside sources. In a recent study, it was shown that kids who were distinctly told they were “hard workers” tended to be more persistent when they approached challenging tasks or new situations. Children who had been told they were “very smart” tended to become more easily frustrated or more readily quit the challenging task that was placed before them.

As parents, teachers, and youth development professionals, the staff at Sanborn Western Camps know and understand the importance of teaching empowerment and providing children with opportunities to build their own self-efficacy. By giving campers choice with their trip and activity selection, challenging them physically on mountain climbs and horseback rides, allowing them to find and define their voices and attitudes away from their home peer group, spending reflective time in the natural world, and providing them with multiple supportive adults in a tight-knit community, our campers develop internal motivation and satisfaction from their everyday accomplishments—a skill they will continue to use for the rest of their lives.

What other activities besides summer camp do you think promote self-efficacy in kids?

Mountain climbing in Colorado

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Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Parenting, summer camp in Colorado | 5 Comments »

A Great Resource for Reconnecting Kids with the Outdoors

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK: BUILDING A MOVEMENT TO RECONNECT CHILDREN AND NATURE

The vision and mission of the Children & Nature Network is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly, reconnecting our children with nature’s joys and lessons, its profound physical and mental bounty.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working nationally and internationally to reconnect children with nature. The network provides a critical link between researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children’s health and well-being. C&NN also promotes fundamental institutional change and provides resources for sharing information, strategic initiatives and success stories.

The C&NN news service and portal, childrenandnature.org, offers parents, youth, civic leaders, educators and health-care providers access to the latest news and research in this field as well as practical advice, including ways to apply new-found knowledge at home, at school, in work environments, and in the community. The network also engages a diverse community of institutes, organizations and industries by providing a forum for publishing and presenting research, reports and case studies on children’s health and nature, and related program-development strategies and support.

–Jessie Tierney

Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Outdoor Education, Parenting | 5 Comments »

Benefits of Outdoor Time

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Last week we participated in the Outdoor Blogger Summit Challenge, which was to post stories and ideas about the outdoors and how to get more people to play outside. OBS has posted the results, and it is pretty interesting to read other people’s ideas.

The OBS is all about getting people outside and supporting other blogs (such as Sanborn Western Camps) in their efforts to spread the word about benefits to being outside and in nature. It is always nice for us to hear about other people who encourage time outside.

There are so many people affected by snow right now – roads closed, airports closed, schools closed, work closed, have to shovel, stores closed. Instead of looking at the negatives, think about all the fun that you can have in the snow. We just posted these ideas about Snow Storm Fun.

What are your favorite outdoor snow activities?

Playing in the snow with your children is beneficial to you and them. You all get fresh air, time to use your imagination, spend time together when everyone is usually so busy, fun exercise, nature awareness. What is better than an excuse to play in the snow with children?!

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Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Parenting | 7 Comments »

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