This is a weekend adult class designed to reconnect our students to the skills practiced by indigenous folks for millenia.  It is not “Rambo” training.  Rather you will learn survival skills grounded in a respect for and appreciation of the Natural World.  The workshop runs from Friday afternoon, November 5th through Sunday afternoon, November 7th.  All meals are provided, as are dorm lodging, hot showers, and indoor plumbing.  See the “Schedule” portion of our website for more details.

Our What 2 Know B4 You Go! program was a very big hit with the three home-school groups who came out to hear us in May and early June.  Though some of the younger children (under age 10) got a bit “antsy” during our stories, most participants found these true-life accounts, the demonstrations, and the hands-on experiencesto be interesting and rewarding.

Here a a few comments from parents who attended the workshop:

• “The way [the instructors] used stories to drive a point home made the impact of the lesson more real.”
• “The hands on and demonstrations, the way the guys took turns telling us important things and the marker board were great teaching tools.  Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!!!”
• “I thought it was very well done, the stories were excellent teaching tools for the kids and adults. All the information was very useful, easy to apply and easy for kids to understand and hopefully remember.”
• “My kids talked about it the whole rest of the day.”

You can find more comments on our website as soon as our tech person plugs them in.

We just completed a very successful, 3-season–fall, winter, spring–outdoor ed program for The Children’s School in Illinois.  For a half day during every season of the school year we reconnected children ages 6-12 to the Natural World.

The weather was sometimes “iffy”, but it never dampened the wonder and enthusiasm of the children.  They learned to walk like a fox, to hear like an owl, to increase their awarness, and to respect everything they encountered in the Natural World.  Some “adopted” their own tree for close study during all three seasons.  Others sat in a meadow in October, January, and May and reveled in the simple things they observed and the changes they saw.

One class had an eight-point, whitetail buck walk within 30 feet of  the forest preserve pavilion we were using as an outdoor classroom.  Another class was gifted with a chance to examine a deer day-bed melted into the winter snow.  And a third class found fox tracks in a suburban park.

The older classes studied the skills necessary to survive in a natural environment.  The younger ones during one session explored the simple wonder of playing with a stick (much less expensive than a video game).  All finished the year with a renewed appreciation of and respect for the Natural World.

We instructors enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and we are told the children did as well.

We continue to work with home-school educators to present unique, high-quality, outdoor education programs for their children.

In recent months we specifically designed and presented a program for a northside home-school book club to coincide with lessons  learned from their reading of Gary Paulsen’s “Hatchet”.

On each of three days in May and early June at a local forest preserve in DuPage County, Illinois we are presenting our 2 1/2-hour “What 2 Know B/4 You Go!” program to another Chicago area home-school group–children and parents.  The initial registration response was so overwhelming that our contact person had to expand the presentation from one class to three; and we are told there is still a waiting list.

On April 30, 2010 Tim and Ron presented a “Wilderness Survival Skills” workshop to approximately 50 adult leaders enrolled in the Northeast Illinois Council, Boy Scouts of America High Adventure Resource Course.  The program called “2010 Powder Horn”  was held at Illinois Beach State Park in northern Illinois, and the participants went home with a number of helpful hints and two free items for a recommended 6-item survival kit.  Instructors and students finished the afternoon program sharing a delicious pig roast.

After teaching the Scout leaders the benefits of reconnectiong with the Natural World, Ron & Tim “connected” in a more realistic way when a whitetail deer broadsided Ron’s Prius on the drive home; damage to the Prius–about $2,100; damage to the deer–“lifeless”.

The Children’s School, a school of progressive education located in Berwyn, Illlinois, has asked us to help develop an outdoor awareness curriculum for its students, kindergarten through 5th grade.  Once the curriculum is in place, Nature Education instructors along with The Children’s School faculty will engage the stuents in half-day outdoor experiences emphasizing the “Wonders of the Natural World”, the registered name given to the program.  Appreciation and respect will be the key philosophical themes.

These classes will take place during the three seasons of the 2009-2010 school year–fall, winter, and spring.  Each class wil have an age appropriate curriculum–K-1; 2-3; 4-5–and each will build upon the preceding year’s experiences.

Having been an elementary school teacher for a short time in his early adult years, Ron is particularly excited about this opportunity.  As he often says to adult students as the close of a workshop–“Take what you have learned and pass it on to the children, for it is they who hold the fate of our Earth in their hands.”

In mid-April Nature Education Programs, Ltd. presented a very successful daylong workshop to an international conference in Sarasota, Florida. Over 90 people from South Africa, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, France, and the U.S. were in attendance. The program (including a custom PowerPoint presentation) was designed by Tom, Ellen, Tim and Ron over a period of three months. The topic of the workshop was “Survival Skills” with an emphasis on the similarities between wilderness and urban survival.

Tim & Ron were the lucky ones who got to present the workshop at the bayside Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The completely enclosed, high-walled, un-windowed conference room was a far cry from our preferred natural-area venue. On top of that, when the guys checked into their room, they found that their balcony was totally enclosed in glass, while neighboring rooms had outdoor, open-air balconies. The desk clerk was asked, “Why the difference?” Her response? “You guys have a deluxe room!” Apparently for some in Sarasota fresh air is a downgrade. Go figure.

Though the venue was challenging, the enthusiasm and energy of the participants were genuine and consistent with what we have come to expect from folks taking our classes.