Re: [unschoolingbasics] wilderness activity advice needed
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I am learning so much here!! I am new and have a pretty miserable 16 year old son who is leaving a waldorf school after being there for 12 years. He is tired of "everything organized" and desperately wants to spend time this summer living in the wilderness. Like My Side of the Mountain, a favorite book of his. I am not comfortable with this idea of him being alone, without many skills to survive, but want to somehow let him have the experience in a way we feel safe about. He does not want structure....or grownups. Any ideas??
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: sarah8591@...
I am learning so much here!! I am new and have a pretty miserable 16
year old
son who is leaving a waldorf school after being there for 12 years. He
is tired
of "everything organized" and desperately wants to spend time this
summer living
in the wilderness. Like My Side of the Mountain, a favorite book of
his. I am
not comfortable with this idea of him being alone, without many skills
to
survive, but want to somehow let him have the experience in a way we
feel safe
about. He does not want structure....or grownups. Any ideas??
Sarah
-=-=-=-
You both may need to compromise a bit. Legally he's too young to be
"out in the wilderness alone"---you could be cited for some
neglect/endangerment issues if something happened or if he were
'caught'.
Not Back To School Camps---either in Vermont or in Oregon might be a
possibility. He could meet a bunch of other unschoolers with some of
the same ideas. Maybe they could brainstorm. Cameron's been in Kentucky
this week at a "Gathering" of unschooling NBTSCampers---not an official
gathering---just a bunch who wanted to get together before camp starts
this fall. They're all living in a cabin owned by own of the campers.
They're being fairly self-sufficient, I guess. No phone access, so I
can't be sure. He'll be home late tonight, so I'll get the full scoop
then.
Wilderness Ventures, our of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, would be a good
start too. No "adult-adults", but some young adults---21-25. Camping
under the stars, backpacking, rafting, mountain climbing---many
different options to chose among. It's pretty organized though!
Cameron has this wish too. We haven't yet figured out how to manage it
in reality. He's 18 now though, so there's not the neglect issue to
worry about any more. Our trip to the Grand Canyon in September may
spur him to try that route though.
This is probably not an uncommon desire for young men. It's just a
little scary now!
~Kelly
Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org
"The hardest problem for the brain is not learning, but forgetting. No
matter how hard we try, we can't deliberately forget something we have
learned, and that is catastrophic if we learn that we can't learn."
~Frank Smith
From: sarah8591@...
I am learning so much here!! I am new and have a pretty miserable 16
year old
son who is leaving a waldorf school after being there for 12 years. He
is tired
of "everything organized" and desperately wants to spend time this
summer living
in the wilderness. Like My Side of the Mountain, a favorite book of
his. I am
not comfortable with this idea of him being alone, without many skills
to
survive, but want to somehow let him have the experience in a way we
feel safe
about. He does not want structure....or grownups. Any ideas??
Sarah
-=-=-=-
You both may need to compromise a bit. Legally he's too young to be
"out in the wilderness alone"---you could be cited for some
neglect/endangerment issues if something happened or if he were
'caught'.
Not Back To School Camps---either in Vermont or in Oregon might be a
possibility. He could meet a bunch of other unschoolers with some of
the same ideas. Maybe they could brainstorm. Cameron's been in Kentucky
this week at a "Gathering" of unschooling NBTSCampers---not an official
gathering---just a bunch who wanted to get together before camp starts
this fall. They're all living in a cabin owned by own of the campers.
They're being fairly self-sufficient, I guess. No phone access, so I
can't be sure. He'll be home late tonight, so I'll get the full scoop
then.
Wilderness Ventures, our of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, would be a good
start too. No "adult-adults", but some young adults---21-25. Camping
under the stars, backpacking, rafting, mountain climbing---many
different options to chose among. It's pretty organized though!
Cameron has this wish too. We haven't yet figured out how to manage it
in reality. He's 18 now though, so there's not the neglect issue to
worry about any more. Our trip to the Grand Canyon in September may
spur him to try that route though.
This is probably not an uncommon desire for young men. It's just a
little scary now!
~Kelly
Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org
"The hardest problem for the brain is not learning, but forgetting. No
matter how hard we try, we can't deliberately forget something we have
learned, and that is catastrophic if we learn that we can't learn."
~Frank Smith
[email protected]
Thank you Kelly! Please let me know how your son enjoyed the week.
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Brian & Alexandra Polikowsky
Have him watch the great show called "Survivorman". Its great !!!!!!!!!!Its
on Natuional greografic or discovery. He will realize he needs to know the
skills to be able to do it. Then he can do some research on the subject on
his own and fgure out a way to do it safe.
It would be a lot of fun and self-steem building to be able to do it. Maybe
he can do like a weekend first to see if he likes it and go on from that.
Alex
on Natuional greografic or discovery. He will realize he needs to know the
skills to be able to do it. Then he can do some research on the subject on
his own and fgure out a way to do it safe.
It would be a lot of fun and self-steem building to be able to do it. Maybe
he can do like a weekend first to see if he likes it and go on from that.
Alex
----- Original Message -----
From: <sarah8591@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 8:45 AM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] wilderness activity advice needed
>I am learning so much here!! I am new and have a pretty miserable 16 year
>old son who is leaving a waldorf school after being there for 12 years. He
>is tired of "everything organized" and desperately wants to spend time this
>summer living in the wilderness. Like My Side of the Mountain, a favorite
>book of his. I am not comfortable with this idea of him being alone,
>without many skills to survive, but want to somehow let him have the
>experience in a way we feel safe about. He does not want structure....or
>grownups. Any ideas??
> Sarah
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Deb Lewis
***and desperately wants to spend time this summer living in the
wilderness.***
First a book recommendation: The Indian Creek Chronicles by Pete Fromm,
about a young man who spends a winter in the Selway. He was so naive
and inexperienced it's almost unbelievable he survived but it's a good
story. Maybe you could take your son to the Selway on vacation. You
can rent the McGruder ranger station which is one of the places from the
book.
I don't know how he could go alone yet, legally but one thought is if you
rented a forest service cabin and stopped in to see him once a day. It
might be against the forest service rental policy so you'd have to deal
with your moral compass on that one. Most of the cabins only rent for a
week at a time but maybe you could convince a couple of friends to rent
it for consecutive weeks . ( their name on the books, you paying for it)
Forest service cabins have available wood and usually some cooking
utensils etc. I don't know where you are and maybe you're in the wrong
part of the country for forest service cabin rentals. Google
"recreational cabin and lookout rentals."
My other thought, which would be organized : ( would be field work with a
university student. Check with your local university or look online.
That can be remote and lonely, depends on the work.
Can one parent rent a cabin for the summer and relocate with him? Maybe
it could be within commuting distance to work for mom or dad and he could
be alone during the days.
Can you go on a long wilderness hiking/camping vacation with him? If
only one parent goes it might feel more like a friendship camaraderie
thing than a parents vacationing with kid thing.
Deb Lewis
wilderness.***
First a book recommendation: The Indian Creek Chronicles by Pete Fromm,
about a young man who spends a winter in the Selway. He was so naive
and inexperienced it's almost unbelievable he survived but it's a good
story. Maybe you could take your son to the Selway on vacation. You
can rent the McGruder ranger station which is one of the places from the
book.
I don't know how he could go alone yet, legally but one thought is if you
rented a forest service cabin and stopped in to see him once a day. It
might be against the forest service rental policy so you'd have to deal
with your moral compass on that one. Most of the cabins only rent for a
week at a time but maybe you could convince a couple of friends to rent
it for consecutive weeks . ( their name on the books, you paying for it)
Forest service cabins have available wood and usually some cooking
utensils etc. I don't know where you are and maybe you're in the wrong
part of the country for forest service cabin rentals. Google
"recreational cabin and lookout rentals."
My other thought, which would be organized : ( would be field work with a
university student. Check with your local university or look online.
That can be remote and lonely, depends on the work.
Can one parent rent a cabin for the summer and relocate with him? Maybe
it could be within commuting distance to work for mom or dad and he could
be alone during the days.
Can you go on a long wilderness hiking/camping vacation with him? If
only one parent goes it might feel more like a friendship camaraderie
thing than a parents vacationing with kid thing.
Deb Lewis
Deb Lewis
Do you have a friend or family member with a lake cabin or vacation cabin
he could use for a few weeks?
Deb Lewis
he could use for a few weeks?
Deb Lewis
Jill Parmer
Does he want to go for contemplating and appreciating nature, like a naturalist? This might give him some ideas: http://store.wildernessawareness.org/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WAS&Product_Code=P1382&Category_Code=1
What skills does he have? Can he cook on a camp stove? What's the fire danger in your area? Does he have a good sense of direction? know how to use a map and compass? If he has these skills something like this may work: you or another adult camp in a campground and backpack your son a ways into the wilderness and check on him once or twice a day? When I was on Outward Bound many years ago, each of us stayed alone for 3 days; we built a cairn each morning in a designated spot for the the group leaders to check on.
Jill P in Colo.
What skills does he have? Can he cook on a camp stove? What's the fire danger in your area? Does he have a good sense of direction? know how to use a map and compass? If he has these skills something like this may work: you or another adult camp in a campground and backpack your son a ways into the wilderness and check on him once or twice a day? When I was on Outward Bound many years ago, each of us stayed alone for 3 days; we built a cairn each morning in a designated spot for the the group leaders to check on.
Jill P in Colo.
----- Original Message -----
From: sarah8591@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 7:45 AM
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] wilderness activity advice needed
I am learning so much here!! I am new and have a pretty miserable 16 year old son who is leaving a waldorf school after being there for 12 years. He is tired of "everything organized" and desperately wants to spend time this summer living in the wilderness. Like My Side of the Mountain, a favorite book of his. I am not comfortable with this idea of him being alone, without many skills to survive, but want to somehow let him have the experience in a way we feel safe about. He does not want structure....or grownups. Any ideas??
Sarah
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