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Outdoor Preschools

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Re: Outdoor Preschools

#41

Post by cma »

linuxftw wrote: post #24

I'm old enough to remember a time when both parents didn't work full time and the other parents in the neighborhood helped watch each others children from time to time. It didn't cost much money, and the part time wages were plenty to cover a lot of expenses. Unfortunately, the value of our money was destroyed by politicians, and wages have been depressed for several decades due to economic policies in place.

When women entered the workforce en masse you had say 60% more workers, but still the same number of jobs. * That's around when wage stagnation started and seems to explain a lot of it. The answer should have been a shorter work week, more maternity/paternity leave, etc.

* Of course some other jobs were created in the process, like more caretaker jobs, and other stuff happened like more automation.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#42

Post by war1025 »

linuxftw wrote: post #39
war1025 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this sentiment a lot, but as someone living the "one breadwinner, wife and three kids" life, it seems completely doable on tech job wages. You just have to adjust your lifestyle somewhat. People talk about how you used to be able to live on much less money, but they forget all the added conveniences people have. For example, my Grandma stayed home with my Dad and his seven siblings. But they also had an outhou…

The average tech wage today is comparable to everyone's average household income in 1980, relative to median home price in the US. Compare the S&P 500 relative to median income and we're even worse off. On one hand, working in the tech sector is not a bad place to be. On the other hand, we're no better off than the average person in 1980, relative to their peers. Minimum wage was $3.10 in 1980, it's just $7.25 today…

Maybe because I graduated college / entered the workforce through the peak of the recession, but I've found that I tend not to compare my living standard with those I grew up in nor those that my parents grew up in.

Yes, I think we probably took several wrong turns along the way, but here is where we are, and I find that I am much more content with things if I just accept right now as my baseline. Compared to many (most?) of the people I associate with, I'm doing pretty darn well.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#43

Post by war1025 »

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #8

It'd be interesting to see if children raised with outdoor preschools had better eyesight. There's a strong correlation between time spend indoors during childhood and nearsightedness. [1] [1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/scin.559183...

I haven't looked into it enough to know how "out there" this idea is, but I think I've read that there seems to be a correlation between lack of UV exposure and myopia.

Glass blocks UV. Which means people are getting next to zero UV exposure indoors, even if the room is brightly lit.

The past few years, we've been keeping out windows open basically from the time it's warm enough in the spring to when it starts getting too cold in the fall. We ran our AC for maybe a week total this summer.

Anyway, where I'm getting at with this is since our windows are open, we should be getting significantly more UV exposure, even when indoors. I wonder if the rise of air conditioning did a double hit to people's eyesight by both 1. Keeping them inside more often and 2. Leading to people closing their windows, which blocks UV exposure.

Anyway, a though I had the other day.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#44

Post by spodek »

Beyond preschool, learn about Sudbury Valley School and other self-directed learning.

I find it mind-blowing how much more we learn when outside mainstream education, which constrains us.

I've compiled many videos and links on it, as well as some of my thoughts, in this blog entry: http://joshuaspodek.com/mind-blowing-educational-practices.

Peter Gray's book Free to Learn is the most comprehensive resource http://www.freetolearnbook.com.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#45

Post by davidw »

cloudytoday wrote: post #2

cool idea. I think we have one here in San Francisco. I just wonder about rain/snow (for some areas) and then naps..where do they take them? But in general I think the kids (and adults) need more outdoor time

That seems like a good question. From the article:

> There, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Rose and her 13 classmates are huddled together under a tarp hung among trees, learning to make cedar tea.

Yeah, that's hypothermia weather. Get a bit wet in that and you're going to be really, really miserable.

I love being outdoors, but 5C and rain is the worst. I much prefer snow and a bit of sunshine.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#47

Post by dmurray »

war1025 wrote: post #43
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #8

It'd be interesting to see if children raised with outdoor preschools had better eyesight. There's a strong correlation between time spend indoors during childhood and nearsightedness. [1] [1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/scin.559183...

I haven't looked into it enough to know how "out there" this idea is, but I think I've read that there seems to be a correlation between lack of UV exposure and myopia. Glass blocks UV. Which means people are getting next to zero UV exposure indoors, even if the room is brightly lit. The past few years, we've been keeping out windows open basically from the time it's warm enough in the spring to when it starts gettin…

Most windows don't let in much more UV when open. Maybe if you have big sliding doors or similar.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#48

Post by mips_avatar »

I went to a Norwegian preschool. And it was almost an outdoor school. Everyday we would go on long walks and activities in the woods. We would learn how to have fun in the rain with buckets and puddles. That didn't mean there weren't indoor activities, but we did a good mix.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#49

Post by linuxftw »

war1025 wrote: post #42
linuxftw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average tech wage today is comparable to everyone's average household income in 1980, relative to median home price in the US. Compare the S&P 500 relative to median income and we're even worse off. On one hand, working in the tech sector is not a bad place to be. On the other hand, we're no better off than the average person in 1980, relative to their peers. Minimum wage was $3.10 in 1980, it's just $7.25 today…

Maybe because I graduated college / entered the workforce through the peak of the recession, but I've found that I tend not to compare my living standard with those I grew up in nor those that my parents grew up in. Yes, I think we probably took several wrong turns along the way, but here is where we are, and I find that I am much more content with things if I just accept right now as my baseline. Compared to many (m…

I'm generally content with my position in life, but I'm not content with where most people are.

Re: Outdoor Preschools

#50

Post by youeseh »

avip wrote: post #23
vailripper wrote: post #10

My son goes to one of these. We moved him out of another (indoor) preschool. He loves it - the kids seem to get along better, he's been more well behaved, and it seems to foster his creativity. That said, he's also older now! But we've had a great experience.

Your experiment has #samples = 1 and no external variables control, yet I absolutely believe the reported outcome.

You're forgetting about all the other kids in the outdoor kindergarten systems around the world. I'm sure he enrolled his son into it after learning about their success.
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