No Child Left Inside Act and environmental education

The “No Child Left Behind Act,” has most schools so focused on new testing and curriculum requirements (in language and math) that environmental education is being pushed out of our schools. Hands-on, experience-based environmental education can reconnect kids to the natural world. It will help prepare our children for jobs in environmental fields of the future. We must demand that our children receive a well-rounded curriculum that includes real life experiences.

As a result, the U.S. Congress is working to pass the “No Child Left Inside Act” to get our young people learning outside and reconnected with nature through environmental education. Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island and Congressman John Sarbanes from Maryland are the lead sponsors of the No Child Left Inside legislation.

The No Child Left Inside coalition also recently released a compelling video where you can see firsthand how environmental education is connecting children with the natural world. Go ahead and join the coalition today! Tell your congressmen and women how you feel about narrow focus of “No Child Left Behind.”

Nature… the premiere learning class for young children

Today, parents are scared to let their kids go outside on their own, so that means they keep them inside. They watch TV, they play on the computer, and they go to organized sports or other activities. The optimal word here is “organized.” In order for children to become creative thinkers and learners we must allow them time and space to play freely, especially in nature. Work for young children is play and not the kind of play where parents act as directors instead of bystanders. We shouldn’t dictate how a child should play and interact with others one-hundred percent of the time. Early learning is the key… and it begins in the home and yard, not within a stressful schedule that has baby riding all over town for one class after another. You can do everything those classes do – and spend far less money and time.

As a parent, let your child touch nature, smell the scents in nature, taste fruits and vegetables from nature (that you know are safe and clean) and exercise leadership in how he interacts with nature. Not too long ago, we roamed the neighborhood without our parents. We picked berries, caught crayfish, climbed trees, played in mud or dirt, built forts, caught frogs and generally had a great time while being part of nature. We didn’t need gym classes, music classes, cooking classes and art classes to teach us how to do all of these things. I guess you could have called us “explorers.” Let’s bring “exploration” back to our children through the great outdoors and let the learning begin from their perspective once again. Your child will rejoice in a “stress-free lifestyle,” while you enjoy stress-free parenting (well as close to stress-free as you will ever get).