Taking the classroom outdoors

The rise of technology has not affected the core themes of childhood.

Fresh Air Family, a group geared toward getting kids and families outdoors, bases its classes and camps on this principle. 

“We like to think children have gotten more sophisticated,” said founder and executive director Verna Gates. “I’m here to tell you they’re not. You still have to pull them out of creek beds and mud puddles.”

In the 10 years since its founding, Fresh Air Family, located in Crestwood, has hosted hundreds of classes and camps, and this fall, they are partnering with Ruffner Mountain. Fresh Air Family plans to take Ruffner Mountain’s existing education programming and incorporate it into the Compass System, a system that works to take new information and connect it to personally relevant information. 

An example is connecting a lesson on snakes to how good snakes can help keep away bad snakes in a family garden or keep down the rodent population, Gates said. 

“It’s completing a loop of how it reaches you personally,” she said.

Programs Fresh Air Family plans to work with will include discovery hikes, animal interaction, lessons on forest ecology and information on Ruffner Mountain’s mining history.

“Ruffner Mountain has done a great job of providing a wide array of school-based programs that tie into the mountain,” said Taylor Steele, Ruffner Mountain education director for Fresh Air Family.

Steele began work on curriculum-based lessons for the fall programs in July. One goal of these programs is providing information about Ruffner Mountain’s history as a city resource and how it can continue to be a resource, he said.

In addition to building on Ruffner Mountain’s existing programs, Fresh Air Family will fit some of its most popular camps into the Compass System. Gross Out Camp and Prepared Not Scared are two of Fresh Air Family’s annual weeklong camps.

Gross Out’s tagline is “It’s science but please don’t tell the kids!” The camp takes kids out into nature and teaches them about decomposers, macroinvertebrates and scientific thinking, all while they are playing outside and sometimes getting their hands dirty.

“I don’t know very many schools that offer 40 hours of hands-on biology,” Gates said.

Jasmine Martin, camp director for Gross Out, said the chance for kids to get outdoors and start interacting with other students is one of the camp’s best benefits. In addition to learning through exploring, campers are encouraged to ask group members questions before approaching a director. That interaction is not always present in other summertime camps.

“If you’re doing arts and crafts all day, you don’t really have to talk to anyone unless you need a crayon,” Martin said.

In all of the Fresh Air Family camps, Gates said a main goal is teaching critical thinking skills. Learning scientific processes helps encourage that type of thinking, Gates said, and can help students inside and outside of the classroom.

“If you can think critically, we hope you can make better decisions,” she said. 

Prepared Not Scared also focuses on what Gates said are important life skills — safety and survival. After working as a journalist for several years, Gates said she continued to see stories on shooting incidents and realized most people did not know how to react or protect themselves. Prepared Not Scared incorporates lessons on gun safety with basic survival skills such as how to build a debris shelter, start a fire and extract water from plants. 

The camp helps present lessons, including how to tell the difference between a real and fake gun or how to react when you find a gun, in a manner that keeps kids engaged, Gates said.

“Nothing is more fun than learning when it’s done right,” she said.

Once the curriculum is established, the Ruffner Mountain programs and discovery adventures will be open for schools, organizations and families to take.

Gates said she hopes families choose to come out and take the courses because busy schedules often limit the time parents and kids can spend together.

Family-geared programs not only get families outside and working together, but Gates said she has seen relationships develop through the programs. Kids will oftentimes look toward their parents for answers and always return to show off what they have discovered.

“Even though I see kids run ahead, they always come back to those parents,” Gates said.

For more information on Fresh Air Family, go to freshairfamily.org.