As blog readers know, this summer we're installing the first phase of our natural playground. Last week we hit our 2018 fundraising goal to buy the materials for it. A huge thank-you to all our givers who helped make it possible! The giving GoFundMe page is open through next summer to fund the stunning additions planned … Continue reading Here’s What Our Play Yard Looks Like Before This Year’s Big Build Day
Coming For Fall: New Design For Our Handcrafted Classroom Standing Desks
Our headmaster moonlights as a wood craftsman, and has been using part of his summer "vacation" to redesign standing desks for Redeemer students. He crafts each student's desk by hand. Last year, we used another desk as a template, because standing desks are a relatively new idea and fewer are available than conventional desks, especially … Continue reading Coming For Fall: New Design For Our Handcrafted Classroom Standing Desks
Watch This Video About Our Big Plans For A Natural Playground, And How You Can Help
This summer we're putting a lot of work into one of our big projects: building a natural playground atop a patch of bare grass for the children of Redeemer Classical and its host church, Redeemer Lutheran. Last summer, we and lots of hardworking friends put up many feet of fence around the play yard. This … Continue reading Watch This Video About Our Big Plans For A Natural Playground, And How You Can Help
A Local Beekeeper Visited Nature Walk This Week. Here’s What We Saw
This week's nature walk featured a special treat: A visit and demonstration from local beekeeper Maraiah Russell, whose grandfather kept bees and passed down his hobby. Russell teaches introduction to beekeeping classes for the Northeastern Indiana Beekeepers Association, and she kept the children enthralled for an hour. It probably helped that she brought a huge … Continue reading A Local Beekeeper Visited Nature Walk This Week. Here’s What We Saw
Pictures: A Double-Header Nature Walk Worm Week!
For the last two weeks, our nature walkers have spent time with worms. On the first week, the kids went worm hunting, digging away with great merriment. Here they are beforehand, listening to Mr. Pullmann explain the project and tell about how worms live. Here the kids have dug up their worms and are inspecting … Continue reading Pictures: A Double-Header Nature Walk Worm Week!
The Least Active Kids Of 20 Years Ago Would Be Today’s Most Fit, Study Finds
A new study of British kids finds that their parents would smoke them in a footrace if the parents and kids were the same age. That's because kids today move so much less than their parents did, despite their parents' widespread access as kids to television and other sedentary entertainment like videogames. The study found … Continue reading The Least Active Kids Of 20 Years Ago Would Be Today’s Most Fit, Study Finds
Who Spends Less Time Outside Each Day: Prison Inmates Or Kids?
You can probably guess the answer to that question simply because it's being asked. But watch the two-minute video to know for sure. Also notice how the inmates' yard and cells, if the barbed wire were removed, look similar to many U.S. schools: square cinderblock, long halls, metal doors, chain link fence. Thank building codes … Continue reading Who Spends Less Time Outside Each Day: Prison Inmates Or Kids?
Pictures From Our Recent Nature Walk At Fox Island Park
Every week the school takes a nature walk, usually Friday at 1 p.m., that is also open to anyone interested (more info). Each time we study something specific, such as insects or particular aspects of plants. This time it was leaf classification. Students keep nature notebooks and draw what they are learning and observe. Most … Continue reading Pictures From Our Recent Nature Walk At Fox Island Park
Some Encouragement This Summer: Japanese Scientists Say Dirt Is Good For Kids
One of the best things you can do to help your child develop a healthy body and mind is let him play in dirt, say Japanese scientists studying child's play. "By using all five senses to experience the outdoors, children are able to feel that they are a part of nature," says Michio Kawasaki, a … Continue reading Some Encouragement This Summer: Japanese Scientists Say Dirt Is Good For Kids
What Kids Lose When Schools And Parents Don’t Foster Free Play
"School has become an abnormal setting for children," says Peter Gray, a professor of psychology at Boston College. "Instead of admitting that, we say the children are abnormal." Gray, the author of several books including "Free to Learn," recently discussed the necessity of unstructured play for children's intellectual and psychological development with Reason TV's Nick … Continue reading What Kids Lose When Schools And Parents Don’t Foster Free Play
Redeemer Classical School 