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A podcast for homeschool families brought to you by Sequoia Grove Charter Alliance. Encouragement, tips & tricks, interviews with HSTs and curriculum help.
Rebecca: Thank you for joining us today on the Sequoia Breeze podcast. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio, and I hope that today will be a new breath of fresh air for your homeschool as we learn more about the importance of the time that we spend outside, both us as adults and for our kids and all the ways we can weave homeschool into that. So stick around. Today I have Ginny Yurich from A Thousand Hours Outside joining me, and our family has just begun this journey, and I've been looking into this in the last couple months, and I'm really excited to have you, Jenny. So thank you so much for joining me.
Ginny: Yeah, I'm thrilled to be here. Thanks, Rebecca.
Rebecca: So a thousand hours outside. That sounds like a lot. Sounds maybe a little random. Why don't you tell us, what does this mean if somebody's never heard of you? But really, I want to know how your family landed on this even before it became a whole thing.
Ginny: Well, my story is that I really struggled becoming a mother. Well, I guess I didn't struggle becoming a mother. I struggled as soon as I was a mother. And I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting to be very good at it, and I was expecting to nail it, basically. And I didn't realize the amount of needs, the endlessness of those early childhood, the baby years. And I struggled on a daily basis because I felt like I was failing constantly, like, from morning till night through the night. Never ended. You never get a break from it. And we had pretty clingy babies. I had a couple right in a row, so they were close in age. And so I had these years that were fairly dark for me as a person. I wanted to enjoy being a mom of young kids, and I just was not because I wasn't good at it. And I was enrolling the kids in all sorts of classes because I didn't really know how to spend our time either. That's sort of what I saw everyone else doing. It's like the music and taut program and the swim lessons and the library and all of these different programs. And they were so much output. Rebecca without much reward. I mean, they're good programs, the library programs are great, but it was so much effort, I guess I would say it that way, to manage a 45 minutes library program. We had three kids under three. So to get everybody there, all the diapers, all the books that were returning, trying to navigate, even the parking lot, all the different things, and then that's only 45 minutes of your day. Like, you're exhausted. It's like this herculean effort. Anyway, I lived that way for many years, actually. And then at Mops, which is mother's a preschooler, so that was another one of the things I enrolled in, with the promise of being able to drop the kids off in the childcare for 2 hours, but mine always cried, so they always would bring them back juggling babies. It was ridiculous. But I did make some really good friends there. And one of my friends at my table knew she was going to homeschool and we knew we were going to home school as well. So our homeschooling story is that I had been a public school teacher, so I just kind of knew that that environment was not what we wanted. I taught high school and then our son was born right around the time when full day kindergarten swept through Michigan. So I grew up with half day kindergarten, but full day kindergarten came about the year when my son was born. And it's just such a long day, Rebecca. So for where we lived, and we're out in the country a little bit, the bus would come at eight and the kids wouldn't get home until 445. And I just thought, well, for a five year old, that's a really long day. So anyway, we already were in the mindset of knowing that we were going to home school. And one of my friends at Mops, she was a year further down the road. She had a child that was a year older. And so she had already started to research. And I didn't know anything about homeschooling, but she was researching. And so she came to Mops one day and she said, charlote Mason says that kids should be outside for four to 6 hours whenever the weather is tolerable and I just remember thinking Rebecca, that that was like outlandish. Well, first of all, I didn't know who Charlote Mason was and she didn't tell me that Charlote Mason is like from the 18 hundreds. She left out that little bit of information. I mean, I learned that years later. I was like, Charlote, I know people named Charlote. It's like a common name, right? I probably wouldn't have listened if I would have known that it was this advice from previous centuries. But anyway, so then she said, so I'm here, I'm thinking in my mind, that's ridiculous. Like my kids won't even play with playdoh for more than 15 minutes. What are they going to do for four to 6 hours? And then she followed it up by saying, would you like to try it? And I'm thinking like, no, I do not. This is going to be awful. And I'm thinking about the library program or the swim lessons. You're trying to cajole your kids, but four times as long, or five times as long, right?
Rebecca: You mean leave? The kid can eat in 4 hours?
Ginny: Yeah, what are they going to do? But we tried it because you're also in that precarious stage of life where you're trying to build friendships too, and it's hard to build relationships. So she asked us to do something and I said yes. So this was back in 2011, so it's been twelve years. We went in the fall. We live in Michigan, so it's beautiful in the fall here. We went to this park and she suggested that we meet from nine to one. So this is the Charlote Mason 4 hours thing. And she said, just bring a picnic blanket and a picnic lunch. And I remember thinking, Rebecca, well, what else shouldn't I be bringing? A bag of library books and a bag of toys and our water table and craft supplies? What are the kids going to do for 4 hours? She was pretty adamant, like, just bring your food and your picnic blanket. And this was a park. This was not even a playground. This was grass. There was nothing there. And I thought, oh, this is going to be the worst day ever. And actually, I claim it as the best day of my life because it was the first good day I had as a mom, the first one. And our oldest son was three, and we had a daughter that was one and a boy, a little baby boy that was six months. And it was a glorious day because the kids just played the older ones and she had two older ones, and we each had a baby that we were carrying. And the babies would nurse and rest and nap and grab at the grass. To be honest, I don't even know what people did. But I had an okay day, and I felt refreshed, and we all felt refreshed afterward, and everyone fell asleep on the way home, which was a miracle. And all of a sudden a good chunk of the day had passed and I was surviving it and feeling pretty good. So it was a life changing day, and for a couple of years we switched the way that we were living to include these larger chunks of time. And it was very life changing for me and my mental health, but also for the kids. Very quickly I was noticing that, well, they're eating better, they're sleeping better, they're not getting sick as often, they're thriving. They're playing better together indoors and outdoors. They're more creative. So it just took me down a path of learning that when we let kids play outside and we don't even have to plan anything, we don't have to have duck, duck, goose, and we don't have to have a scavenger hunt, when we play outside, it helps our kids develop in every facet of their development, including their cognition. So their cognition, their physicality, their social skills, which are incredibly important, and their emotional health. And in time, it's like I've read book after book after book. The research is so strong and so lengthy, and I'm continuing to learn more about how beneficial time outdoors is, both for the kid and the parent. So the number came from well, I used to be a math teacher, so the number came from I had read a book. There were statistics out about how kids were outside for four to seven minutes on average daily, playing outside for four to seven minutes, but on their screens for four to 7 hours. And so just this really big imbalance. And so what I did was I added up the time that I was curious, like how much time are we spending outside? We were getting outside about 18 to 20 hours a week, per that sort of Charlote Mason philosophy of four to 6 hours a day whenever the weather is tolerable it was about 18 to 20 hours a week. It added up to 1200 hours a year. And at that time in 2013, about that was the amount of time that kids were spending on screens each year was about 1200 hours. And I just remember thinking, not that we're against screens. Our kids have iPads and we have TV in our home and video games and things like that. It was more of a thing of what would our life look like if all of those 1200 hours had gone to screens and not to this bountiful, wonderful life that we're living. So I just thought because it was so life changing for me, and because really I was seeing this benefit for our kids and we were playing outside 18 to 20 hours a week and not running into anyone else. We're in metro Detroit area, we lived in a more populated area at the time. We just weren't ever running into other kids. I thought I would write about it, so I named it 1000 Hours Outside, because it's a little catchier than 1200 Hours outside, but also because people ask that a lot. They're like, well, is this just random? But there is an occupational physical therapist, a pediatric, I said that wrong. A pediatric occupational therapist named Angela Hanscomb. And she wrote a phenomenal book. I think it's when every parent should read. It's called balanced and barefoot. And in there she talks about that every child from birth through the teenage years should be outside about 3 hours a day for optimal functioning, at a minimum 3 hours a day. So it goes along with that research and then also the Charlote Mason thing. But it's a year long goal because I think that it's impractical for most families to get outside for 3 hours every day, depending on where you live in your weather, depending on seasons of life, illness, new baby, jumping into homeschooling, trying something new. I mean, there's a lot of things that happen in life that are circumstantial. And so we just have this year long goal and there's been years where we haven't hit it. But we have this goal of being intentional about weaving hands on real life moments into childhood and into our family life. And we've been doing it for twelve years.
Rebecca: That's amazing. What a cool blessing that you figured that out when your kids were so little. Because harder than early years were, they weren't twelve and eleven and ten. Yeah, that's really cool. Now, that said doesn't mean somebody can't start at 1211 and ten, right? So tell us how that went from this is important to our family to you're going to create something out of that.
Ginny: Well, I started blogging because blogs were all the rage. I actually don't even really like writing all that much, but I started writing because it was just something I was passionate about, I think because I was in such a dark place, I really did not like being a mom. And this one change, which is not easy, but it's a simple conceptual change, this one change of saying, look, I'm going to prioritize getting outside. I'm going to prioritize staying outside because I think a lot of things in America are short. You have 45 minutes classes, 30 minutes classes. Well, that's a lot of work, but I could put the same amount of work in and get 4 hours of activity or 6 hours of activity out of it. So I started writing because it was so beneficial to me as a mom. And truthfully, Rebecca, for years and years and years, people thought it was ridiculous. So there's that. Probably for five to six years, people were like, this is a silly idea, even my friends. And then finally some people started to try it. We really are keeping track of how much time we spend outside. We're aiming to have 1000 hours of it. And it is life changing. It has a huge impact on our quality of life and on how our children are thriving. It's definitely a major part of our home school because it's helping the kids grow and it's helping with academic growth because it helps their brains function better, and it's helping with their muscles that they need to hold a pencil, and it's helping with their eyesight and things like that. And then it's also helping with their social skills and all of the other parts. Sometimes that seat work does not hit the outdoors is hitting all the things.
Rebecca: I just came up with about three different questions from what you just said, and I'm trying to what order to go in, but well, let's do this part now. What does homeschooling outdoors look like for you? How does that work? Do you have kids that have math online or do you have kind of a conflict as they get older between necessary screens and outdoor time? And how does that all work?
Ginny: Well, it's an interesting question, and I think this has been an interesting path because I started doing something in 2011 when our kids were three and under, and now I have five kids that are ages 16 to seven or 15, I guess. The oldest one's 15. Oh, that's always the worst. The oldest one's 15. He just got his driver's permit today, so I was thinking about driving and right. 50, he's not actually have his license, so 15 to seven and it's interesting to find something that works for all seasons of parenting. So I think that so much of parenting is adjusting to a new season of the child, a new stage of the child, and are constantly on your toes. But nature works for the baby as well as it works for the 13 year old or the 15 year old or the 18 year old or the mother or the father or the grandparent. So nature is one of those mainstays that you can always turn to as a place that will help your family life. It will help your parenting, it will help your kids to grow in enormous. So what we do for our homeschool and I know that the laws are different depending on where you live. So in michigan, we have a certain amount of subjects that we're supposed to teach and those I think there's nine of them. So we have our seat work that we do, and we have a math book and we have a history book, and we do an online little news thing that we watch every day. As a family, we do read aloud. So we have these different elements. We have science things, and actually, we do have our own curriculum. It's called add the wonder nature curriculum, which is a cross curricular. Like, it weaves it all together. So, like, you might learn about sunflowers, but you can learn about the fibonacci sequence in van Gogh. And in kansas, the sunflower is the sunflower state. So you're learning geography. You're learning all of these things in an interconnected way. But that's really not my main focus. We do those things and they don't take that much time. We're not spending four to 6 hours a day on it, and it's taken a while to get there. Rebecca I mean, I'll say that at the very beginning of our home school, I definitely had more of a concrete schedule. But as you go along, you see that the kids are growing and thriving and also that they have their own interests and they have their own path. Not that it's set out in concrete, but you can see from the beginning that they have some of their own interests and they need time to be able to dive into those things. So my goal is not to take up too much of their time. I don't know. It's been a long time coming anyways. We have a lot of time. We're homeschoolers. So we could take our read aloud outside. We could take some of it outside with us if the weather is nice. And we can do that and sit at a picnic table. And that counts as being outside because anytime you're exposed to full spectrum light, it's good for your health and it's good for your eyesight, it's good for your mental well being. But also the amount of seat work that we do on a day to day basis doesn't take up an eight to four, basically, if that makes sense.
Rebecca: Yeah. My other question is with a 15 to seven year old. I have 15 to six year olds. I find that I'm hitting this stage of like they're all kind of going in different directions. Their different interests are taking them different places. And I'm curious if most of your outdoor time is still together, or if sometimes I'm just sending the boys outside to play. Like, go outside and play. And there's your outdoor time, because that's another struggle. I guess I'm asking you two questions at once. But I do feel like as the mom, there's a lot of indoor things I have to do.
Ginny: Sure.
Rebecca: Yeah, absolutely.
Ginny: Well, this is the thing. I think it's a good point that you bring up. And I'm going to go a different I'll come back to it, but I want to give a little twist to it. I think that when you have young kids, you dream about this stage. Like, six to 15 is a sweet spot. No one's in diapers. Someone can make you a sandwich if you're hungry. Someone can bring you a water. I mean, your kids can carry things. This is a very different stage than when you're the one that has a baby on your front and a toddler on the back and you're pushing the stroller and you had to pack up everything. And when you come home, you have to unpack everything and then you have to try and figure out how to make dinner. Right. So you look forward to these stages of independence, but it's important to know that those stages are also very busy, like you said. So there's never a perfect time to start to adventure. I think you shouldn't wait is what I'm saying. You shouldn't wait because the time does not come when you have a lot of time. It never comes. You're always scrambling. You're just scrambling in different ways. So we're in the same spot as you, Rebecca. Kids that are in sports, kids that are wanting to hang out with different sorts of friends and that type of thing. So it's a mix at this point for us. Absolutely. So we have some family vacations that we do that are centered around being outside. We go to the beach as a family, with a lot of other homeschool, families. We get together, we go on hikes with other families. But yes, some of it now is that the kids are going out on their own and doing some of their own things in the yard or the neighborhood. So actually what I've always done is I've always kept track of because we're really trying to get outside for 1000 hours. So I've always kept track of the person that would go outside the least, which has always been the youngest, because they have to be with me. So the baby is not going to go the two year old is not going outside. Without my supervision. So I always just have kept track of the youngest kid. Well, now I'm keeping track of myself because I'm the one that goes out the least at this point because my kids can go out by themselves and they do. Then I know that they've been outside actually way more than 1000 hours because they're outside more than I am. But this was my changeover year, was that I'm keeping track of my own hours, knowing that our kids are getting more than that, if that makes sense.
Rebecca: Such a cool idea because that was my other question is we started tracking, I don't know, two months ago maybe. And I'm noticing that the little one and me track, but the others kind of forget, they don't bother. So that was one of my questions for you was what are some tips for actually tracking your hours? And that's brilliant.
Ginny: Yeah, that's what we do. And some kids get really into it, into it. And some people say, look, this is too big of a burden, which I also understand. And so don't do it, don't add things to your life that are too big of a burden. I think part of what the goal is, is just to be aware that going outside is really good for you. And I think if you know that and here and there, you hear these different things. There's an interesting thing about your eyes. So your eyes have a ciliary muscle, it's the ring around your eye. And the ciliary muscle is always contracted when you're inside, like almost like if you contract your bicep muscle, it's always tight, that ring around your eye. And it's tight even when you're sleeping. And the only time that it ever relaxes is when you have a long field of vision when you go outside and you can see afar away. And so just knowing little things like that, it's a reminder to set the screens down, to go look in three dimensional, to have that sunlight hit your brain to be able to relax your eye. Mean, I think the knowledge is very powerful in helping us to make the decisions that pull us away from the indoors because there's a lot of things pressing, isn't there Rebecca? Yeah, there's a lot of pressing things. But also I will say too know someday it's not going to be messy because the kids are going to be grown and out of the house. And I do try and think about that too. There's a fine line there, right? It's like you don't want to be a slob. But also I'm okay for it to not be perfect, right?
Rebecca: Yeah. And while we're talking about tracking, I'll just tell people on your website, you've got all these great trackers and I can be overly absorbed in detail. So I made a real conscious decision that I'm not going to get uptight about minutes because that's not the point. Like you said, the point is a mindset shift and just to pay attention to are you outside? And at times I've thought, oh, gosh, I really didn't get any time outside. And other times I've thought I didn't even pay attention to the fact that the whole time I was over visiting my parents, we were out on the porch and we just had a conversation, so I didn't feel like outside time, but we were outside the whole time. And so sometimes you realize the tracking can also help you. Oh, I'm getting some time outside that I hadn't quite so but there's all kinds of trackers on the website and so you can choose one that works for you. I love the one with zinnias and you color in each of the petals because they're little goals within themselves because each zinnia has 100 petals you can see as you go along. But the kids or you can choose whichever tracker works. That's really cool.
Ginny: They've been designed by the 1000 hours outside community. We come out with a new one or two every year. Some kids, it's like a contest. We run it in September and October. And so there's always a kid winner. And it's fun. And it's one of those things that it reminds you to celebrate yourself as a parent. This is a really hard day and age to ensure that kids get real life moments. It's not easy by any means, and so celebrate it. And it's a way to model to your kids too. How to find balance. I think we all need tools in our life to help us to strike that balance between the things that can suck away our time and the things that really give us life. It's a tool. And as kids get older, they can do it if they want and if they don't want to. Like I said before, don't add things to your life that make you miserable.
Rebecca: So talk a little bit about if a family is interested in this idea, in sort of joining. You call it a movement, right? More than a business.
Ginny: We do have a business. It's a newer thing, but we had to start to fund it. You're like, you've got your website, you've got these different costs that come up. But also there are some cool things that you need to go outside. You don't need a lot, but you usually need like a water bottle and a place to put your food, like a cooler. So we do have a small line of products, like everyday adventure products for the family, but 1000 hours outside we do. We call it a movement. It's a global movement. And I don't know, you just print one of those sheets off or you set the intention or you say, look, I'm going to pay attention and you could use the sheets in whatever way that you wanted to. You talked about the minutes. So if someone was going to say, look, I want to spend 500 hours outside, I'm going to make a smaller goal for my family. Then each of those little squares or sections would be 30 minutes and not an hour. So you really can customize it to your specific family. Like maybe you're a single mom or a single dad. Maybe you're struggling with juggling work and you're home school and different things and you want to make a different goal. But the point is, I think when we're intentional about it, it gives our life a lot to look forward to, a lot to reminisce on, a lot to celebrate, and just a whole lot of memories. Those things that we do outside, we tend to remember better because they're full sensory experiences. A lot of times unique things happen and so those stick in our memories. And so with all the benefits to our kids development, we're also laying this foundation of memories together as a family. There's also an app. Maybe you're going there, I don't know if you're going there. We do have an app, it's for iOS and Android. Now the tracker sheets are free and we also have some other things on our website. Just 1000 hours outside, but there's a kickoff pack that has hiking prompts and book lists for the different months. Just picture books you could get from the library. That's pretty fun. Different ideas of outdoor things to do for the month if people are looking for ideas. And then people really like our app. It's like $3. We made it with our family. And it's a place to track your time and a little journal feature. So it's pretty cool. It gives you badges once you hit different hours. And so that's another thing that people use. But if people wanted to start, it really is. I always say it's like a money back guarantee because it's actually it's just free. Just grab one of those tracker sheets or make your own and try it.
Rebecca: I've taken a little bit of a look at some of the curriculum. I've actually waiting for my order to process with the school because I've placed a couple of orders for my boys, wanted to learn about caves and what was the other one they chose? Natural Disasters.
Ginny: Those are fun ones.
Rebecca: Yeah. And we have a couple of pretty amazing caves near us that I've actually never visited. And so I'm anxious to try that with the kids this year and go and see those. So that'll be cool.
Ginny: Yeah. Nature definitely gives us a venue for learning in a way that's cross curricular. So I used to be a public school teacher and there's a lot of good things to learn out there. It's easier to remember them when they're cohesive. So if you're studying, let's say, the path of a butterfly, now we're up in Michigan, and monarchs go from Michigan. They go all the way down to Mexico. So we can study the path of the monarch. And learn geography that know instead of just looking at a map or in a siphoned off way. So I'd love that nature facilitates that way to learn cross curricular and as multi age. So if you have more than one kid and you're trying to wrap your head around, how do I deal with a first grader and a fourth grader and a 7th grader? Well, nature is going to hit each kid where they're at and give them opportunities to develop and to learn all sorts of things. Like what you said. It's like, well, certain kids are interested in snakes and some are interested in rocks and some are interested in caves or they like storms. So there's all sorts of ways that you can learn about life, the world that we live in, and history and all sorts of things through the study of nature.
Rebecca: What have you learned through the years about embracing outside time, even with undesirable.
Ginny: A that's a good topic, Rebecca, and a lot of people cover that. So a couple good reads. I know that homeschool parents tend to not have a ton of time, but there's an author, Linda McGurk, who wrote a book called there's no Such Thing as Bad Weather and it's not true. There is such thing as bad weather.
Rebecca: It's going to be 109 here tomorrow.
Ginny: Right, it's not true. But the point is that the bad weather is less of an issue than sometimes we make it and that there are certain cultures that tend to go outside year round and they just change their clothing. Obviously, you can't be know there's a threshold there. And I always thought, actually, this is a new thing I learned this year, Rebecca. I went down and spoke at a conference in Texas, and I was always look like these people, it's so hot they can just swim. And everyone was like, no. They were like, the water gets so hot that it's not refreshing and you just feel like you're swimming in everyone's. Okay, that does sound kind of gross. I don't know. So there is such thing as bad weather, truly, obviously. But when we get outside and we're uncomfortable, that helps us develop grit and resilience. And so that book by Linda McGurk is really good. She's talking in terms of winter, which is what we're struggling with here in Michigan. It gets really cold. But then I just read this book called 52 Ways to Walk where she talks about how there's this fat called brown fat. It actually doesn't have a good name, but it's actually like good fat and it eats the white fat. It gobbles up the bad fat, and you only can get brown fat by being in the cold. It's one of the ways that you get it. I don't know. I probably shouldn't have even gone there because I don't totally know what I'm talking about anyway. Lots of things are happening when we're dealing with adverse circumstances. So, like, bugs, heat, sweat, all of those things. Steven Renella talks about it in his book Outdoor Kids in an Inside World. And then there's a book called The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. And basically all of these books are saying we're not meant to be comfortable, all the like. That's not how the human body was designed. We're meant to have a range of experiences. And also the times that you feel good, feel even better when you're coming in from an uncomfortable spot. So if you come in and it's freezing cold outside and you come into a roaring fire, that feels way better than sitting in 72 degrees. And the same thing if you're blazing hot and then you get to step into a place that's air conditioned. I mean, it feels like heaven, right? So there's a lot to be said about our kids and ourselves stepping into environments that are not ideal. And nature helps us to become flexible, and that unpredictable peace can't be found everywhere, but nature hands it out. So, I don't know. Just recently, we went on a whitewater rafting trip. Now that our youngest is seven, it's Easy Rapids. We went on a whitewater rafting trip in West Virginia, and at the very end of it, it was like this rainstorm came out of nowhere. It was blowing wind, and it's rain. It's like pelting rain. And our youngest was not happy about it. She was not having it. She was so mad. And we were close to the end. It wasn't the end of the world, but then she got to get in her dry clothes and she felt so warm. And so we talked about that, that you don't feel so good unless you also feel those times that feel a little worse.
Rebecca: I noticed we used to live overseas and we didn't have air conditioning, and even the heat was a little sketchy sometimes. And I realized that I got used to feeling my own skin. When you're in air conditioning all the time, you aren't always aware of your skin the way you are when it's a little clammy or when it's a little I don't know how else to explain it.
Ginny: You're more connected with your body.
Rebecca: Yeah. In a lot of ways you are. And again, you get used to not worrying about how you feel so much, but being in the experience that you're in. So whether that was sitting in a cafe outdoors on a beautiful day, but feeling a little sweaty, but still enjoying what we were doing, or you learn to think past it instead of focusing on that. So I would love to hear some stories that you've heard from others in the movement. You shared your story about how much this changed your life. Do you have other stories that people have reached out to you to tell you about? Success story is the wrong word. But stories of new joy being found.
Ginny: Yeah. All the time actually and I had a book I wrote a while back I was supposed to be with a publishing company and then they canceled it due to COVID they're like market changed. Anyway, I wrote this whole activity book and then it was already done and then they canceled it. So I ended up self publishing it and because it was my own book I put out a request for testimonials and I got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. This was years ago from all over the world and people were saying like I never realized that life could be so fun. But beyond that and that's a typical one, one that's typical, which I really love it's actually probably one of my favorites is people say I would have missed this moment if not for this challenge. So they're up in a beautiful sunrise, they made this really cool memory, they went camping for the first time. So people are saying, look, life is meant to be lived, and I was missing a lot when I wasn't prioritizing nature time. And then sometimes people will send things that say I was going through a miscarriage. I was in a really dark part in life. And this time in nature really sustained our family during these hard times, during a move, during a job loss, that type of thing. So, yeah, we get a lot of messages about life change. And it's basically similar to my own story, which is that I was really struggling and that this change, which, like I said, is not easy, but it's simple. To understand does a lot to change things. And I think if weather is an issue like you were talking about before, that is part of the reason why we have a year long challenge is because certain seasons are easier to get out in than others, depending on where you live. And it accounts for know we're always behind. Know when I see behind, it doesn't really matter, but we're behind where we should be. If you're tracking it at 3 hours a day. We're always behind in Michigan until the summer hits, and then we soar forward because it's easier to be outside at that time of year, but it also keeps us from staying indoors for the entire season where it's harder to get outside.
Rebecca: And it can also lead to a little bit of pre planning, too. I know that here March and October are fabulous. They are spectacular months, much more pleasant than July and August. So if I plan my school around that and make sure that we have enough time to be outside to I don't want to sit and watch March and October out the window.
Ginny: I mean, I think that's actually a really good point, Rebecca. And depending on where you live in your state and how that works in terms of homeschool mean you can revolve your schedule around something other than the September to May. You can adjust and I think you have the freedom to do that and you have the flexibility sometimes to say, look, this is the month where we're going to do a lot of field trips, or this is the month where we're going to spend a lot of outside time knowing that it is learning. Going outside is learning. Movement is learning. It truly is making those brain connections stronger. So it is growing the brain while you move and do complex things. So all of that is helping. It's still school, it's still learning and growth, but then you can be a little bit more tied to the seasons, depending on where you live. And I would imagine, Rebecca, that for the vast majority of people, and I know your whole audience tends to be in a similar area, but maybe people move or things like that. Most people have two to three months, maybe a little bit longer, that are not ideal, but that the rest of the year might be more tolerable.
Rebecca: Right? Yeah. One of the things we've had to deal with here is the last couple of years have been August and maybe September have been the smoky months.
Ginny: And then that's tricky.
Rebecca: Can't go outside, but then you can take advantage of those other months. I've even thought, like, let's go camping in the mountains in June and we'll go to the coast.
Ginny: It does.
Rebecca: It makes you really think about something so that we can hopefully avoid where the smoke might be.
Ginny: Yeah, it helps you think about your life and your year and what are the elements that you want to have in your year. And then you can always bring nature inside too. I mean, there's a lot of research about how green plants and greenery and the things that you bring in inside are really beneficial too. So maybe you're limited. Like, let's say you're a parent that's limited, immobility, and you can't go hike on a trail. It's like, well, you can bring in, you can make Play DOH and use the dandelions and you can use the wildflowers and you can press things. And all of those natural things that we touch and see and smell, those are beneficial too. So we can't discount bringing nature in and the joy that that can bring as well.
Rebecca: You've got lots of resources between the website that has curriculum trackers, book lists, all kinds of stickers or patches that you can order to keep track to celebrate your victories of hours outside. You've also written some books, and you have a new one coming out. Do you want to tell us about that?
Ginny: Yes. Okay. So this is the exciting part. Rebecca. I am not so, like I said, I was a math teacher, so I have currently four books, which is mind blowing to me because I was a math teacher and not a big writer, but three of my four books are called 1000 Hours Outside. Whoops I don't know. So there we go. Two of them are self published. The two of the 1000 Hours Outside books are self published as an activity book. And another book that talks about the movement talks more about all of the benefits that happen when kids go outside. Those are on our website. And then I have an activity book that was published with DK Books that's on Amazon.
Rebecca: That's fun.
Ginny: And it's pretty cool because people from all over the world sent in pictures, and that one's in a lot of libraries. A lot of people will say that one's in their library. So if they're looking for material, that one's in the library. So three 1000 hours outside books. I have a kids book called The Little Farmhouse in West Virginia, but I have a new book coming out that has its own title. So this is rather exciting, and it's actually a book I've wanted to write for a long time. It's called until the Street Lights Come On. How a return to play brightens our present and prepares kids for an uncertain future. And the premise is that we can have a good today and a Good tomorrow. And I think so often as parents, and especially when we're tasked with the tall task of homeschooling, that's a lot of pressure. And I think sometimes we can lose sight of how valuable a full today is, how valuable play is, how valuable a little bit less stress is. And we sacrifice today for the sake of tomorrow. We want our kids to be ready for college. And so we're just shoving in all these activities and especially in this day and age when life is more malleable and things are changing rapidly. We really want kids that are flexible and creative and resilient and they can make something out of nothing that have really solid social skills, because they're going to have a lot of different careers. They might be an entrepreneur, so they have to be able to deal with risk and failure. And all of those qualities don't come from sitting at a desk. They don't come out of your workbook. They come from interacting and engaging with real life. And so that's what the book is about, how we can have this bright today that also gives our kids a best chance for a bright future. It comes out in November, but it's for preorder. Okay.
Rebecca: And I love that title.
Ginny: Yeah, the street lights. I mean, the premise is that society used to be constructed in a way that protected childhood. So depending on how old listeners are, some of them may have grown up with a lot more freedom and a lot more chance to roam the neighborhood. And maybe they had the rule that they had to come back when the street lights come on. And a lot of people would say that that they just had this life of freedom. And that has changed partially due to pushing kids into these college preparedness plans or past at really young ages. Sports and sports that sort of take over. I think sports are great but the takeover type of sports and there's a lot of pressure to do all of those things. And then simultaneously the screen usage is available at all times and there's an endless amount of content that can be consumed from all sorts of different environments and that's a change too. So childhoods in the pre didn't have that and so as a society it was easier to be a kid and now it's not quite so easy. And so as a parent and as family units and as teachers, that falls a little bit more, a lot of it more really on our shoulders. But that's a good thing because then we get to join in too and we get the joy of outdoor experiences with our kids and we get all those benefits as well as we're sort of walking alongside the kids. So until the street lights come on, there's some cool you know how it always is. There's always some cool preorder bonuses. So if people order it ahead of time, I have this out. It's a digital but it's like an outdoor cooking with kids cookbook that's super fun. There's a couple other things that comes with too, so fun things to check out.
Rebecca: Awesome. Jenny, is there anything else you'd really like my listeners to?
Ginny: Yes, homeschooling is amazing. So keep at it. That's what I want to say. I want to say know, we've never looked back. And homeschooling can be very scary because it's different. And maybe we don't feel like we have a great grasp on what our role is and how are we going to do it and how are we going to do it with multiple kids and how are we going to do it with a baby. And how are we going to do it? With a toddler. And how are we going to afford it? But I think that life is a path that you take step by step and in making the choice to homeschool and to stick with it, and to stick with it when the days are hard, you're modeling for your kids how to craft a beautiful life. And that is part of learning too. That's part of I mean, we have never looked back. It is the best decision we've ever made as a family. I don't regret one day of being home with our kids. And there's a lot of books that can help support you along with this podcast. So you want to check out books by John Taylor Gato or John Holt has a really short book called Learning All the Know about how kids learn things. They just learn through life. And so there doesn't have to be quite so much pressure. You don't have to have a ton of pressure on yourself. You're going to be so glad that you did it and stuck with it. Find a community so you can have a shoulder to cry on on the hard days, but stick with dude.
Rebecca: You read a lot of books. Do you spend most of your time outside reading?
Ginny: No, I just keep a book with me all the time. So I read in small spurts and I can read pretty. I actually here's what I learned. I learned this there's a really good book called The Dominance Factor by Dr. Carla Haniford, and it about how you're like right eye dominant or left eye dominant and how all of that affects how you learn. Like, when you get stressed out or you're trying to learn, part of your body will sometimes shut down. So that's actually a really interesting one, especially if you have kids that have been labeled for special education services. Sometimes she says it's just their dominances and that part of their body is shutting down because they're stressed out. So anyway, that's a whole side conversation. It's called the dominance factor. It's fantastic. And Dr. Carla Hanniford didn't learn to read till she was ten, and she's a PhD in her 80s. So there you go. Parents, your kids don't have to read when they're four. They can if they want, but they don't have to. Anyway, I learned that I'm left eye dominant, and if you're left eye dominant, you naturally read from right to left. And so what I think because I've always been a fast reader, I learned that I think I just absorb the page because I'm naturally looking at the right side before the left side, and I can read fast. Anyway, that's totally random. But the book is interesting by Dr. Carla Hanniford. She also wrote Smart Moves, and the subtitle is your people are going to be so sick of my voice. Smart moves. And the subtitle is why learning is not all in your head. It's also a really good one to read for homeschool parents because it reiterates that movement is learning. And your kids are fidgeting and they're wanting to run around and they're wanting to roll and they're wanting to spin and do all those things that's because their body is driving them on, because that's how they are developing. That's laying the groundwork for all of their higher order mental skills. So it's all important.
Rebecca: That's really interesting stuff. Well, Jeannie, you have been fascinating to talk to today, and I'm so thankful that you've given us your time and your wisdom and your experience, this really valuable experience that you've had. So thank you so much for sharing with us.
Ginny: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Rebecca: Go, homeschoolers, listeners. I can't even tell you how much fun I had talking to Ginny. What a joy and what fun information and what a reading list. So please go to the show notes and look for all those books that she was just rapid firing off that she has read and recommended for enriching our understanding of the importance of time outside. Before we go today, I want to ask, did you hear about the first annual Literature Festival happening on September 29 yet? Check out the Sequoia scoop for all the details and how to RSVP. You can choose from six different locations, all happening at the same time. This will be a schoolwide event from 11:00 A.m. To 01:00 p.m.. At all of the locations, you can dress as your favorite literary character and come ready for a variety of hands on activities, interactive projects, and exhilarating challenges. This event promises nonstop fun for tk through 12th grade. Join in the excitement and make your own bookmark, decode a secret message, SWAT, sneaky sight words, blackout, poetry, and so much more. We love to see you there. Don't forget to mark those calendars for September 29, 2023.
Ginny: O.
Rebecca: This has been another episode of the Sequoia Breeze podcast. I am your host, Rebecca Lasavio, and I truly hope that this has been a breath of fresh air for your homeschool listeners. Would you tell me about your outside time? How do you get those hours in? What do you do? How do you creatively help get your kids outside? Go to Clarksvillecharter.org, Featherrivercharter.org or Lakeviewcharter.org, find the podcast page and click on the button and tell me all about it. I really want to hear what do you do to get that outside time in?