http://urbanhomestead.org/about
Posted under Activism, Current Events, Personal Growth, Resources
This post was written by Global Village School on August 12, 2010
Parents, make sure you’re working some time outside into your curricular plans!
We kind of already know this – if not intuitively then through past studies – but a new study has shown that when you spend more time out in nature, you feel more alive. Published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the study shows that getting out and communing with nature is better for feeling rejuvenated than reaching for the ever-so-urban cup of coffee. “Nature is fuel for the soul, ” says Richard Ryan, lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. Both physically and mentally, we’re zippier when we step into the wild.
Science Daily writes, “The findings, adds Ryan, are important for both mental and physical health. ‘Research has shown that people with a greater sense of vitality don’t just have more energy for things they want to do, they are also more resilient to physical illnesses. One of the pathways to health may be to spend more time in natural settings,’ says Ryan.”
Posted under Current Events, Personal Growth, Soul Food
This post was written by Global Village School on June 9, 2010
by Pam Allyn
When the sun goes down, fears come up. The blessing of a transcendent story for any age is that it helps us to escape, to relate, to connect and to understand the perils and magic of our mortal universe.
Great children’s literature assures us that frail looking boys with scars on their foreheads can become heroes, spiders can write words to save lives and bunnies can go to bed fearlessly. Great children’s literature inspires us to want to live backwards: to live as openly and tenderly as a child. Great children’s literature for adults encourages us to live every day with intention to make the world harmonious for children, just as Fern’s father did in Charlotte’s Web when he lowered the ax on that fateful day and spared Wilbur.
Here, below, are my top recommendations for bedtime reading for all ages for the year 2010. In the midst of the swirling clouds of conversations on recession, terrorism threats and environmental anxieties, our great authors, honoring the mysterious yet profound world of childhood, steer us toward peace and community, and the promise of hope in the morning.
Posted under Culture, Education, Personal Growth
This post was written by Global Village School on April 5, 2010
The drive to Sally Carless’ house is indicative of her nature. The road is a small, private road with huge boulders and wild sage lining its edges. Massive oak trees suspend their limbs above the road, adding a green canopy of vegetation, and breaking up the sunlight with patches of shade. You cross a creek over a small bridge, up a little hill and then back down. There, at the edge of the Los Padres National Forest, with avocado orchards to one side, sits a small older ranch house. Here, surrounded by natural serenity, is where you can find Sally Carless, founder and visionary of Global Village School.
Global Village School is a nonprofit distance-learning school founded in 1999 designed to teach tolerance, practical social activism, peace and an understanding for those of different religions, races, physical disabilities, ethnicities and sexual orientations. Global Village School offers customized K-12 curriculum and a high school diploma program. The School’s mission is to teach children how to become proactive in their own lives for social change and social awareness, while at the same time providing a safe haven for students who are harassed or ostracized in the average school environment. The ultimate goal is to provide a place where everyone “belongs,” and develops a sense of individual self-worth sufficient to produce a conscientious, proactive world citizen.
Posted under Education, Homeschooling, Personal Growth
This post was written by Global Village School on February 6, 2010
I head out in the dark
to catch the magic moment –
the crack of dawn
My dog runs ahead
her exuberance, her ecstasy
is contagious
I look West
and the full moon
is hanging high in the sky
by an etheric thread
I look East
and the dark sky begins to blaze
from the hidden sun
My big booted feet
take strong, giant steps
The crow of the roosters
Cheers me on
I turn and head for the wild
I lean against a huge boulder
and watch the bright full Moon
Slowly sink
The Earth feels like Eden
Like a playground
Where all we are asked to do
Is feel the forces of Life
The first light of day
A mixture of the sun and moon
Illuminates the world
Everything is aglow
Together we stand
Between the sun and the moon
In a field of joy
Posted under Life Stories, Personal Growth, Soul Food
This post was written by SuzaFrancina on January 1, 2010
