A few weeks ago I attended a GreenTeacher webinar by Brad Daniel, Professor of Outdoor Education and Environmental Studies at Montreat College. The webinar was entitled Outdoor Teaching Mistakes. The aim was to help participants become better outdoor educators by presenting and discussing a variety of mistakes made by those who teach in the outdoors.

It was a good refresher for me as an educator… and yet I couldn’t help but start to apply this to me as a parent. What mistakes do I make while trying to ‘teach’ my kids in the outdoors? And by ‘teaching’ I mostly mean ‘being’ in the outdoors, and trying not to miss those teachable moments.

Note: Not all of these suggestions for fixing common mistakes have to be incorporated in every outdoor outing, but they are certainly things we should consider in varying degrees as we try to teach our kids the importance of being outside.

1. Silence your cell phone
It’s hard to resist the urge to answer every call or text, even when outside. But each one you respond to represents time in which you pull yourself in and away from the outdoor world–each one represents time missed in the outdoors with your kids; time that would be perfect for showing them the wonders that exist without the use of technology. When I see a status update declaring ”out for a hike with my kids”, it makes me wonder… If you’re on your smart phone, what are you showing your kids that you value? How many teachable moments are you missing? (more…)

GreenTeacher hosts a whole series of free webinars. I thought this one looked interesting:

Webinar topic:  ”Plugged In; But Tuned Out: The Need to Reconnect with Nature”
Wednesday March 30, 2011, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. EST
Presenter:  Herb Broda

Description: In this age of alluring techno-gadgetry we need to be very cautious about maintaining a balance between indoor and outdoor activity. At a time whenchildren’s natural curiosity about the outdoors is eclipsed by the demands ofbusy schedules and the ever-present glow of video screens, schools and outdoor centers may be the only places where kids are encouraged tointeract with nature. Kids need to go outside for both learning and play—indeed there is a need for old-fashioned unstructured play in nature – the kind of invented play that “older” folks fondly recall.

I contacted the instructor to make sure it was going to be applicable for parents as much as formal educators, I received this response: I can say without hesitation that parents will find his presentation just as useful as will teachers and other youth educators. To sign up go here, or check out other webinars they’re offering this spring.