Portland Freedom Kids
Remember the days when kids ranged free across our neighborhoods. They sought out the natural areas, the places our suburban sprawl thankfully forgot. We were the Goonies, testing ourselves on adventure. Without the filter of adults we learned to think on our feet, adapt and take account of our own relationships.
In this program kids have the power of decision, with bike, bus passes and sometimes a van (driven by the instructor) they decide where they go and what they are doing. Here we recognize that freedom is not only about self-autonomy and governance, it is also about building great competency. Youth become collaborators with the instructor, setting boundaries of safety and common care for one another. Every minute they are plotting adventure to journey by bike and bus throughout the urban greenspaces of Portland.
Collaboration The instructors are there to assure that everyone stays safe and healthy while they also gain from the opportunity to make mistakes: the group can miss a bus together, they can have a boring experience together and they can have grand adventures. Our wanders can take us anywhere: to the West Hills and Forest Park, the Oregon Zoo, Oaks Bottom and the Springwater Trail, Elk Rock Island and much more. The key is, whatever happens, we always stay, play and learn together as a team.
In Freedom Kids, youth are free to connect with the natural world and community.
The role of the instructor in this camp The instructor is truly the deft boundary and final word who holds each participant accountable for keeping one another emotionally and physically safe, happy and healthy.
Fall Session Every Tuesday for 9 weeks. A total of 9 days.
September 5, 2009 Come to our Cabin Open House and learn more about this program other TrackersNW After School and Home School programs. While there is no charge for this day, we suggest a donation if you can give it. RSVP is required.
Please read every word on this page together with your child. Especially "A Good Fit?"
Register for Freedom Kids
| Add to cart |
Ages 7-10
$415
Fall Session September 22-November 17, 2009 every Tuesday 8:30am-4:30am 5040 SE Milwaukie Avenue, Portland, Oregon |
Ages 7-10 Freedom Kids includes
• complete freedom (for the most part) to have awesome adventures around the Greenspaces in Portland
• a personal agreement with the lead instructor to listen to and understand the needs of safety and care for each camper, all staff and parents
• competent staff attend to the safety needs of the group and camper
A Good Fit?
Before you register PLEASE READ the critical information below to help you decide if your program is the right match for you or your child. TrackersNW invests in families and students dedicated to maturity and accountability as a team. The experience of your child is heightened as these filters insure a safe, supportive and competent collaboration with both our instructors and all other team members (including students).
This program is a good fit for the child and parent who...
• trust one another
• are interested in and empathetic to the natural world
• crave a different way of experiencing and seeing both natural and modern world
• want to have fun
• possess a sense of adventure
• make intelligent choices
• display competent autonomy when needed
• can make and keep clear agreements concerning safety
• can help insure the safety of their peers and collaborators
• works diligently toward adult accountability, consequences and responsibility
• will come dressed appropriately to stay warm, dry and healthy
• is okay with being muddy, cold and wet at times
• can be a real kid
• shares well with others
This program is NOT a good fit for children who...
• are not interested in nature & scout awareness
• are not empathetic for the natural world
• are being forced to come to camp
• cannot display competent autonomy when needed
• cannot make and keep clear agreements and choices concerning safety
• is kept inside all the time so may be uncomfortable
• will not dress appropriately to stay warm, dry and healthy
• is not okay with being muddy, cold and wet at times
• has trouble working with others and respecting the needs of other participants
Please note that if your child is positively working on behavior, we are willing to work with them and you with clear agreements
We help children to feel like that group of kids wandering country backyards 50 years ago: independent, tired, muddy, wet and happy from the woods and wild. We are acutely aware of full and real hazards of the out of doors after years of working in environmental education. We try to move away from the highly structured and limiting tolerances of conventional environmental education while keeping kids truly safe but not encapsulated from, or phobic of nature. We are deep patriots to the value of offering guided yet very free and transparent experiences for kids. We believe it is okay to be thirsty at times, cold at times, and wet at times. It builds empathy and care for the gifts of life. It fosters adventure and sincere accomplishment. We also believe it is critical to feel supported and cared for as they truly explore their passion and responsibility. And through a healthy life immersed in nature, they test the limits and great potential of the often untapped physical and emotional resiliency they possess.
Follow us