pt 2. Home Schoolers Benefit from Camps

Here in the second part of this mini series we'll expound on necessary steps to ensure home school efforts are realizing the best results possible. To quickly recap, the first covered the need of socialization both in a grand scale, simply learning societal and situational rules and in a a more micro setting, socialization amongst peers. Finally the article addressed learning outside the home from experiences to be had in the world.

A parent/educator must know they are not the end all for their child's education. It's okay to recognize one's limits, in fact it's healthy and offers a great learning opportunity to a child: seeing a parent know their limitation and how they respond to it. For example, much is to be learned from team sports, not all are equipped to be a football coach, etc. In this case, the parent looks outside his/her self and enrolls the child into a sport league. Perhaps it's camping or tying knots or painting or building or working on cars, etc., there are many opportunities to expose a child to the world at hand, to provide learning opportunities by recognizing ones own limits and responding positively to the limits.

Too, a parent/educator may be fully able to teach something but may opt to enroll the child in a setting to do the teaching for the simple reason of change. Children will tune into a new voice differently than they do to a voice they hear every day. In other words, they get tired of the same voice. Being a parent/educator is doubly tiring because you are life's teach and now school teacher and this can stress the parent child relationship. Being cognizant of this natural stress can go a long way to mitigate tensions.

Once limitations are owned new doors can be opened to provide the home school child an unlimited education of life and learning.

Often home school kids aren't physical enough. In school there is physical education, recess and or team sports. All of these offer physicality an important element in learning. Studies have shown tying physicality to a lesson or during a lesson increases memory retention. Too, there is the physical awareness of ones own body: balance, coordination, spacial awareness, muscle tone, etc. This isn't to say all kids should be athletes but being physical, being in motion is positive for health and vitality, learning and recollection.

Many park and recreation departments across the US offer relatively affordable organized team sports. In cities, public pools will often have swimming programs. Gyms have adhoc league sports, choreographed exercise classes and often stretching and or yoga classes. Boys and girls clubs have group activities. There are non-lead activities as well: walking, biking, hiking, rope skipping, etc. Then there are travel too outings like adventure camps. Plenty of opportunities abound, create some time in the busy schedule and engage in something physical.

Spinning off of physicality is the need for self-awareness and self-discovery. There is a powerful self-empowering aspect to challenging oneself and achieving a goal. This empowerment can come from engaging a new situation and leaving the situation feeling good about one's self, how they handled the situation. Even more comes from taking on a challenge that has an initial response of, 'no way, I couldn't do that', and then doing it. Students, and adults for this matter, feel better about themselves when they accomplish something. This is why people swim the English Channel, run marathons, enter spelling bees etc. These experiences make us better people, make us stronger and give us a stronger sense of self and conviction to stand by our beliefs.

Often the greatest growth comes when students are engaged in a new environment without the parent/educator around, when everything is new, including the instructors. This newnewss removes old habits of quitting or turning for help prematurely. The student asks for help and the parent has anticipated this need and is there to help. In a new environment the student relies more on his or herself before turning for help. This allows a stretching of one's personal boundaries, creating a new territory of self definition, allowing for growth and greater self confidence, greater self awareness.

An excellent source of all of these aspects of learning: socialization, peer-socialization, experiential education, new voices of teaching, physicality and self-discovery, are outdoor adventure camps. We specifically suggest an outdoor camp because these are most often going to have a focus on physical/engaged learning with ropes or hikes, whitewater rafting, camping etc. These camps provide a whole host of learning experiences. If you choose a resident style the learning in magnified exponentially. The concentrated experiences lend themselves to tremendous growth and prove extremely healthy to the home schooler who not only finds new confidence but friends to keep in touch throughout the year.


Christopher Pyle holds a BA in Humanities/Liberal Arts. He's a former group home counselor, corporate trainer and owner/director of an Outdoor Education / Experiential Education Summer Camp located on the South Fork of the American River. For more information on the benefits of summer camp, special home school programs and the camp experience, visit Action Whitewater .

Home Schoolers Benefit From Camp

It's difficult to strike a balanced tone when speaking of reasons people choose to home school their children. In our day to day lives, it's common to happen upon discussions which reflect only one point of view be it on the radio, on television, in classrooms, in our own homes. Unfortunately most major issues are simply too large to tackle from the middle of the road and so people take a side and battle from that position. That said, it's fair to say there are very good schools available to most all US citizens, places wherein children can get a quality education. Of course, there are others and it may be these others that has lead so many to educate their own children, in their own way.

While many have chosen to educate their kids, an honest discussion needs to take place within each parent's self. This is a fresh approach, a sincere approach to improving the home school child's life. The message is straight forward, it's purposely honest and lacking in soft, passive tones. Parents who have chosen to eductate their own, deserve the respect this tone imparts: matter of fact, simple, non-labeling or blaming, a voice of aid.

One cannot be all things to a child. Even if the parent/educator is incredibly well adapted and versatile, socialization with others is a positive in personal development. The discussion needs to recognize the incredible strength needed to make such a decision and if the most is to be made of the decision, needs to recognize each parent's weakness in teaching.

A significant drawback to pulling a child out of school is the socialization aspect. Speaking here of socialization in general. Children learn, experientially, that is to say, through experience, by simply being in a structured environment. Our world is filled with rules, structure, it's how we are able to function without stepping on one another, both figuratively and literally.

There are rules of the road, unspoken rules of behavior in a grocery store, rules at the theater, at the movie complex, etc. So, being out and about, in the world is a good thing for kids as they're developing. As a home school parent/educator, one must be hyper-cognizant of getting the home school child into the world, out of the house. Americans have extremely busy lives, this busyness is amplified when the task of educator is added to ones role. School then, is a place kids go and learn life is a series of rules, especially so at school. Home school children can get this experience, school's don't hold exclusivity rights but parent/educators must make concerted efforts make it so.

In addition to this "worldly" type of socialization is the more specific peer-socialization. More and more home school families are getting together with other home-schoolers and allowing the kids to mix. This is better than no peer-socialization; however, it's tough to compete with a school in this regard, simply because school is generally 6 to 7 hours of non-stop peer-socialization. Of course there are drawbacks and "drama" with school relationships that adults can find tiring but it's exactly these interactions that help shape the child's ability to cope with real life situations when they're grown. Above all, this element, socialization, should remain in the forefront of the parent/educator mind. Of the home schooled children we have contact, this is the single weakest element in their development.

On the flip side, most home schooled children have a far greater breadth of knowledge for familiar subject, they converse with a topic-maturity not often found in similar aged kids. This is why so many parents have made the home school option. It is certainly a benefit to have such focused attention and time dedicated to improving the life of one, two or more children but most often less than the teacher to child ratio found in schools.

So, what can parent/educators do to improve the schooling provided their kids? Take time to augment the learning with subjects and experiences outside of the core education courses. In many ways the advantage to provide incredible learning experiences is in the home school parent/educator's favor. School can take place on the parent's terms, in a place of the parent's choosing. This allows for tremendous diversity: zoos, live theater, construction sites, bakeries, galleries, news papers, local businesses etc., all offer incredible learning experiences. Being the home school parent, party of very few, one can impose on these areas, ask questions and use the place to teach about life and how school ties into life after school. Create opportunities to get the child exposed to the world. take advantage of the incredibly brave decision made to home school.

As we conclude the first part of this mini-series on how to get most from the home school decision, one tip to achieving all three points above. Parents can look to getting a group of home schoolers together and enroll the lot of them into an experiental education based program. Outdoor education centers will provide this. It's good to get the kids into these types of programs once or twice a year for concentrated periods of time. Camps are excellent for this.

Look for a camp that focusses on outdoor eduction and or experiential education. If the camp is noting experiential education, that's excellent. At this point you need only make sure you're comfotable with the company. These programs will take the kids from a few days to a few weeks. You'll address everything mentioned above and everything addressed in the next segment of this series: greater socialization as the kids learn the rules and boundaries of the new environment, peer-socialization as they come together to form a community, a new little society and they will learn a variety about themselves and the environment by being in an outdoor setting, challenging themselves and interacting with staff.

Christopher Pyle holds a BA in Humanities/Liberal Arts. He's a former group home counselor, corporate trainer and owner/director of an Outdoor Education / Experiential Education Summer Camp located on the South Fork of the American River. For more information on the benefits of summer camp, special home school programs and the camp experience, visit Action Whitewater.

14 Tips To Whitewater Rafting

You've been invited to go whitewater rafting, congratulations! What?

You're nervous. You can't swim. You don't know what to do. Are you going off waterfalls? Are you fit enough? Are you old enough? Are you young enough? What do you wear? How do you wear it? Do you need special shoes?

Don't worry, everyone has these questions. You'll be just fine. On the South Fork of the American River, in Northern California, some 65,000 + people go rafting each and every year. California whitewater rafting is an excellent stop to add to your vacation. If you've been invited, it's great to be cautious but you shouldn't let this stop you from attending the trip.



Here are 14 easy steps to make your trip a breeze:

1. RELAX! If you're rafting with a professional company, you're in great hands. They know what they're doing and they know how to get you down a river
2. Go with a can do ATTITUDE. It's alright to be nervous, this is something new, something exciting but don't be a whiny baby. Breathe, listen and enjoy.
3. Rafting has different seasons, what you WEAR depends on the season:
   
   • SPRING rafting ~ tends to be cooler, you should definitely consult the company you're rafting with but a thin wetsuit may be appropriate. More commonly, wetsuit booties or wool socks with your STRAP on sandals or old tennis shoes (more on foot ware below), shorts, wool sweater, splash jacket or dry top, possible wool cap. (this is all for cooler weather rafting).
     
   • SUMMER rafting ~ Strap on sandal or old tennis shoes, shorts (you can wear a bathing suit but trunks/shorts are recommended for you're sitting on rubber and bathing suits tend to get moved off the bottom and you end up flashing the people behind you. Hey, we're not judging, this may be your intention but we just wanted to let you know), t-shirt, hat and sunglasses. Some companies wear helmets and you may or may not be able to wear a hat while rafting.
4. No matter the season, no matter your skin tone, SUNBLOCK! We like to recommend all natural / biodegradable sunblock as they're learning these are causing problems in ocean reefs, so we might as well keep the river clean, if possible. Some ingredients to avoid: PABA, octinoxate, oxybenzone, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and the preservative butylparaben.
5. Proper SHOES - Shoes must strap to the foot. Crocs and their composite foam ankle strap do not count as they do not bind to the foot. Old tennis shoes are good because you can tie them. Name brand foot ware Teva, Chaco, & Keen all make sandals that bind to the foot. Water booties with a sole are fine. No one wants you swimming without your consent but if you do swim you want something on your feet.
6. Trust the GEAR. You'll be wearing top of the line personal floatation devices, in nearly all instances these are Class V coast guard approved flotation devices, the highest rating. The rafts are some of the toughest boats on the water, they're made to commercial standards with commercial quality materials.
7. COMMIT fully to the experience. If you're offered the opportunity to swim a rapid, do it! This is an incredible place to be (the river canyon), you ought to experience everything it has to offer.
8. DON'Ts ~ Don't bring a towel to the river! There's no place on the raft for a towel. One in your car, for a shower after your trip, sure, but not to the trip itself. Don't wear suntan oil. Oil + Skin + Rubber = swimming. Don't consume drugs or alcohol prior to your trip. Your participation is required to get the raft down the river, this can prove difficult if you're under the influence. Alcohol and rafting don't mix. The water is cold, alcohol lowers body temperature, long swims while inebriated are dangerous. Don't bring cigarettes down the river.
9. There are plenty of rafting companies to choose. On the South Fork of the American, 33. Pick someone you feel comfortable. Most all prices are going to be within $10 of each other, so the importance for you, is comfort. Most all will provide a professional trip but there are different attitudes and energies to each company.
10. No, generally there are no WATERFALLS. There are drops but nothing that equates to a waterfall. The boats are made to do what you'll be doing, relax.
11. Yes, chances are you're FIT enough. This is not an olympic paddle crew time trial. You'll be pulling your weight along with 5 or 6 other people.
12. The trips are professionally GUIDED. You'll have a professional, competent guide in the back of the raft controlling the action.
13. AGE, check with the company you're rafting. There are rivers where tighter age ranges do come into play.
    
14. Finally, don't disqualify yourself based on unfounded PRECONCEPTIONS. You're going to love this adventure. We raft young kids to grandparents, you can do this!
    

Dedicated to the best experiences to be had on the water, Christopher Pyle, guiding since he was 14, brings you Action Whitewater and Youth summer adventure camps. His entire philosophy is building better people through better experience. His company, his staff, his equipment is all aimed at your better experience. Come rafting today!

Outdoor Education: The Elixir of Life

Part II on the benefits of outdoor education via adventure summer camps.

In the first part, we examined a bit of what has been removed from our schools and why, more than ever, looking for a program to enroll our children can benefit their development. While the benefits are many, as declared in many studies we looked specifically at 5-points:

Experiential outdoor education programs help in a great many ways, here are a few main points of impact this type of education will have on a student:

1. An environmental / ecological awareness.

2. Physical challenge and accomplishment positive for both the physical and emotional well-being.

3. Self-awareness / empowerment

4. Interpersonal relations, communication and leadership skills.

5. Socialization and community development.

Here, in part II, we develop the 5-benefits further and look to some at some specific case studies via anecdote.

Benefits :

Environment: The environment alone increases learning. For starters, the children simply learn about the out of doors. So many children rarely venture outside. Being out of doors is invigorating and children pay better attention. The out of doors is tactile and children enjoy touching, physically experiencing their world. The out of doors is powerful and unpredictable and children must pay attention so as to not get off task or be taken by surprise. The out of doors (unfortunately) is uncommon and senses are heightened in the unknown: just shut off the light at night in a place you’re not familiar: your senses go on high alert!

Physical Challenges: When a person is challenged, specifically in a physical challenge, their learning increases. When this challenge occurs in a new environment wherein the individual must measure risk, assess a scenario and calculate how much mental and physical effort is required of them to complete a task their whole being is involved in solving the puzzle. Children in adventure camps are often put in new and unusual situations, which require this very process. When they complete the challenge (as they most certainly do for this is the whole point of the camp and the challenges), an immense surge of hormones courses through the camper.

Self-Awareness / Empowerment: The pleasure of course, is pride. The camper realizes achievement. A new awareness is borne, a new confidence blossoms. For a camp director and staff, this is the equivalent to the runner’s-high, this is why they’re there and why they encourage us to bring our children there. The camp is sowing the seeds of confidence, setting the tone that one can achieve their goals and attain new heights if they work positively and doggedly in pursuit. Now the camper realizes her or she can do something they previous thought impossible. Worse yet, never even dared to imagine.

The experiential camp will reinforce this learning, this experience for they’re specifically aware of and aiming to set the stage for this type of growth. Thus, in the day’s preparations, they’re setting the tone in talks and behavior and then after the day’s activity they’ll discuss the day and again reinforce the lessons, the learning.

anecdote - While the big adventure accomplishments like rope climbing or tramping or whitewater rafting are the glamorous stories, there are huge personal victories to be had even in the most benign settings. Enter the story of Fate, she was a 17-year old girl, homeschooled and away at adventure camp 600-miles from home, for the first time.

The camp ate in town that night; Fate had a special dietary need so the director took her shopping to accommodate her. When it came time to pick her drink for the night, Fate was stopped in her tracks after the director said she could have her pick. The look on her face and her literally stopping in her tracks alarmed the director who asked if everything was all right. She emphatically replied yes, everything was fine it was simply she was never allowed to choose for herself and the power, the freedom was overwhelming. Fate ultimately chose, a Sprite, and did pirouettes down the isle.

One never knows what will empower a child, but the moment it happens, neither the child nor the observer will forget.

Interpersonal Relations / Communication / Leadership: Clearly the person hanging from a rope, or reaching the pinnacle of a climb is in the center-stage position, they’re the star of the show; however, the counselors, guides and other campers are the supporting cast. In a camp geared toward improvement and personal growth, a camper is never out of class. The supporting cast is encouraging, either in group whoops and cheers as someone is pushing to do something new or they’re engaged in one on one moments of encouragement.

Often, in a ropes course, for example, only one person at a time is going to make the leap of faith and the others are watching, supporting and getting ready. Inevitably, someone is near the back, rocking back and forth, nervous. In these moment campers learn to lead, to coach, to support and to communicate with the group members. They’ll first learn by the counselor’s lead and some will do it naturally and ultimately all will follow.

Camp is a great place to learn to communicate, to establish oneself in a new environment without preconceptions of whom the group leader is and who must subordinate to whom. Everyone arrives together everyone grows together.

anecdote - Macey was a polite 15-year old boy with an air of confidence in the out of doors but not arrogance. He was relatively quiet, a bit reserved socially, but got along well with everyone in the summer camp. There was something going on with Macey but it only showed in the disconnect between his comfort and confidence he demonstrated in the adventures encountered and the reserve he showed elsewhere.

As the days passed and he grew ever closer to the other campers, his thoughts were revealed, his mother had recently passed away. It was here at camp he was able, in the new environment, to open up and heal some of what was eating at him. The camps are set up for campers to succeed, the tone is set that is a tone of team work and while Macey was adept at the physical, his obstacle course was grieving and returning to a place of personal health.

The supportive environment allowed him to reach out emotionally, safely, to process. By the end of the week, the smiles, talkativeness and energy were all in-sync and Macey left camp renewed.

Socialization / Community Development- Camp, in this respect, all camps are like little countries waiting to be populated and developed. This begins and ends with each camp session. It’s quite a fascinating phenomena and joy to watch.

The campers arrive to the strange new land, camp, debarking their various modes of transportation, gear in hand ready to begin anew. They check out the others arriving. Some are talkative right from the start, others fall back and take a wait and see approach and then there are those somewhere between.

The authorities in camp i.e., counselors, guides, directors, set the tone, as we’ve discussed it’s positive, supportive, vocal and strong in its leadership. The campers however, must find their way, must create a social structure that is conducive to a fun and adventurous camp.

In this totally raw environment, they’re learning, by experience (experiential), how to form a community at large: leaders, rules, team members, socially expected behaviors. Ultimately, the camp concludes with close bonds between all campers, enthusiasm is high and the environment is supportive, loving and energizing.

anecdote - Rhianna was a girl from the city being dropped off at a whitewater adventure camp. She was slightly built, bleached blond hair and dark, Goth-like eyeliner hid her eyes. She kept her head down and spoke very little, very introverted.

At the initial activities used to break the ice, she was reserved or gave answers that were clearly defensive responses. For example, when the group was asked for their favorite music she’d pick the loudest most aggressive band going. Every response was used to verbally back anyone off, keep folks from getting to close.

By the end of camp, Rhi (as the campers called her) was one of the most vocal about loving everyone, she was the most adamant that this was the best summer ever, she was the first to call and enroll for camp the next season. She stayed in contact with everyone, including the camp director on the camp’s MySpace page.

Prior to coming to camp she was bitten by a poisonous spider, at one point, thought the wound was cleaned regularly, her parent’s thought it best to take her to the doctor, mid camp, to make sure she was fine. Of course, the camp agreed. She went to the doctor and even though it hurt to sit, she insisted on coming straight back to camp and finishing her time there.

These anecdotes are true and witnessed first hand. Camp is powerful. Choosing a camp wherein your child can have fun and you can know they’re getting something out of it, is completely possible. Don’t down play the importance of these experiences. Each child mentioned here is better because of their summer outdoor experiential education experience.

Christopher Pyle has more than 20-years experience in the outdoors and whitewater rafting. He holds a BA degree in Humanities with an emphasis on Children's Literature and coming of age issues. He has significant experience in corporate America training, designing and implementing customer service standards: author of ART management program. His passion and focus is on youth and aims at building better people through better experience.

Outdoor Education: The Elixir of Life pt 1

Frustration may be the least of the emotions one feels when looking at the public educational system in much of the United States. Once a founding concept of the New World, free and quality education for all, is deteriorating into a developed-nation minimum standard. Quality curriculum, no not quality for there are many curriculum delivered with quality, rather diverse curriculum is quickly becoming a famous anecdote revisited by the baby-boom generation who talk of gymnastics, driver’s education, art classes, shop classes, advanced placement programs with access to materials , etc. Just like grandpa telling how he walked to school 10-miles in the snow, up hill both ways. Why and how the deterioration is happening is open to debate, to which we’re not engaging. What we can do to help offset the loss and the benefits we can offer our children or grandchildren follows.

Debasing the education of our children to core subjects (English, math, history, science), creating a standard test to measure each student, teacher, school and school district and creating punitive actions based on those test results has helped lead the US educational system into poor performance. Learning has taken a back seat to teaching-to-the-test wherein teachers and administrators are working more on not failing the measuring stick, than they are about the students achieving success in the classroom.

Not so long ago, when I was in elementary school, the school had school supplies! Now, many parents are greeted by their child’s first day of school with an entire list of supplies each child is supposed to donate to the classroom as well as a wish list of other items the teacher would like in order to teach that year.

Schools, apparently hurting for money, are cutting programs from the education experience. In California, no longer will your child learn driver’s education in a driver’s education class or the classic home economics/cooking class, they don’t exist. Now, one must hire outside of the school. Most schools do not offer a gymnastics team any longer. Of course, there is a whole host of classes no longer offered.

Art courses, school sports, school clubs and organizations are falling by the wayside. This is the collective-parents’ fault ultimately. We trusted our representatives to represent us and to defend what’s important to our children while we tarried away at our jobs trying to make ends meet. We can change the course for the positive again but it will take massive collective efforts. Fear not, for there are organizations out there that can help us now, help us offset some of the lost opportunities for our children to gain life skills not just core academics: unfortunately, we have to take care of this on a personal level, each taking care of our own while we work to repair the whole.

Enter the outdoor education programs focusing on experiential education. There are schools around the country, especially private schools, which understand the value in this type of learning and environment, thus support the curriculum, and enthusiastically share this with their students. If you’re like most of us, private schools are not in the annual household budget.

Therefore, we must look to programs we can enroll our kids once a year or so, the summer camp.

Experiential outdoor education programs help in a great many ways, here are a few main points of impact this type of education will have on a student:

1. An environmental / ecological awareness.
2. Physical challenge and accomplishment positive for both the physical and emotional well-being.
3. Self-awareness / empowerment
4. Interpersonal relations, communication and leadership skills.
5. Socialization and community development.

There are many studies on environmental-, experiential-, outdoor-education and all those researched for this commentary, tout the benefits of this type of exposure. Reciprocally, they speak to what a child misses when this experience is pulled from their reach, from their opportunity to sample the experience. What is commonly difficult in the research is delivering the results. Overwhelmingly the results are anecdotal; as it’s each person’s response to the experience, we’re interested. This is not easily explained by predictable measuring devices i.e., tests. We know if we teach a child basic addition and then test the child on 2+2 and the child responds with 4, the teaching was a success; the result is measurable and it can be repeated over and over. With experiential education, it’s difficult to give clear, concrete results.

This is one of the reasons we lose these programs and experiences from our schools. When the budget crisis is on, it’s very difficult to defend cutting the chemistry class but the school garden center is only viewed as a cost and its benefits not defended.

If nothing else, we should all agree, having a children who are aware of themselves and the world in which they live, have a belief in their physical ability to achieve, are self aware and strong enough to defend the safety of their person in an ever violent world, are able to communicate effectively and confidently as well as have a sense of responsibility and understanding of groups and their interpersonal dynamics is a very positive endeavor. Look to an outdoor, adventure camp for your child this and in the upcoming summers of their adolescence.

This was part I of this II part look into outdoor / experiential / environmental education. Part II will delve further into each of the 5-benefits above and provide hands on examples of positive changes made in the lives of summer campers.

Christopher Pyle has more than 20-years experience in the outdoors and whitewater rafting. He holds a BA degree in Humanities with an emphasis on Children's Literature and coming of age issues. He has significant experience in corporate America training, designing and implementing customer service standards: author of ART management program. His passion and focus is on youth and aims at building better people thought better experience.

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Affordable California Vacations

Summer is nearer and for many of us, this means some time off: time off from packing lunches for the kids, time off of work, time off of carpool or simply some time off from the daily grind that is our routine.

If you can't plan that dream getaway this year, worry not, for there are many fun and mind freeing getaways right here in our own backyards.

Isn't it always so that we forget how incredible the place we live? To remember can remind us not to take for granted those who support and love us; too often, we can take them for granted as well.

Think about it, many people flock to Northern California for their vacation! Here we have a gorgeous mountain range, The Sierra Nevada, we have some of the best wine country in the entire world, we have coastal hideaways and tourist oriented cities, the great redwood forest, world-class resorts and restaurants.

In this article we'll look at a specific region of Northern California and explore some of the experiences awaiting you on your Sierra Nevada Foothill getaway.

Let's begin with the area largely responsible for the greater area developing, because of the Gold Rush, the Coloma River Valley and El Dorado County.

El Dorado County hosts some of the best getaway vacation spots in all the state. Located just 2-hours from the San Francisco Bay Area and between both major access roads to North Shore and South Shore Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County is an excellent choice for an affordable break from it all filled with variety. It's an excellent choice as it's a relatively easy commute from anywhere in the State and it boasts some of the richest history in all the United States.

The History:

James W. Marshall discovered gold in 1848 on the South Fork of the American River in the valley the Nisenan Indians knew as Cullumah. This event led to the greatest mass movement of people in the Western Hemisphere and was the spark that ignited the spectacular growth of the West during the ensuing decades. The gold discovery site, located in the still visible tailrace of Sutter's sawmill, in present day Coloma California, is one of the most significant historic sites in the nation - Excerpted from the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park website.

So often it's easy to overlook what's right here in our backyard, but truly, the epic Gold Rush took place right here. The park is as good a place as any to begin your local getaway. Onsite are many artifacts from the Gold Rush era, including a replica of the mill, still-standing buildings from the day, a museum and a nature trail wherein you can have a park ranger lead a walk through history.

Before you make your way to Coloma and the Gold Rush site, you have a decisions to make. Are you making a day of this? Is it just you and the family coming into town for a little history and picnic on the banks of the South Fork of the American River or are you planning a big family get together, reunion style, and you're planning to employ some of the built in barbeques they have available for your use. Is the family going to stay a day or multiple days?

There are campgrounds in the Coloma/Lotus area: Camp Lotus on Bassi Road, American River Resort on River Road. Perhaps an historic hotel suits your needs better or a bed and breakfast: The Albert Shafsky House in Placerville is a Bed and Breakfast, The Sierra Nevada House is right in Coloma and is an old hotel. Once here, what do you want to do? Are you looking for a day trip, such as wine tasting or rafting?

South East El Dorado County is recognized by the Viticulture Society as some of the best land for specific wine-grape varietals. Thus, some of the best wineries can be visited and tasted while you're right here. Personal favorites are Oakstone and Windwalker wineries both in Fairplay!

Maybe you want more than wine tasting, maybe you want wine tasting AND something else... there is so much to do but one of the greatest, most fulfilling options you can chose is whitewater rafting.

There are a number of rafting companies in the area. There are considerations to be made when booking your trip, but all in all, the whole host of companies is pretty darned good and customer oriented.

We encourage you to come whitewater rafting, raft a day or two or three. With the variety of outings available it's a great place for the whole family to meet up and reunion together. Those not into rafting, though it's good for most all ages and fitness levels, can find plenty to do for the few hours the rafters are on the water.

The historic town of Placerville, also known as Hangtown, and Dry Diggins, is home to the oldest hardware store in the west, a TruValue now. Too, the oldest newspaper in the west resides here in El Dorado County as well, The Mountain Democrat. You can make the 20-minute drive to Placerville and walk historic Main Street where you look up into building facades that have stood for 100+ years.

Want to really mix it up? Make plans to get up early and shoot up US 50 and spend a day in the beautiful South Lake Tahoe basin home to the Lake, hiking, biking, Desolation Wilderness, gaming, shopping, entertainment and the like.

Perhaps we'd all love to cruise the Mediterranean for a few weeks but it's simply not in our cards right now. You can head to the foothills of Northern California from anywhere in the State and be there within a day's drive. Once here, with some simple planning, you can have as fulfilling and diverse holiday as nearly anywhere in the world. Tens of thousands of people a year come to visit, shouldn't you? Happy holidays!

Action Whitewater Adventures is celebrating it's 20 year anniversary. Action Whitewater is taking 20% off every trip in celebration of 2-decades of quality American River raft trips on the American River Owned by Christopher Pyle, a guide of 24-years, AWA is geared and focused on providing you the best experience to be had on the river, from equipment to crew, we're all about you!

Summer Camps that Please Both Parents and Campers Alike!

Odds are you're reading this article because you've explored, to some degree the idea of a residential summer camp. Whether you're a veteran at packing the kids off to summer for camp or a newbie to the whole process, there are a few thoughts that cross your mind.

First, there are a lot of camps. Second, many appear to offer the same program. Third, they're not necessarily cheap. Finally, for the money spent, isn't it fair that I expect a little enrichment?

The answer to each thought, yes. Yes, there are a lot of camps, choosing a camp can be an arduous journey. See a previous article on choosing a camp for more on this topic. Yes, many appear to offer the same program, often they are not the same, again, see previous article for more details on how to filter through the offerings. Yes, summer camps are not cheap, and neither should be the experiences your children receive. And yes, its quite fair for you to expect a bit of grooming, a bit of educating to take place.

There are camps that offer a program that will please you as well as your children. Ideally, it will please you unbeknownst to the children for they'll be having such a great time they wont even know it was good for them!

Clearly, camps that are college prep, or that take place on a university campus with courses is going to give you the enrichment you may be looking for; however, your child may not want to go to school after just getting out of school. Thus, you need to be a little more Agent-99, in your camp choice.

Look for a camp that references team building, a then look for what they do that builds a team. For example, a whitewater rafting camp may point to the teamwork required to paddle a raft down the river. An adventure camp might point to the supportive environment required to hike a mountain or complete a ropes obstacle course.

Look for a camp that references activities that require people to engage one on one and in groups. Buzz words to look for: discussions, community, leadership, evening campfire, interconnectedness, etc. These are camps that have thought enough about the benefits of communication and improving these skills.

Look for a camp that speaks of experiential-education. This is not a new term, but one that's gaining momentum. As our schools remove programs, college entrance becomes ever more competitive, school sports becomes more about winning and less about learning how to be a teammate, the need for education through experience, experiential education, is ever increasing. Camps that note this type of experience are cognizant of this need and are at minimum working towards providing this type of experience to the campers they host.

Let's look at the whitewater rafting camp again. If the camp is noting experiential education: teamwork is learned in each phase of a rafting trip from preparing the gear, to suiting up, to learning to paddle as a synchronized crew, learning safety techniques, and how to swim in moving water. These skills encompass the physical, the mental and the verbal. All of this while rafting, there are other elements to camp as well.

If you have the means, summer camping is an excellent place for your child to spend part of their vacation each year. There is much data touting the benefits of experiential education, learning while out of doors and the benefits of learning while in an entirely new environment.

While camp is meant to be fun, if you look for the buzz words we mention above, read the guidelines in the previous article linked here for reading between the lines to find the right program, you can have your child in an environment wherein they're learning AND having fun. Both worlds are completely attainable, if you just put a little time in online. Hey, reading this article is an excellent first step. Happy camping!

Christopher Pyle is the owner/director of adventure summer camp and whitewater rafting company in Northern California. His entire company philosophy focuses on creating the safest and most encouraging environments for campers and rafters alike. We focus on TEAM, we focus on KINDNESS, we focus on SAFETY, we focus on personal EMPOWERMENT, we focus on COMMUNITY, we focus on SUPPORT. We're family run, family oriented and wanting to share our place with you.

Summer Camp Options: How to Find One That Fits

By Christopher Pyle

Type summer camp into any search engine and the results can be overwhelming. There are pages and pages of listings. One cannot rely on the search engine to rank the "best" camps from top to bottom. At or near the top of the search results will be camp-directories. This is because they put the most money into their sites and have the most links since they represent so many clients. Of course, a directory cannot dictate the best camp for you.

Somewhere on the pages, you will find individual camp-websites you can peruse as well as the aforementioned directories. While the camp directories are convenient, they are not authorities in identifying the best camp for you: you are.

The directories are companies that charge camps for their listing services. There are charges for premium placement (being at the top of the page) for banner ads (the ones that blink or scroll at the very top of the page) and badge ads (logotype ads on the side of the page), as well as, for information they will share (website links are always more, color, movies, etc). I have been quoted upwards of $6000.00 dollars for a one-year ad in one of these directories. In fairness, I should mention often the directory will offer a free listing, these are at the bottom of the listings with little to no data.

For you, a prospective camper or guardian thereof, there are some nice features to be found on the directories: camps are broken down by category, by region, by religious affiliation and by overnight or day camp etc. While this data can help draw you closer to the type of camp that is an excellent fit for you, they should not be the end of your search. It is always good to do your own search engine crawl once you have parsed out the features you want in a camp.

Maybe you want a rafting camp but you would also like to go away from home or visit another part of the United States. Then you can search for camps that can accommodate the special circumstances surrounding your camp arrival and departure: for instance a camp that offers shuttle service from the local airport.

To help you begin your camp search, here are some questions to ask yourself and thoughts worthy of consideration:

1. How long are you wanting to be at camp: for the day or overnight? (overnight camps are referred to as resident camps) If attending a resident style camp for the first time, it is NORMAL to feel nervous. Deciding on a resident style camp can be nerve-wracking but don't eliminate this option. Remember, the other campers will be new too: you are not alone in this. Many campers who attend resident style camps make friendships that last years and often the experiences are more meaningful simply because of the newness of the experience.

2. Do you want a religious focus to your camp? If so, then make that a priority in your search. If not, then be aware, many non-denominational camps are great and respectful of all lifestyles.

3. Do you want the camp to be unisex or is CO-Ed acceptable? Either way, camp directors and counselors are aware, day and night. There are pros and cons to either camp scenario.

4. Decide what you want to do on your vacation. If you want an acting/drama-intense-camp, then choosing a camp focusing on water sports is not for you. This said it is important to look at what camps do offer because there are differences even in camps that appear similar. You may be able to do MORE and spend about the same. For example, in our area, the foothills of Northern California, there is a camp on a lake that has many water activities as well as hiking, crafts, ropes, etc. Just down the road is a camp that is based on a river. The camp on the river does everything the lake camp does as well as whitewater rafting, off site excursions to water-parks, pro-basketball games and visits an historic State Park. The costs between the two camps is nearly identical, in fact the river-based camp is even a little less expensive. Make sure you do your shopping. If you are debating between a few camps, email them, ask them questions and then compare their responses.

5. Do not exclude yourself before you make contact with a camp! For example, if you see the word "adventure" in the camp title, do not assume this is only for aggressive outdoor enthusiasts. Email and ask what, if any experience is necessary. Same goes for rafting or skydiving or surfing... well you get the idea. Most camps are geared for nearly everyone in the accepted age range. If they are worth their salt, they will have competent and positive staff to guide you along each adventure.

6. Do not be afraid to make contact, in fact, I encourage you to make contact via either email or phone. Question these people, listen or read their responses with receptive ears and eyes. You can gauge the authenticity of someone by the way the respond and interact with you. You are important and so is your summer experience, go with someone you feel comfortable!

The long and the short of it, there are many options for you when choosing your summer adventure. Take a moment, stretch yourself a bit and really go for something you want to do. Make contact with the camp. Do not exclude yourself from something new, ask questions. You are important; the response you receive should make you feel as such. These steps should help you find that right fit.

Christopher Pyle is the owner/director of adventure summer camp and whitewater rafting company in Northern California. His entire company philosophy focuses on creating the safest and most encouraging environments for campers and rafters alike. We focus on TEAM, we focus on KINDNESS, we focus on SAFETY, we focus on personal EMPOWERMENT, we focus on COMMUNITY, we focus on SUPPORT. We're family run, family oriented and wanting to share our place with you.