Summer's almost over...

It has been a wonderful summer for my kids. My son Ben got on a surfboard in Far Rockaway, found hermit crabs in Gloucester, made many friends while away at Armenian camp and got to kayak in Lake Placid. Sarah Rose, rode swan boats in Boston, was the dancing queen at my cousins wedding in Connecticut and dug endlessly on the beaches of the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, and Massachusetts. What a wonderful way for them to spend their days - unhurried, investigating, trying new things, greeting new friends. Then I thought, why can't experiences conntinue once school starts? Can't schools be places where children do these things - play, explore, team - in an environment that is tolerent of a child's need for time in order to reach discovery?