I am the founder and principal teacher at the Vashon Art and Nature School (VAANS), where self-directed play, nature immersion, and place-based learning are all foundational methodologies. These interrelated and interdependent methodologies were developed from the work of academics, teachers, predecessors, practitioners, and my own experiences. One such experience was working with founder Erin Kenny…
Once upon a time, the world changes. On an Island like this one, forest and mist reclaim the land, technology falls away, and certain names disappear. Calling out to her two children to come home, a mother puzzles in mid-holler as she forgets their names. Noticing the two bushes on either side of the front…
A retelling of an Irish mythIllustration above by Jane Valencia Here on Vashon Island, now is the time that the salmon return home after long years in the ocean. Up streams and rivers they swim and leap and lunge, taking in deep scents of the waters along the way, smells that reach into their beginnings…