Outdoor School

Imagine camping on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with approximately 50 kids. This sounds potentially disasterous, however, this past weekend we managed to pull it off. As it is, we already live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but we packed up 50 kids and all our stuff and went to an even smaller near-by island in the middld of the Pacific Ocean. It is strictly a tourist island, called Managaha. No one lives there, people just come during the day to enjoy it's lucious tropical beauty. So once the last boat left at the end of the day taking all the tourists away, we had the island all to ourselves........it's quite nice!

The older kids, along with their teachers, headed out to the island on Thursday afternoon to set up camp and get everything ready for the rest of us. Preschool through 6th grade joined the older kids on Friday morning. Friday, being a school day, had scheduled classes about insects, marine life, island history, cultural dancing, etc. It's a great way for them to learn about all this stuff and they love it because it's away from the ordinary setting of their regular classroom. Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade only stayed for that day and left on the 4 o'clock boat. My 3rd & 4th graders camped over on Friday night and left on Sabbath afternoon. The rest of us enjoyed great meals, fun evening programs, lots of group activites, and our share campfire smoke until Sunday morning!

For supper on Friday, the kids got to cook their own food in groups. They had pre-planned what they wanted to make and brought all the supplies along with them. Then, when the moment arrived, they put it all together and created a delicious meal! Each group was responsible for cooking one dish that was big enough to feed everyone, then we shared all of it so we got to all try what everyone else made. My group made Garlic-Mushroom Alfredo spaghetti with corn and olives! It turned out great!

Sabbath was wonderful - filled with lots of activities and blessings! It's a neat experience to share the Sabbath with a bunch of kids who don't usually keep the Sabbath. They all seemed to enjoy it just as much as the rest of us, and perhaps in time they will also come to appreciate it and want to keep it on their own.

Saturday night we made S'mores down by the campfire and then we suited up for an intense game of Capture the Flag in the jungle! It was great! My team didn't win, but we all had fun and felt like winners anyway!

Before we knew it, it was Sunday morning - time to pack up and head to the dock ready to catch our boat back to the main island. Even though it was rainy and cold, the kids didn't want to leave - but they were still very helpful and positive about all the packing and cleaning up. They're a great bunch of kids! I love them all and I'm so glad I get to work with them!

I envisioned, being stuck on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with 50 kids, as being somewhat crazy, but they proved me wrong! And I'm so glad they did! In fact, it's only 364 days until we get to do it all over again! I can't wait!