*** Program 1)EXPERIENCING NATURE THROUGH ART, PLAY AND DISCOVERY ***
June 25th - July 2nd, 2010
$500 per person
Ages 7-13 and families - one adult and one child minimum
This program will offer Play with Plants, Cooking, Animals, Art, Building, Yoga, Games and Tours. The experience of the natural world is emphasized via printing, sculpting, drawing, and painting.
• Plants: from planting seeds to seeing it on their plate
• Cooking: fun with improvisation
• Animals: getting comfortable with our animal friends including baby animals - horses, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cat and monkey. Learning to milk a cow. Horse-whispering.
• Art: pressing of plants, and making artwork from the same. Drawing, sculpting and painting
from nature.
• Games: cooperative games, interactive play such as deer and wolves, capture the flag,
getting everyone over the ropes, etc.
• Yoga as fun and play
• Building Gnome villages, Debris Shelters and a Tree House.
Recreational and Educational Activities and Trips include: The beach, The Islands in the Gulf, A Waterfall, Horseback Riding and an Agrarian educational tour of Sugar Processing from Cane, Coffee Processing, or others.
(note: we will split the classes by age or have the older ones mentor the younger depending on amount of enrollment for the different ages)
*** Program 2) LIFE IN RURAL COSTA RICA ***
July 3rd - July 10th, 2010
$700 per person (those children and parents who are doing both programs will have a reduced price of $950 per person for the two weeks.)
Ages 11-15 and families - one adult and one child minimum
This program is bi-lingual, bi-cultural – Your fee will fund a scholarship for a Costa Rican child to be able to attend. The children will play and create together, learning from each other and getting practice in speaking the language naturally.
We will:
• Have fun with animals, plants, and life on the farm.
• Take classes in art, communication, and Spanish/English (with children helping teach each other).
• Study plants and their uses for health, nutrition, and ecology. Learn about Food from Seed to Table.
• Work the farm, milking a cow, horse-whispering, etc., while learning about the cycles of nature.
• Practice Yoga to get comfortable in our bodies.
• Dialog about Peace and Social Justice issues (finding out what each child thinks about his/her own ability to experience peace and social justice in his/her own life).
• Offer community service and explore how we can create an enduring impact.
• Play fun, educational, interactive and team-building games including soccer, and design our own games and team challenges.
• Experience a Self-Discovery project: writing, guided journaling, art, music, theatre and communicative group work. Create a performance and party for the town to practice our Spanish, teach games and demonstrate what we have created.
• Play Games: Children will have a chance to design their own bi-lingual games and team challenges.
Recreational and Educational Activities and Trips may include: The beach, The Islands in the Gulf, A Waterfall, Horseback Riding and an Agrarian Educational Tour of Sugar Processing from Cane, Coffee Processing, or others. (Note for those staying over from the previous session, we will create different tours unless you want to repeat some of the same).
*** Program 3) – Children on the Autism Spectrum with their Families ***
Ages: 5 and up
Price: $1000 per child on the spectrum and $500 per adult or other child age 7 and older (one adult minimum per child).
Eight Days – (July 15-23)
Name: "Discovering the Self through Nature"
An opportunity for children with autism and an adult caretaker to experience the wonders of Costa Rica and our 200 acre farm. We have horses, cows, goats, chickens, dogs, a cat---even a monkey! Our farm and the magnificence of Costa Rica's varied and beautiful habitat will furnish healing for the special sensory processing challenges children on the Spectrum face. Participants who are willing and able will have the option to learn how to horse-whisper to gentle young horses, approach and sooth a horse to prepare for riding, and experience the joy and responsibility of caring for a particular animal. Through a program oriented to each individual and their adult caretaker, we will provide opportunities to relax and re-create, experience and interact with the farm animals, and take part in art, music, and game activities.
We are aware of the needs of children with autism and provide one staff member for each participant. This will enable participants, staff, and caretakers to work together efficiently to ensure a positive, interesting, and restful time during our program.
Unless otherwise requested all food will be gluten-free and dairy free, without preservatives or chemicals or bleached.
*** Program 4) Changing Ourselves, Changing the Planet ****
Older Teens ages 16-19
One Month: July 31 – August 28, 2010
$1000 per week
During this time slot we will run three separate programs:
Reforestation, Theater, and Horse-Whispering
The Reforestation Program will run for four weeks. The Theater and Horse-Whispering Programs will run for three weeks starting August 7th. All programs will contain a Community Service Element. The groups will come together for most meals and some recreational activities and dialogs. If you want to start the first week with the Reforestation Project and decide to switch to one of the other two Projects in the second week, that is permissible.
PROJECT I: The Reforestation Project for Global and Community Service
We will:
Learn about our land, food and healing herbs from the earth to the table
Engage in helping heal our earth and increase animal habitats through reforestation
Build a campsite
Learn organic or biodynamic gardening method
Get to know the people of Costa Rica by reaching out to them with helping hands in a community service project
In addition, we will celebrate with nature, agricultural and adventure tours, camping at the beach,and kayaking or boating to Islands in the Gulf, plus a three-day trip to Monteverde Rainforest National Park.
For this program, you are not required to stay a full four weeks. For those who do, we will avoid redundancy and you will have a chance to take the experience to deeper levels.
PROJECT II: The Theater Project
You are welcome to come for the first week with no commitment to continue if you choose to transfer into one of the other two programs. After the first week, those who stay for the final two will be required, for the full experience, to build a production which will be performed for our local town. You may sample different classes and choose a specialty if you are staying on.
Classes will include: Writing, Acting, Spanish, Dance, Music, Set Design and Building, Sculpture/Painting/Carving, Community Service (taking younger children from the area, teaching them and involving them in the production)
In addition we will celebrate with day trips and a camping trip to the beach and kayaking or boating to Islands in the Gulf.
PROJECT III: Horse-Whispering
A Horse Whisperer trains horses while adopting a sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and desires of the horse being trained, based on an understanding of behavior patterns that closely resemble the relationships that exist among wild horses. The term originated in the early nineteenth century when an Irish horseman, Daniel Sullivan, became famous by rehabilitating horses that had become unmanageable due to trauma. A related practice is horse gentling, a method of training that doesn’t use “breaking” to render a horse ride-able.
We will be working with unridden young horses to earn their trust, create bonding, and, if totally successful, ready them to willingly take a human on their back. This process increases both our understanding of horses and ourselves: developing patience; learning the ability to wait and listen; giving our full presence and attention; and experiencing the extraordinary sensation of communicating with another species.
In addition to our time working with the young horses, we will focus on community service work: creating a small park for the town. We will also enjoy a series of horseback tours. During our last week we will ride to the beach (a two-day’s ride each way) and spend a couple of days there.
You are welcome to come for the first week with no commitment to continue, choosing instead to transfer into one of the other two programs.
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