We have been happy to have children and young people together at Park Days and other events and projects throughout our history, and have seen the benefits of bringing all ages and generations together in learning and recreational activities. One of the many highlights of Family Villagers' experiences over the years has been of older kids playing with, and mentoring, younger children. We look forward to what the future holds in store for us all.
When we first started in 1995, Family Village met in Berkeley's Live Oak Park, on the north side, specifically avoiding the play equipment by the recreational building on the south side of the park. The idea was that the focus would stay on people, and on creativity, rather than on equipment that too often scripts children's play.
Indeed, the little children played under bushes, making fairy houses, the teens enjoyed walks by the creek, never far away, but with a sense of some freedom to be a bit on their own, and others played in the open grassy area, or played with the exciting dress up clothes a few families diligently brought week after week. Our library was brought in crates with books and magazines available for check-out. We had seasonal special gatherings and events, and had history and science days.
At some point, during the summers, we started rotating parks as our usual quiet park space was full of summer camp programs. There were ups and downs to moving around; there was variety, but then many people missed out on Park Days if they weren't absolutely regular attendees and weren't up-to-date on where the group was gathering a particular Monday. Even regulars sometimes got confused about which park, or where it was located. Then there was the issue of bathrooms. Not every park has them, and then there was the park in El Cerrito for which we paid for a bathroom key, but then sometimes that key never made it to the park. Logistical problem, big time.
Everyone's first question about homeschoolers is about socialization, imagining us all locking our kids in closets, right? They haven't a clue about our Park Days not infrequently stretching into 6 hours as kids and parents are just too busy hanging out, playing, or maybe building structures out of sticks and branches. Who ever figured that jumper cables would do great double duty in rigging up a bamboo pole structure? Along with some ivy vines, that structure would be likely to be standing next week.
Finally, one of our families with chemical injuries due to pesticide poisoning realized that they could not attend Park Days held in cities in which pesticides are used in parks so we realized as a group that we needed to keep Park Day in our base city, Berkeley, a city with a policy of no pesticide use in parks and with a history of park gardeners staunchly against pesticide use, speaking up publicly against municipal use in other cities such as Oakland.
While Family Village is based in Berkeley, families attend from cities as far away as San Leandro, Lafayette, El Sobrante, Richmond and sometimes San Francisco.
Some years ago, we moved our Park Day to Codornices, a wonderful old Berkeley park. It has a little of everything for everybody. Like Live Oak, it is inviting to many both because of the sheer beauty of the surroundings, but also because there are so many areas to explore. Older kids can tramp around wooded paths and by the creek while younger ones who want climbing structures have those. Everyone loves the big, big swingset and the cement slide. And there's a tunnel leading to the Berkeley Rose Garden, another lovely area to explore. There is a big grassy area, basketball courts, and the amazing bamboo grove. Teens can be seen swinging as they figure out the world together, playing interesting card or board games by the creek, walking on the many trails or going to the Rose Garden -- when they aren't in the midst of planning some great creation such as a movie script.
While many other homeschooling groups change locations week by week, we've stuck with Codornices for many happy years. The future may tell a different story, and some have suggested the idea of moving around for variety, but many have felt Codornices to be most desirable and that there is a lot of good in having at least one East Bay group with a set location.
-- Max V., 2007
