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Susan Bogue
http://sailblogs.com/member/boguevilla Real Life Learning &
Adventure Based Education From Alaska to Florida
Beach Bum for hire: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
When am I not teaching? "Life's a banquet and you poor suckers are starving to death." Auntie Mame
Inspiration from Cyberspace
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I
was born in Alaska into a military family with roots in Florida, so I spent
a lot of my childhood traveling. Some of my favorite places were remote
natural coastal regions where I could enjoy nature, so during college when
I had the opportunity to return to the Florida Keys and work as a camp
counselor at an ocean side
camp,
I jumped at the chance. In college my interests were very eclectic, so my
advisor suggested I get my degree in Education. My education ideals were
incongruent with my student teaching experiences, so I began life guarding,
teaching swimming, and water sports at a local resort. The best part of that
job was working with the dolphins. A few years later I started a friendship
which turned to romance. Twenty years later my handsome husband (of 18
years) and our four children call these quirky wannabe islands our home. 
While
enjoying the life of a beach bum, I heard about a local school that raised
animals as their entire 3rd grade curriculum. This piqued my interest, so I
applied and enjoyed the empowerment of school/teacher based management. Ten
years later my experience based learning ideals felt out of place in the
testing focused atmosphere that had finally trickled down to our little
island school district. So, with a baby on the way, I left the classroom,
and returned to real life teaching. I began designing and implementing
eco-tourism camps at a different local resort. Along the way I met a group
of unique families. When Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida, and
brought over crowded conditions in the available schools, these parents
networked and re-created centuries old but now unconventional community
based home education programs that rivaled the struggling classrooms.
As
this progressive alternative movement grows quantitatively and
qualitatively, I'm enjoying forging more paths in experienced based
education opportunities in my local community. While I encourage my own
children's educational pursuits, I also help other families (public private
homeschooled and autodidactic) progress in their education via
consultations, portfolio reviews, and evaluations. 
My
well read friend often says, "Too many books too little time." I feel that
way about almost everything. Four growing children make a glaring statement
in my life. Life is very sweet and short. I want to use as much time
enjoying my children and each day as the gifts that they are. I want to help
them live and prepare for life. So, I quit compartmentalizing our academic
pursuits
from the rest of life experiences, and began do everyday, including
weekends, what would be considered community based real life learning where
we network with the many the various resources available to us from all over
the world. I said all that to say, my play time looks much like my work.
Because I do what I love, I choose to "seize the day" and do it all with
gusto, savoring every moment, relishing each experience and enjoying each
person I meet. In the midst of all that we enjoy each other, art,
backpacking, reading, sailing, and relaxing by the ocean. 
Life
is a daring adventure or it is nothing at all--Helen Keller