A New Academic Year: Advent in American Christianity

Each year, at various times of year, comes with new beginnings and learning new things. In August, I have been focusing on the "learning" aspect as well as the new academic year upcoming. Advent (the 4 weeks before Christmas) doesn't quite seem to fit from a calendar perspective. However, it does relate to both beginning something (new) and learning (new) things. 

Happy New Year!

Growing up, I heard this at several times and in several places. One was in church, generally at Pentecost (the "birthday" of the Christian church). Another was on campus during opening service right before the first day of fall-semester classes in late August. A third was, of course, in my family's living room at 12:01 on New Year's Eve/Day. One place where I haven't heard it is at the start of Advent.

What are your reactions when someone wishes you a happy new year at any of these times?

Advent’s ETA

The church season of Advent occurs during the four weeks immediately preceding Christmas Day, and starts on the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Andrew. This year, the first Sunday of Advent is December 3, which is (coincidentally) my baptismal birthday, when I became a Christian at a few months old. Each Sunday in Advent has a theme: hope, peace, joy (Latin Gaudete), and love (Latin Laetare).

Academic Year ETA

The start of the academic year, at least in most of the Western hemisphere, is sometime in August. It varies depending on the school system, level of education (grade school versus high school versus college), and in homeschoolers' cases the parents' decision about what works best for the family. For me, the year starts on the 27th of this month, when faculty and students attend the opening service on campus.

Variation in Advent History and Celebration 

Here is where I discovered some new-to-me information and appreciated my own (Lutheran) heritage at a deeper level. Let's take a brief trip through the history of Advent celebration and observance. I may update this post with elements from the Eastern Church later, but now that would make the post of an unmanageable length.

Early Church

The Christian church started (naturally) with Jesus and His disciples on earth, i.e., around AD 33-36 after His incarnation, death, and bodily resurrection. The earliest documentation of a liturgical year that I could find is from around the same time, in Paul's writings (referencing celebration of days and seasons and years adapted or carried over from Judaism). Constantine, around the year 312, introduced more familiar seasons such as Lent into the calendar.

Western Church

The Western Church is operationally defined as more aligned with Augustine (sprouting Roman Catholic and Reformed traditions) than with the Orthodox traditions. Within this region and period and distributed body of believers, some denominations and traditions have been more formally observant of distinctive church seasons than others. Over time, these more observant traditions have included Lutheran, Orthodox, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic. 

In the Lutheran church, which began a bit after 1519, Advent observance blended elements from Roman Catholicism from which it sprang, and distinctive German cultural elements. Roman Catholic elements that were retained, at least in the Lutheran churches I grew up in and attended, were

• Deliberate meditation on elements of Advent to prepare mind and spirit
• Simplified family devotions to avoid becoming overwhelmed
• Advent wreath with candles
• Use of the 7 "O" antiphons from "O Come, O Come, Immanuel"
• Commemorating St. Nicholas (December 6)

German distinctives, in my experience, associated with Advent included

• Chocolate-filled Advent calendars
• An actual wreath material for the Advent candles
• An annual box of Stollen and Lebkuchen
• Congregational singing of Stille Nacht on Christmas Eve

One thing I learned a few weeks ago, in conversation with Husband, is that the Evangelical tradition has not historically celebrated all the seasons of the church year, especially Advent. In recent years, there is a discovery (2021 article) among members of those churches of what has long been there, resulting in new-to-them knowledge and observances. The Evangelical tradition has typically been non-liturgical--i.e., choosing to not use a set, recurring pattern of early-historic elements within each Sunday's service and across the entire year.

However, more are starting to realize that Advent is typically not celebrated by the wider world; Christmas shopping (consumerism) tends to take over instead of the restful, mindful pause. So, to be different or distinctively Christian, many are seeing that unique practices are helpful. Indeed, we appreciate Christmas more when we take Advent practices seriously.

Based on the etymology of "Advent" (the Latin term adventus, literally meaning "coming" and referring to the first coming of Christ), Evangelicals are incorporating certain elements at a congregational level. Advent practices being gradually appropriated by members of the Evangelical tradition include weekly candle lighting, specific hymns and songs for the season, and using set scriptural readings (plus more cultural practices of gradually building up a creche, opening a window in an Advent calendar, etc.). 

I found the article's list of Advent hymns and songs an interesting mix:

• O Come, O Come, Immanuel (words written 1710)
• Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (words written early 1700s by Charles Wesley)
• God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (words written in early 1700s)
• Breath of Heaven (words written 1992 by Amy Grant)
• Light of the World (words written 2013 by Lauren Daigle)

Variations in Academic Year History and Celebration

In my research for this post, I focused on the introduction of the Prussian model of education as a pivot point for school and academic-year orientation, primarily in the Western hemisphere. However, that turned out to be contemporaneous (or nearly so) with the other pivot in terms of the academic calendar generally used in the United States. Hopefully, I may update the post eventually with more international historical tidbits. Here are my sources.

Before

In colonial America, children's education was mandatory; however, one standard academic calendar was not in place. Although it's generally said that summer vacation was introduced due to need for farm-dwelling children to help their parents out during that season, at this time most rural schools operated year-round--city-dwelling children attended year-round, and rural-dwelling children attended in summer and winter ("slow" times for agriculture). Before the Civil War, some cities' school years were 260 days long.

Many elements of the current public school model actually preceded the Prussian model, which occurred around the time of the Industrial Revolution. That said, competing models of education have always existed.

Several sources describe the Prussian model of education as follows:

• Goal of reducing independent thought to enhance military victory
• Base level: Volksschulen or "common-folk schools" with reduced literacy (92-94% of children)
• Next level: Realschulen or "professional schools" with focus on building managerial skills (5-7% of children)
• Top level: Akademiensschulen or "academic schools" with focus on critical thinking and wide/deep reading (< 1% of children)

That said, there is some discrepancy of whether the "pivot" came around Horace Mann's introduction of the (centralized) Prussian model, or around the Industrial Revolution, or something else. Additionally, different camps have differing opinions on what "industrialization" means or connotes. The term "industry" is defined as the opposite of "idleness." Indeed, one benefit of the "monitorial" model at the time was that each student could work diligently at his or her own pace.

After

Whatever changes happened, now the typical academic year in the United States has these features:

• Decentralized control, by local governments
• No significant change to the model of education, although technology has been introduced to automate some previously-human-performed tasks in the educational process
• Summers off due to the "urban heat island effect" (city-dwellers fleeing in the summer before air conditioning was invented) and inaccurate science around the 1800s-1900s claiming that more cognitive rest is needed than is actually necessary

As someone who was homeschooled throughout pretty much the entire year, I found the online discussion of "standard" versus "balanced" academic calendars interesting.

What does a "standard" calendar (96% of public schools) look like?

• 180 days long
• Long summer break and minimal breaks during semesters
• Loss of cognitive skills over summer due to disuse
• Allowance for students' summer jobs, sports participation, longer traveling vacations, potentially parental ability to arrange childcare during work

What does a "balanced" calendar (4% of public schools) look like?

• 180 days long
• Shortened (5-6 or 10-12 week) summer break, week-long breaks within semesters or trimesters
• More equal semester lengths
• Less burnout for students and teachers
• Roughly equivalent cognitive skill loss
• Potentially more benefit for low-income students receiving school lunches
• Increased air conditioning costs for school buildings

What does your school year look like? How about your liturgical year?

Grading Finals: Justification by Works?

You may be wondering what finals and justification have to do with each other, and why I’m writing about either of those things at this point in the academic and church years. Well, I teach for 12 months out of the year, and I have 2 final exams to administer next week. Plus (as you will see next week or the week after), Advent is eventually coming, so August is the perfect time to prepare for that! Predictably, I will zoom out from the immediate phenomenon of final exams to explore the larger topic of justification, since the two phenomena have some parallels.

Final Exams: My Context and COVID

As a relatively recent student, I’ve taken my share of final exams, primarily pre-COVID. So, I’ve used paper, Scantron forms, and online routes for taking these exams. While I never got exceedingly stressed about any particular final, I can safely say that writing and grading and revising exams on the teacher end is more of a mental hurdle, especially in early career.

Personal Context

For a number of years, I've been interested in study strategies and have used many of them myself. The more I made sure to prepare daily, actively, and incrementally (especially by testing myself more than just re-reading notes), the more free time I would have during finals week each semester. In the PhD program, the bulk of which I completed pre-COVID, there weren't exams but rather projects and presentations. Grades were never an issue except for one or two classes I didn't take to; I preferred letter grades to pass/fail courses, for whatever reason.

Societal Context

In a larger context, one ongoing discussion that was highlighted during COVID is the best system of evaluating learners' work. A blog post from March 2020 is characteristic of this discussion viewing the assignment of letter (percentage) grades as fundamentally unjust, advocating a pass/no pass system for as many college-level courses as possible. Here's the run-down:

• Assumptions guiding the article: (1) grades are recent and not objective/precise; (2) grades hinder learning without helping decision-making; (3) grades highlight context > skill; (4) grades dehumanize both parties
• A pass/no pass system would take out the widening uncertainty bars that surround a student's actual ability versus a teacher's assessment of that ability, trust one's students to make the "right" amount of effort for them and their priorities (assuming that people are basically good/well-intentioned), and potentially reduce the pressure to cheat (have open-book higher-level assignments)
• The main problems with a pass/no pass system would be impact on sports eligibility and graduate school application, both of which require letter grades on one's transcript

Assorted Views on Justification

Now let's hop over onto a theological track. I promise that the discrepant ideas do connect! These are roughly in historical order.

Roman Catholicism

The predominant Roman Catholic view (Catholic Encyclopedia) hearkens back to the Council of Trent (1547). Thought process in bullet points: original sin has weakened free will, but mankind still can't free self from sin's bondage. To effectively receive the grace of Christ, one must be regenerated (i.e., justified--note that this is a key equivocation). So, justification = change of soul "identity" from original sin to sonship. Only possible through Baptism. Adults baptized must prepare morally. Detailed process described. Dogma that grace-that-sanctifies can't coexist in the same soul as original-and-mortal sin.

Reformed (Not Lutheran)

Since the Reformation took place over a number of years, with several key players including Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin, different branches of doctrinal variation came about. Therefore, I differentiate Reformed/Protestant (which currently takes after Calvin) from Lutheran. Indeed, a source from Reformed.org espouses a specifically Puritan perspective. Justification, in this view, is "the establishment of a sinner in a righteous standing before God." It contains elements of pardon (for all sin) and imputed righteousness (vicarious satisfaction theory of atonement). This is different from Roman Catholicism in saying that justification isn't a process but an act, permanent, irreversible, and non-repeatable, received by faith.

Lutheran/Anglican

Justification by faith has been cited as the central doctrine of Christianity from a Lutheran perspective (which many Anglicans also take). Per a good summary in Encyclopedia Britannica, this means that (1) humans don't participate actively in justification, and (2) righteousness is imputed to the individual in a legal sense.

Baptist/Evangelical

For greater context, please note that there are many varieties of Baptist as well as many varieties of Evangelical churches and smaller denominations. From what I looked at as one potentially representative view, justification is defined as God fully acquitting sinners. This seems to lean toward penal substitution theory of atonement, which has its own theological issues.

N. T. Wright ("Fresh" Anglican)

I've written a number of posts about N. T. Wright, former bishop of Durham and current author of over 80 scholarly and popular-level books about the New Testament. (I learned the other day that he has made an entire translation of the New Testament, which is pretty neat.) Currently, I just finished The Day the Revolution Began (one review here) and will reference this 25-page paper of his from 2016 for this portion of the post.

What did Paul mean by "justification"? Wright looks at Dead Sea Scrolls for fresh insight., fragment 4QMMT particularly. Here, the law-court analogy of a ruling for any party is used (which does not correspond to how the NT word for it is typically translated). Another part of the fragment indicates that "doing right" will "justify" Jews in the sight of YHWH (!).

Second-Temple Judaism background (based on several scholarly sources cited about this fragment): Paul was probably indifferent about the regular Jewish calendar (feasts). The "works of the law" he opposed were just the circumcision of Gentile converts and ongoing Jew-Gentile segregation in the Christian church. He's not opposed to works at all!

Justification's context: eschatological, covenantal perspective--following the law ("works of Torah") marks one as within the covenant now to anticipate the end of days. Premise 4 succinctly states this "hinge": "Paul's doctrine, like that of MMT, was not about 'getting in' but about community definition." The rest of the paper expounds on evidence for this argument.

How do Teaching/Grading and Justification Relate?

If you've stayed with me this long, thank you! I see the grading and justification pieces connecting in two points: (1) current debates about the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Christian education and academic integrity more broadly, and (2) how this is lived out each day as a Christian professor at a Christian university.

DEI/DIE: A Can of Worms?

Academic integrity has long been an expectation for students, teachers, and scholars alike. The research on the concept has been around since at least the 1920s, though it took off around 1992 when the International Center for Academic Integrity was founded. Currently, some researchers think that a lack of academic integrity is more a developmental issue than a misconduct issue (topic for another post?). Regardless of the underlying mechanisms, the ICAI defines integrity as "a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action."

How does that relate to DEI (abbreviated DIE by some parties whose stance on any of the component concepts is pretty clearly conveyed by the different arrangement of letters)? Going back to original definitions again, the history of the DEI movement began particularly during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, where a higher value was placed on people who were diverse in race or ethnicity within the United States, thus working toward fuller equity (equality of opportunity . . . or outcome--two very different concepts) and inclusion of diverse individuals in all realms of society.

The definitions link above does have current (2020s), formalized definitions that envision a much broader base of groups to which DEI concepts are considered relevant, especially splitting the ideas of gender, sex, and sexual orientation. It's worth your while to go over all of the operational definitions and note any discrepancies between them (especially terms referencing "identity").

• "Diversity: Socially, it refers to the wide range of identities. A broad view includes race, ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, veteran status, physical appearance, etc. It also involves different ideas, perspectives, and values"
• "Equity: The fair treatment, access, opportunity [emphasis mine], and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist in the provision of adequate opportunities to all groups."
• "Inclusion: Providing equal opportunity [emphasis mine] to all people to fully engage themselves in creating an environment and a cultural attitude whereby everyone and every group feels accepted, has value, and is supported by a foundation based on trust and mutual respect."

Given the definitions above, I do not see a conflict between academic integrity (as defined by ICAI) and valuing equal opportunity for diverse groups in an academic setting.

Christian Professor, Christian University

A more specific way in which the conjunction of grading and justification hits home for me is in one of my vocations as a professor. In addition to grading justly and fairly (based on the quality of the work and depth of knowledge/understanding, which typically reflect the quality and amount of effort expended by the student), I am also understanding of the need to incorporate grace. In an academic context, "grace" connotes thoughtful lenience, patience, and recognition that students (like me) are frail humans.

Given that working definition of grace in grading, that means that I have the discretion to extend individual deadlines for extenuating circumstances, provide remedial opportunities, and otherwise allow students to learn at their own pace as much as possible within a very time-structured program in which I teach. Much more broadly, I am working through navigating a specific Christian identity as it relates to meeting accreditation standards for professional programs. Within the university as a whole, this means inter-departmental tension, plus a less-rigid view of Christian (denomination-specific) identity in departments with more denominational diversity among faculty and students.

Within similar universities to mine, some groups tend to claim that any use of the terms or concepts of DEI is automatically Marxist. This, I believe, is philosophically dishonest or at the very least incomplete. While I do affirm the fact of Marxist roots being at the core of most popular manifestations of DEI as a whole (especially if the term "equity" is sneakily substituted for "equality"), I think the jump in 100% of cases is fallacious (specifically, genetic fallacy and parallelomania).

Planning a (Small) Family's School Year

The new school year is soon to be upon us who are involved in teaching, learning, or both, in any educational setting. I am a planner. Chances are, you are too. So, how am I going about the planning for our small family’s academic year, in a rather unique situation? Come along for a rather autobiographical post.

Charlotte Mason-Style Planning

I've talked about Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy in a number of posts, including these topics:

• Reading with babies
• Reflections on re-reading
• Reflections on C. S. Lewis
• Late-winter reads
• Spring cleaning the shelves
• Outdoor reading and nature study
• Gardening metaphors
• Reading after graduation
• Nature study
• Roots of classical education

My primary source for more systematic discussion of planning in a Charlotte Mason style comes from Simply Charlotte Mason. Areas discussed include (in)formal education, habits, chores, and homeschooling (though at least one private school uses the Charlotte Mason method to provide blended private and parent-led homeschooling).

(In)formal Education

A pair of core principles in Charlotte's philosophy are (1) the personhood of children from birth and (2) the responsibility of the parent to set a "feast of ideas" in front of children to engage with. If you're sticking to the method for a number of years with your child(ren), some good tips regard scheduling, educational materials, and individualization. Materials should definitely include more than just books--add in art, tactile objects, and hands-on chores. Individuality of each family should breed flexibility within each day, week, month, and year.

As far as scheduling or planning a school year, it's useful to start with the biggest possible picture and gradually drill down. That is . . .

1. Educational philosophy. What are your goals for each child's overall education? See also The Commonplace channel hosted by homeschooling mama Autumn Kern.
2. Calendar year. What books and subjects do you want to cover?
3. Three terms of academic year. These are natural breaking points according to "trimester" schedules, plus typical Mason educators use 2 half-terms per term. How many chapters or shorter books do you want to cover in a term?
4. Weekly schedule. Which subjects on which weekday? Typically, 1x/week subjects tend to be picture study, music study, nature study, and instruction in arts/crafts.
5. Daily schedule. Arrange subjects by alternating level of mental challenge for the child(ren). Try to complete all lessons in as little of the morning and/or early afternoon as possible, after which get children outside or down for rest time. Balance materials, methods/skills, and movements of child(ren). Consider time blocks rather than timetables, especially in years with babies and young children!

Habits

Habits, such as paying full attention to a task, are extremely beneficial to incorporate within schedules. The educator should be intentional about habit categories to focus on for each child (e.g., attention) for 6-8 weeks each, allowing 2 habits to be thoroughly reinforced and explicitly incorporated in each term. What measurable behaviors will that habit produce in a child? The educator needs to repeat the cues and motivating ideas, tapering off so that the child becomes more independent and then fully independent incorporating the habit. I find that a visual cue in my planner helps to remind me to remind Child about whatever habit we're working on, and consistently communicate my expectations.

Chores

Household chores are excellent to incorporate into daily life and education. It's easiest to do so by starting to offer a chore as "play" when a very young child shows interest in using objects for their intended purpose. As an example, Child is currently interested in and good at moving objects between places (unloading dishwasher by handing me each dish), and interested in but not good at sweeping. As the interest shifts, also shift to reinforce the chore completion as a habit with as much intrinsic motivation as possible--this will serve the child well in later life.

Homeschooling Variations

When I was being homeschooled, my parents utilized the support of other homeschooling parents whose skill sets were different. For example, another parent taught dissection due to more biology background, and another parent taught drawing and painting, while my mom taught English composition. In Charlotte Mason education, a few tips for using weekly co-ops (the typical setting for these activities) include (1) clarifying the purpose it plays in your family, (2) doing some co-op subjects at home occasionally to avoid false mental dichotomies in children's minds, and (3) matching up less- and more-experienced parents as mentor-mentee pairs.

Another aspect, at least for Christian homeschoolers, is incorporation of family devotions. Mason typically differentiates between family devotions and Bible lessons. I've referenced the historical development (and implications) of devotions elsewhere. In terms of operational definitions, devotions usually focus on application or regular meditation (repetition) on particular passages, such as the Daily Office lectionary. Lessons, on the other hand, typically focus on literacy (head knowledge and familiarity with the words and history of Scripture and its narrated events), which is critically important to correct interpretation of the biblical text.

Do My State’s Regulations Matter?

If you're homeschooling, yes, they do. Here's a rundown:

• HSLDA is a central organization for coordinating legal assistance to homeschooling parents who may be experiencing challenges. 
• I live in a low-regulation state, the most common category. As such, I am required to provide notice that I am home educating each year, and am required to administer an annual number of instructional hours across specific subjects, but am not required to fill out a form and/or track instructional hours until Child reaches a certain age.
• In my state, instructional hours are either provided or supervised/delegated by me. Herein lies a good amount of flexibility, depending on what Child needs.
• Other categories of states' regulations are
• High regulation (primarily East Coast, fewest states). Moderate regulation requirements plus potential for home visits, curricular approval, and/or parents' teaching qualifications.
• Moderate regulation (primarily East Coast and northern states). Notification, selected test scores, and evaluation of student progress is sent to the school district.
• No-notice, low regulation (diagonal band connecting Illinois and Texas). No notification of withdrawal from public school is required.

How Might This Year Look for Us?

As you might have guessed, nobody in my family is actually "in" school at this time. So, brainstorming this post and the year has been interesting!

The Teacher

I'm a life-long learner. But, I'm also a teacher at the graduate level. Due to the nature of the program in which I teach and the university calendar (in its last transitional year), I have been teaching year-round without more than a week of non-instructional break between semesters (which still included at least 1-2 meetings). Summer is my busiest semester, oddly, with 3 different start dates and 3 different end dates across 5 courses, so it is nice to be approaching a fall semester where all my courses have the same start dates and end dates.

As far as I know, I'm done with formal education myself. However, I continue to have an aggressive reading list for theological and professional development, and hopefully getting an occasional novel in there! Lest you worry too much about me having no breaks due to the teaching load, I do have planned staycations coming up in slow parts of each semester. My priorities this school year are:

• Developing a new course in collaboration with some other professionals
• Maximizing time outside, with Child if possible
• Enhancing my bibliography with a published paper or two
• Learning Greek along with Husband in a church study group he's leading

The Pre-Student

Child currently loves "reading," serenading us, trying familiar or varied foods, being read to, and spending time running/climbing around outside! There's not talking much yet but rather taking it all in and delighting in interests. These days, the favorite read-aloud board books have been

• Kloria Press: We All Believe in One True God; Before the Ending of the Day; Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadow; I am Jesus' Little Lamb
• Very Hungry Caterpillar (video) (we've duct-taped two parts of this book so far
• Blue Hat, Green Hat ("Oops")
• My Gifts From God: Animals; Colors; Sounds; sometimes Opposites
• Baby Loves Gravity (video); Coding (video)

My priorities for Child this school year are:

• Plenty of time outside (~350 hours in 2023 as of this post) (check out last week's post for more detail)
• Physical activity inside and outside (don't make Child sit unless necessary) (and potentially audiobooks for mama in the meantime)
• Socially appropriate interaction reinforcement (all ages, animals, other adults)
• Starting Sunday school in September! (North American Anglican description of the teaching on the fact of baptismal regeneration) (childlike faith entails trusting, incrementally learning/consciously believing the articles of the faith, etc.)

Our weekly routine won't change much:

• Music "instruction" - playing a familiar and a "new" piece each day
• Discipleship - praying the Daily Office with Child, whether very brief Midday Prayer or longer Morning or Evening Prayer
• Reading aloud - ideally from a combination of board/picture books and "grown-up" (family-friendly) books, whatever I happen to be reading, which is usually theological or philosophical these days.

The Maybe-Student

Husband is at heart a philosopher (having contributed to this post and this one). However, he's not yet academically trained as one. Since Child was born, he has been reading through his endless TBR with good results. At this rate, he might finish by age 80 if he doesn't purchase any more . . . If he does start graduate work in philosophy, theology, or eschatology this year or next year, that will slightly shift the amount and foci of reading. So, this year, he is focusing on Galatians commentaries, eschatology, and Greek/Hebrew. He's keeping up knowledge integration via reading at night, discussions with others and me by day.

Are you planning for a unique school year? What does it look like?

Brains are Bigger and Better Outdoors: Late-Summer Reflections

Something I learned about shortly before Child was born was the website 1000 Hours Outside (which has an interesting weekly podcast as well). Having been raised with plentiful outdoor time myself, I latched on to this idea as something I'd like to continue to the next generation. While I'm well aware that Ginny Yurich of the website has done extensive work interviewing experts in related fields and reading books--including the podcast with Victoria Dunckley that I'll reflect on below--I wanted to take my typical slant on the topic by incorporating more exclusively related scholarly literature.

How has My Outdoor Time Been?

This calendar year, I've tried to be consistent in getting outdoors every single day. With the exception of 2 or 3 days during particularly dangerous winter weather conditions, I have met that goal so far. I knew I wouldn't be able to get to 1000 hours because of my job and Child's need for constant supervision at this age, so I set a target of 500 hours by the end of the year. As of July 28, we hit 300 hours so are on track to meet this goal!

Consistency has been challenging at times for me, but I feel healthier than I did at this point last year. My goal since being pregnant with Child has been to walk every day, though sometimes that has been only indoors. Now that we've established a walking habit, Child asks to go outside frequently when awake, and clocks probably 10,000-15,000 steps per day (indoors and outdoors). Both our muscles are strong, and we've gotten better at not showing interest in screens or battery-powered items for the most part.

Ginny's Recent Podcast with Dr. Dunckley

I enjoyed listening to the podcast (#173 on the 1000 Hours Outside website). Dr. Dunckley is an integrative psychiatrist; her bibliography include Reset Your Child's Brain and four books or book chapters (check out here). In her clinical work, she focuses on children with cognitive or attention disorders as well as those who have been abused or neglected. The gist of the referenced book is that eliminating screen time for up to 4 weeks can significantly reduce symptoms of tics and hyperarousal (e.g., the hyperactivity and attention difficulties common in ADHD).

A screen-time reduction and outdoor-time increase typically go together, but in this section I'm focusing mainly on what she said about screen time. Any kind of screen time ("active" or interactive, or passive such as watching a movie) can be deleterious, although she noted that active screen time is a more potent stimulant than passive screen time, so it depletes a child's mental energy more quickly. As a result, with too much screen time, a child will report non-screen activities as boring (because they don't give nearly as much of a dopamine boost) and display impaired executive function and concentration in non-screen-related tasks.

Another aspect of screen time is its effect on other physiological processes like circadian rhythm (body clock) and vision. Dr. Dunckley found that one's body clock is altered by screen time throughout the day, not just in early/late evening. When one is reading a physical printed page, the eyes must repeatedly switch between near and far distances (accommodation), and the mind understands the text better than if a screen is used. The less screen reading one does, the less macular degeneration typically occurs. Finally, screen-based light at night is linked to depression and suicidality in children.

Based on these things, there are several recommendations for children and screens:

• Avoid interactive screen devices until at least age 12
• Focus on reading and math over technology fluency (the former unlock more opportunities throughout life)
• Replace screen time with unstructured or self-structured play and practice of social skills, because real life is harder to deal with than screens
• When possible, go for internal motivation and real-life rewards rather than rewarding a child or adolescent with screen time

What Else do we Find in the Literature?

Given my professional training, I wanted to corroborate what I could of the podcast's claims, since (mis)interpretation of studies can vary widely in even the specifically trained sectors of scientists. First, I recalled some Biblical texts related to studying (and presumably spending time in) the outdoor world. Psalm 8, Psalm 111:2, and Ecclesiastes 12:12 came to mind.

Then, I went to my go-to database that has potentially the widest variety of scientific literature, PubMed (through the National Library of Medicine). If you'd like an overview of the domains of cognition--the different ways in which one can think and process information--check out this article. If you're planning on moving, check out this study linking the quantity and quality of urban green space to human health.

I didn't find many studies relating outdoor time to cognitive function, but things that can improve cognitive function (physical activity!) do relate to outdoor time. Based on 16 free full-text review articles from 2014-2023, here are some key findings:

• Myopia (nearsightedness), a risk factor for macular degeneration and blindness is preventable by outdoor time. However, if someone is already myopic (like me...), outdoor time doesn't prevent its progression.
• Physical fitness, particularly cardiorespiratory (aerobic), is generally improved with outdoor time, although it's more mentally and physically difficult to exercise intensely if it's quite hot.
• Early childhood education settings like daycares and schools aren't required across the board to facilitate lots of outdoor physical activity in the children who attend, but those settings that do incorporate outdoor time see better physical and mental status in the children.
• Things that decrease the likelihood of enough outdoor time for children and adults include safetyism, COVID restrictions (initially, at least), and focus on sun protection activities.

How Realistic is an Outdoor, Screen-Limited Life?

This question varies widely among those who publicly prioritize outdoor time and/or limiting screens. Some families have chosen to stay with non-smart phones and start home-based businesses so that they can prioritize both simultaneously. Given my training and anticipated job(s) for the foreseeable future (academia with some in-person teaching), Child's need for supervision at this time, and availability of family, I think that 500 or so hours outside per year for us is realistic. I doubt Child will get to 1000 hours per year until I can truly supervise remotely from indoors.

However, screen time limitation for Child is definitely realistic. Husband and I intend to homeschool, which I know from experience can be done in a screen-limited way. I would love to reduce my own screen time, but my minimum is 4-6 hours per day if I'm being efficient, at least during the school year. Husband's job requires 8-10 hours per day on screens, but we're doing what we can.

How about you? Are you where you would like to be?