Reserve a beach wheelchair for free! Beach wheelchairs are available for use at any of eight state beaches in Santa Cruz County, including Natural Bridges, Seabright, Twin Lakes, New Brighton, Seacliff, Manresa, Sunset and Palm. Beach wheelchairs can be reserved for day-use. Call 831-335-8487 Monday to Thursday (excluding holidays), between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Learn more > > >

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Welcome! Santa Cruz Micro School, private homeschooling, is opening its doors for the 2021-22 school year. Learn more > > >

"If silence is ever golden, it must be beside the graves of fifteen-thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung." -James Garfield, May 30, 1888

I hope you have plans to relax and enjoy some time off. Let's take time to remember with gratitude those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Share some history with the children > > >

Have a peaceful weekend with your families, Parmalee

It’s not news that administrators in public education are generally not fans of alternative education. I live in possibly the most alternative-friendly county in the country… and I could tell you a few stories.

But the tiny, vital community comprised of online public homeschool charters and alternative schools seems to attract more than the usual share of fear, mistrust, and derision from administrators and legislators.

California’s AB 1316 is just the latest bomb being lobbed at a tiny segment of education that our enormous, well-funded public school army has decided to obliterate. Really? Don’t you have something better to do, like make sure that all schools have adequate janitorial staff?

Late 2019 saw the comically timed AB 1505/7 bills that restricted charter schools, especially ones that provided distance education, from expanding. Get the joke?

The pandemic hit…and what sort of services did everyone need? The punchline! Everyone needed the expertise of these schools that had successfully been providing distance learning for years to get them through shelter-in-place.

(Did the districts go to these repositories of knowledge for advice in how to implement distance learning? Why no, that would be admitting that these charters were providing a useful service. Most public schools chose to reinvent the steering wheel that homeschool educators have had a grasp on for years).

Campus Connection's summer camps are open!

Little Garden Patch Farm Summer Camp is open!

Junebug's Gym has space.

Four Points Youth Camp welcomes you.

"Memories of summer camp last a lifetime and sustain us during the rough times. When our local camps couldn't open in 2020, they hunkered down and fought to stay afloat. Now they are open, ready to bring joy into children's lives. Let's keep them alive!"

All About Theatre has spaces available...

Musical Me doesn’t do camps, but come sing and dance with us, Lizz

Camp Gateway on their beautiful, large new campus,

Santa Cruz Soccer Camp;

CYT (Christian Youth Theater)

The Art Factory has space in online classes. Please check our website this Friday for *new* in person additions to our schedule.

Fieldguides Outdoor Education offers personalized camping, backpacking and family camps.

My parents founded Fieldguides Outdoor Education in 1983 with a vision of teaching future generations the importance of the world around them. They created intimate, family-style camping programs for schools and led adventurous and inspiring backpacking trips for individuals of all ages. I was fortunate enough to grow up attending the programs and have amazing outdoor educators inspire and teach me from a young age. The best part was not only were they my teachers, they were my friends. They cared as much about me as a person as they did about what I learned.

That care is what sticks with me today and remains central to all Fieldguides programs. I have spent the last 15 years working as an outdoor educator and backpacking guide and one aspect that brings me great joy is seeing the caring communities it creates. I now manage Fieldguides with two of my oldest friends, many of our staff are former campers, and our board of directors has several employees from when I was a kid. Being a part of multiple generations all working together to help others, enjoy, learn about, and care for the outdoors is a life changing experience, one that I am so pleased to share with others.

Did you miss our previous Camp Leader Stories? Go here > > >