The land is my school: Children, history, and the environment in the Canadian province of British Columbia

Abstract

This article explores archival letters written by children and their parents to the Elementary Correspondence School in the Canadian province of British Columbia in the early 20th century. Parents, anxious for their children to be formally educated, expressed concern about their remote location in rugged parts of the province. Children focused their letter writing on their informal learning with, and on, the land. This history invites adults to recognize the varieties of ways that children, on their own terms, connect with the natural environment.