Is it safe to visit Rising Hill Learning in Altadena?
The fire has raised concerns for everyone about health and safety, particularly in regard to air quality. Currently, Rising Hill Learning is located in the isolated neighborhood of the Meadows, in the foothills of northwest Altadena. To get here you have to drive through a safe and well-maintained canyon. No houses in this neighborhood were burned, nor was the Angeles National Forest in the mountains above it. In this neighborhood the prevailing wind, when it blows, comes from the mountains, from the north. Being downwind from unburned forest and among unburned structures means better air. Heavy particulates are especially unlikely to travel up to this neighborhood.
The Meadows has better air quality than the rest of Altadena and Pasadena not only now, but always, being away from heavily trafficked streets and freeways. To further allay concerns about air quality, we have installed an air quality meter. On the rare days when the wind comes from the south and the more populated (and burned) areas, we will be able to assess whether it is healthy for our own family to go outside and for guests to visit. We will inform you as appropriate during those rare times. In addition to air quality, we have had the interior of our home professionally cleaned since the fire and have moved in.
We feel lucky to be intact and safe being here. You are welcome to come learn at Rising Hill!
Rising Together in Altadena
On January 7th, with hurricane level winds screaming down the mountains into Altadena, many foothill residents started packing. Folks with dependent animals, like Mia and Joey from @ExperienceFable spent tense hours loading their menagerie, including goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, rabbits and Guinea pigs, then shuttling them to angels around Los Angeles County who agreed to take evacuating animals. Amazingly, Mia and Joey escaped with every single furry and feathered family member, plus their three human children. But like thousands of other Altadenans, they lost everything on their property, their family home, as well as all their animal housing which included a spacious new corral hand-built by Joey.
As long-time friends, Jon and I have arranged with @ExperienceFable to be their animals’ interim home. We have repaired our aged animal runs and will build a few more structures so each animal has a safe, solid and appropriate home until Mia and Joey can rebuild. And after the business hiatus forced by fire, @ExperienceFable is again booking beautiful animal encounters for children and adults alike.
If you’re interested in meeting Fable’s animals and to book an event, please check out @ExperienceFable. You can also join Rising Hill’s Junior Farmers classes here.
For Altadena children, there is hope up the hill
Routine, Regulation, Rebuilding at Rising Hill Learning
As we move forward from the tragedy of the Eaton Fire, the scope of its effect is enormous. Whether our homes have been touched by fire or not, all children in our community have been affected. The routines that school provides have disappeared. Confusion and big feelings—whether grief, anger, frustration, or exhaustion—fill homes as parents and children alike struggle with the situation. It sometimes feels like there are both no options and yet too many choices; no-one is certain what rebuilding will look like, for individual families or for our communities.
In the next few weeks Rising Hill Learning will provide a resource within the scrambled school situation. With a focus on routine and regulation, programming will provide gardening, animal encounters, art, crafts, baking, and story-time, as well as other activities that create a sense of calm, control and community in the storm.
Beginning February 24th
Open weekdays in February and March, 9:00a-2:00p
Open to children aged 5-9 years
Suggested daily donation of $75
Space is limited. Enroll here
Dear Beloved Altadena,
Our physical community is destroyed, and neighbors are dispersed like the leaves winds blew the night the fire began. In between the disbelief and tears, I have felt deep gratitude that my house is still standing, and my immediate neighborhood remains. I know that the majority of Altadena is not so lucky, and I feel grief and guilt about that. I am in awe of the army of first responders and officials who are doing their best to protect us and am thankful to be blessed with kind and generous friends who took in our pets and family.
In the days before the fire started, I was close to opening my microschool. Mircroschools are an emerging model of education that combines the feel of a modern-day one room schoolhouse with the a la carte structure of college. Although I was still in negotiation for the location, things were shaping up. My dream is to offer customized learning for individual students in a warm and affirming environment.
Now, with so many families scrambling to find a safe school environment for their children I feel the urgency to open, ready or not. Part of healing in our community will be to support each other, and I want the children of Altadena to know that they will be ok, that they will be cared for, and that life and joy will come back to their hometown. In the context of loss and trauma, I want to provide a local, homey, and loving place for young children to feel seen, be embraced and emotionally supported.
I have spent my life in education, most recently as a kindergarten teacher for 11 years at a local school. There is more about me and my vision on the Staff tab.
Reach out to me if you are interested in enrolling your child/ren. I would like to prioritize children who were enrolled in Altadena schools that were destroyed and hope to take up to ten students between the ages of 5 and 9, depending on their needs and my space. As soon as I have access to my home, I will have an open house for you to see the schoolhouse, meet me and have some coffee with neighbors. On the “What we do” tab you will see a tab for class schedule and fees, but in the immediate I will be providing childcare, including reading, arts and crafts, play time and other social-emotional and academic support (as appropriate per individual family’s wishes).
Sincerely,
Lynette Wiebe, Rising Hill Learning