My Summer with Loudoun Schools: Friday Trip of Adventure: Tuscarora HS and Balch Library

I take Friday's off at work (I love three day weekends). I had read an article about the completion of an outdoor classroom at Tuscarora, so I decided to check it out.

From far away, it seemed pretty small. When I finally got to it, it was bigger, but I still felt it was small. I don't think I knew what to expect.

Other than the teacher's rock, there were 15 rocks. If two students were on each rock, there would be enough for a 30 student-sized classroom. There were some rocks where you could negotiate getting two people on them, then there was one or two where it was only good for one person. But then I thought there is space on the patio section, so it should work out.

Standing out in the hot summer sun, it seems like an uncomfortable place to be. But it should be alright in the spring and fall. It is supposed to fit with the environment, and I think they accomplished that. It sits very nicely in the hill it was placed in.

Overall, it was a nice place. I never had an outdoor class when I was in high school (The Latin class at County had an outdoor classroom/garden; I took French). This isn't the first outdoor classroom created in Loudoun (I can't think of any off the top of my head), so I guess they are effective means for teaching.

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After Tuscarora, I went back into Leesburg to the Balch Library to look through microfilm (which is really fun). I was going through the Loudoun Times-Mirror in 1957, looking to see if anything was written on the closing of the last one-room schoolhouse. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find articles on the Loudoun County HS Murals I posted on two weeks ago! And here they are: