Lydia Gordon

Hello, my name is Lydia Gordon, and I was one of the first students to attend Silverwood School all six years.  I was attending Clear Creek Montessori, at that time an extension of the Farm Montessori Preschool, when a few of the teachers branched off and started Silverwood School on Dickey Road in 1988.

I remember that we were all asked to come up with ideas for a school name, and Silverwood was born!    I stayed at Silverwood through 6th grade (1992), when I was kicked out into the cruel world of Central Kitsap Junior High.  Actually it wasn't that bad, just a shock and a bit disappointing.  I found that, although I was in the gifted programs, I seemed to be ahead of most of the subject matter that was offered at the public school.  It was quite easy to sink into academic lethargy when there were too many students for a teacher to handle.  After high school, I went on to Evergreen State College to study biological sciences.   

The creative learning process at Silverwood allowed me to realize my potential.  I loved the choices of projects that were offered, and the field trips were always fun and fact-filled.  Everything is a giant experiment when one allows oneself to look outside the box.   Don't get me wrong, not everything works out, but it is exciting to see what something can lead to.  Silverwood also encouraged me to take studies into my own hands; one can, and should, always expand the mind.

Everyone in my family has been involved with Silverwood at one time or another.  Both my sisters went, and my mother, Helen Kirkham, still works at Silverwood as the art teacher, eliciting many little artistic talents.  Even my father started up some chess tournaments at the school for a few years.  I couldn't say what my best memories are, but I'm glad that OPI is still a yearly field trip.  The hikes through the Olympic National Rainforest and campfire tales will always stay with me.  There were so many different activities that I was kept entertained, and learning snuck up on me.  One year we took a train to Colorado for the end-of-the-year field trip, and everybody played a murder mystery game.  Each of us was given a character, along with  truths and lies.  I don't remember who the murderer was or who wrote the story, just that I was the doctor and the train ride passed by quickly, as we all scrambled about trying to figure out “whodunit.”  There always seemed to be fun projects that encouraged thinking.

Another great memory that I take away from that time was one of my favorite teachers, Patty Sleasman, who was also one of Silverwood's founders.  Her love and interest in the natural sciences sparked my current passion for the workings of the natural world.  I still pull out all my science textbooks that I have collected over the years to look something up whenever an intriguing question arises.  The science projects were always my favorite part of the curriculum.  That's not quite true!  My other favorite was the multitude of books that I read and that were read to us during that time.  Reading is still my favorite hobby.  I want to thank Patty for all the care she put into her teaching: it made a huge difference!

Currently, I am starting a sustainable agricultural/homestead experiment with my significant other, Russ.  We bought almost 20 acres in southern Oregon from family members, and are currently building it up.  Surrounding this property are private forestland and thousands of acres of BLM forest (Bureau of Land management, which actually means future trees to sell to the highest bidding timber company).  We also have some neighbors down the road that have all been supportive.  I have over 100 fruit trees, nut trees and berry bushes that were all hand-planted and watered.  

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