Photograph Courtesy of family+footprints.
You've probably heard endlessly about the benefits children get by being outdoors. Physical, social, emotional and educational benefits abound. For those of you who also opt for traditional schooling - where kids spend most of their days indoors - these two things can feel at odds with one another. Kids sit in indoor classrooms about eight hours a day, give or take. Aside from recess, time spent outdoors is reserved for awake time, not otherwise in school.
But what if schools started to incorporate more time outdoors - a partnering of the two concepts?
That's just what a public school teacher explored in Vermont. That elementary school created Forest Mondays, where students spend an entire day, once a week, learning outdoors. No matter the weather, the students are engaged in learning from and within nature. Her approach, co-created with the school's principal, offered both formal and informal lessons in their outdoor classroom. Together they embraced nature, but not just because it was there, but because of all it had to offer. "It is sort of the deepest and widest environment for learning that we have," she said.
She continued, "Kids are so resourceful out here....In the classroom, we chunk everything into small pieces. We teach them discrete skills and facts and they put it together later. That's a good way to learn, but it's not the way the world works....I like giving them the opportunity to be in a really complex place where they need to think about how to build a dam with a peer and at the same time, think about staying dry and staying warm."
Her students got much out of the experience. Test scores went up. Children exercised grit. They were more physically active, happily running around. They began to understand, "there is more to life than acing academics." Forest Mondays stuck.
But again, this is a public school, not a forest school. A public school spending a day each week outdoors. It begs the question - could your school be a future host of Forest Mondays or forest mornings or forest any amount of time? The school in Vermont started doing this when a teacher was inspired by all the benefits nature offered to her students. It took one woman's inspiration and risk in trying to implement this type of learning to change and deepen the classroom environment for her children.
What could happen if parents gathered together to ask the same thing of their local school district? What if instead of dwindling recess time, parents and teachers rallied for more or for different opportunities around outdoor learning? The takeaways seem as endless and complex as the benefits of time spent outdoors. Envision what the students experienced in Vermont, but anywhere you live with your own children and their fellow classmates as the ones to gain.
But no doubt, that is a hefty challenge to undertake. Noble, but hefty. We applaud parents and educators who rise to the occasion to make this possible, and want to be a resource for you, if you start to formulate questions and requests and new ideas. You can always reach us here to jumpstart your brainstorm.
We also understand change takes time and you may want to make the most of the moments you have right in front of you now. If you've missed our post on ways to keep that summer feeling alive, that's a good place to get the ball rolling for how your own family can enjoy the outdoors more readily all year round. Also here at Forest School For All, we help families create outdoor play groups, for any age, in any location and at anytime. So if you want to gather with families after school or on weekends and explore a natural setting nearby, we can help you get that off the ground. Here's where you can find more information.
Being outdoors and being in school don't have to be at odds with one another. Your children can get benefits from both in the same setting or in the same week. How it works best is up to your family. But here's to us all viewing the outdoors as a great place to be and a great place to learn. Here's to the outdoors as the classroom that keeps on giving.