Exploring Free Open Air Life with Forest School
Ever since I was introduced to the idea of forest school last spring, I was intrigued by the concept. A fellow homeschooling mom, whom I met at a local nature center told me about a program available here on Long Island. And while I would love to enroll my girls in the program, it’s just not financially friendly at the moment.
So, I’ve been thinking about ways to incorporate forest school activities into our homeschooling schedule. And, that’s when I came across this book that I borrowed from our local library.
Within its pages I discovered the concept of Free Open Air Life – encouraging a passion for the outdoors through adventures in any weather. According to Play the Forest School Way, “…Forest School today with its ethos of therapeutic educational learning (that) aims to maximize social, emotional and developmental potential by allowing children to manage risk, have more independence in guiding their own learning, achieve goals, be active, play, and learn through direct experience within nature.”
FOREST SCHOOL AND HOMESCHOOLING
This ethos fits in perfectly with our current Waldorf inspired homeschool curriculum. And, aligns with a thought that has been tugging at my heart strings for quite some time. The desire to spend more time within nature. Together with living within the rhythm of the seasons.
I must confess, in addition to nurturing a love of nature within my childrens’ hearts, I also aim to make them less digitally reliant. For instance, when I am preoccupied with a task around the house, and the girls are looking for something to do. They often request “tablet time”. And, while redirecting with other activities works at times. Their tablets are often their first choice.
Correspondingly, it’s no secret that the overuse of technology has its downsides. A few that come to mind are, lower attention span, sedentary life, degradation of mental health. Whereas, the healing powers of nature are hard to dispute.
Ultimately, the forest school activities shared within the pages of this book will send a breath of fresh air into our nature walks. And, foster a new connection with nature for our little nature explorers.
So, here’s to prioritizing outdoor living, healing our hearts, feeding our souls and becoming one with nature.
