My inspiration

Hi! Welcome to the blog portion of Blue Ridge Outdoor School. I get told often that people love the "idea" of an outdoor education program and that they've never heard of it. Forest School has been around since 1950 in Scandanavia and it was when I was abroad in Warsaw, is when I saw it in action. Warsaw had a forest school (and Warsaw is a major city!) that was located in a forest in the city. A lot of students at the school I worked at attended, and our school's preschool program was making adjustments to have a more "play-based" learning model and valued getting the children outside in all weather conditions (more than once a day too!)

While I taught in Warsaw, Poland at the American School of Warsaw (1st and 4th grade), our school decided to become an "OPAL certified school", a UK outdoor program,"Outdoor Play and Learning"(OPAL). We (the teachers, assistants, and administration) went through a three year training of learning how to transform our school's outdoor space to a safe and inviting space for every child. Something that stuck with me during that training was, "as teachers we are expected to have every minute of instruction accounted for through out our school day, but for some reason, recess or playtime is often a free for all, forgotten and not thought about what it should look for the kid that doesn't play soccer or on the jungle gym. So our playground went from an open green space with a soccer field, to 12 different play stations! It was an incredible transformation with very simple materials that parents and teachers donated. (I could go on and on about my four years at ASW but for now I will pause...)

We also educated parents on proper clothing requirements for school, and the expectation of going outside in all weather (wet, cold, dark, etc). It was essential for teachers and students to have the right clothing. As teachers, we planned for the extra 10-20 minutes it took to transition from outside to inside, but our school valued the importance of play outside and teachers were never penalized for the time it took away from "instruction" for this process. (At the public schools I worked at in the states prior to and after our 6 years abroad, I wasn't allowed to take kids outside or adjust the schedule for the transition to get outside during the wet or cold days).

When my husband and I decided to return to the states with our then two daughters ages 1 and 2, I knew I wanted them to experience an environment that was focused on outdoor play and learning. I researched and visited other Forest School's in our state and took a leap of faith to start my own program. I joined a semester long Gauntlet competition Business class to learn how to run a small business and met with community leaders to further educate myself on the childcare world.