When I first started learning about forest schools, there was no question that all searches, books and educators in the know pointed to Cedarsong Nature School. After all, it was the subject of the well-known “Nightline” special in 2011, and launched the notion of schooling without walls.
Photo Credit @ Cedarsong Nature School
The founder, Erin Kenny, is an amazing woman and educator, and I loved working with her vision and inspirations while on the American Forest Kindergarten Association board. Erin has been battling cancer on and off, leading her to make the call to close Cedarsong after this final year.
Cedarsong is a wonderfully open community that allows observers and runs teacher trainings as well as school accreditations. Unlike Denmark, the US doesn’t have set standards for what protocol and safety in an outdoor learning environment need to be. On one hand, that opens up freedom for small, independent schools to exist, on the other, it also means that the door is equally open for situations to occur that were never intended. Erin has worked to try to help fill that void but inspiring others to the principles of outdoor learning while being very pragmatic about safety and other considerations in an outdoor environment. If you have ever wanted to learn more about this learning style either as an educator or parent, now is the time to to sign yourself up.
The Cedarsong Way sharpens the mind and softens the heart.
Erin has always been in my list of powerful women role models who have explicitly chosen to forge a new path based on what good things could be, rather than accepting what is. We wish her the very best for her health and recovery, and we know that the Cedarsong way will continue to touch so many with inspiration.