Couldn’t be more exited – by the time this posts, we should be back on our favorite beach, enjoying a “backwards dinner” of ice cream first, polserhorn second (isn’t summer for that kind of thing?). We will be taking in the late hours of light on our most favorite Bellevue Beach. The Danish summer will be ours again soon, if only for a little while.
Of course, we have visits to our beloved forest school planned, and summer camps on the ocean, to keep learning in the outdoor way. Just because the kids get older doesn’t mean they stop learning outdoors, we just have to work a little harder to find the opportunities. In fact, the adventures just get bigger and we’re ready for them. See you soon, Denmark!
PS – This photo was taken one of the last evenings we had on the beach before moving to the US. This particular spot is the last one we see when we go, and the first place we come back to when we return – can’t wait!
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.
How to visit a Danish forest school or forest kindergarten has long-been the top question that I receive here on the blog. Even almost two years after leaving Copenhagen, I get this question probably about once a week, especially right before summer when lots of students and teachers are making their summer plans. Unfortunately, it’s also the question I probably am least qualified to answer, but I’ve compiled all of the very little advice that I know into a single place, in the hopes of making it a bit easier.
The shorter version of this story is that candidly, it’s hard to visit a Danish outdoor forest school or forest kindergarten. This should come as no surprise but most kindergartens are in the business of taking care of their kindergarteners. As you can imagine, heading out in to the great outdoors with a gaggle of children every day requires time, attention, planning and devotion from these teachers, and often times there is little bandwidth left over for dealing with ad-hoc requests for visits from outsiders. Being in the outdoors also means that you are simply not often on your phone, or email, and you reserve those interactions of the most urgent needs, and unlike many traditional schools, a forest school doesn’t have an “admin” office where there is someone full-time that responds to calls, mail and requests.
From the teacher’s perspective, I can understand how requests to have visitors is difficult. With the growing popularity of outdoor schools around the world and increased media interest, given the amount of requests I get, I can only imagine what comes to the schools themselves. Often times, when visitors come, they can frequently forget that the teachers’ attention, again, needs to be fully on all the children – when there are only two eye balls per person, but twenty kids and hundreds of acres, you can see how that math can be tough. Visitors often want to ask questions, and talk with adults, and need explanations, and some teachers feel that they have a hard time taking proper care of a visitor and of their children at the same time.
From a parent’s perspective, it can be a little nerve-wracking too. After all, we are always happy to share about the model and choices, but many parents (just like the parents at our school) can be sensitive to have their kids under observation by strangers all the time. There can be a tendency for visitors to point out and draw attention to things that are a normal part of their every day, and like all parents, we want our kids to be as comfortable as possible in their own environment. I know at our school in Denmark, at a certain point for us as parents, there was a bit of a saturation point, even though we were all eager to share what we could if people were truly curious.
That being said, most of the teachers (or pedagogues if we’re being technical) in Danish forest schools are keen to share their way of education, just not at the expense of time away from the children that are the core of their work. I know in our local schools they accommodated visitors when they could, and we had several groups in for observation from Japan and Korea, and other global locations. I haven’t found any magical formula for getting into a school for a visit. But I can offer the following tips based on my own observations:
Consider a Study Tour
One of the best ways to get in on a Danish forest school is candidly to have someone organize it for you. I posted a little while ago about the Nome Study Tours, run by the same couple who did the NaturePlay movie. They have contacts in all the right places to make it work, plus are passionate about the subject – so if you’re looking for organization + guide + plus meeting a great couple who’s happy to talk about how less traditional schooling has worked for their family, try these out. The tours themselves are organized for July this year but if you have other dates in mind, reach out, who knows what the future will hold if there is demand? Inside Out Nature, run by Jane Williams-Siegfredsen organizes even more trainings and observations (they have one coming up in October!) in Denmark in very small groups so that’s it’s non-obtrusive and is their website also a great resource (also great if you want to learn to teach in this style).
Look for school exchanges
Many people that write in are students learning to be teachers – in this case, the best bet is to see if your school or university has a partnership program somewhere in Denmark with other universities that teach teaching. Ask around through the school network and reach out to university partners to see if they can place you in a program that Danish student teachers would use.
Write Kommunes
In the post that addresses how to enroll in a forest school in Denmark, I put the contact details for a few of the popular Kommunes in the Copenhagen area which would be a good first point of contact. They likely will have a little more bandwidth to answer, and also have a sense for which schools might have some availability. Some schools prefer groups, and some prefer individuals, but most schools at this point are drowning a bit in requests, to the point where it’s overwhelming to deal with at all. Unfortunately, I don’t have any shortcuts for which schools are the best or most receptive but the Kommune might. When you do write, be clear about your case, reassure that you are just there to observe and not interfere, translate into Danish if you can (even putting the english version and the google translate version might help – I found that many in the forest schools sphere are super shy about their English even though it’s great). I think it’s reasonable to expect they might not respond at all, but if they say yes, come prepared to have a great day!
Considering observing in the United States
Don’t forget there is a growing network of awesome forest-inspired schools at home. Erin Kenny’s programs at Cedarsong is a great place to start (if you don’t know her, look her up – I had the honor to get to know her through my work at the American Forest Kindergarten Association and all the individuals on that board were amazing under Erin’s leadership). She runs workshops and then also teacher trainings and they are influenced by Scandi, German and Australian models.
If any readers have additional ideas about how to visit and observe forest kindergartens, please add them to the list, I know others would love to hear more!
We keep planning for summer over here and it keeps pouring rain! I swear it’s the deluge here in Washington this year, to the point where I’m getting it confused with the high aqua content in Denmark. Nonetheless we’re planning summer the best we can between school, camps, and my own work – and of course, the highlight of our summer will be the return to Copenhagen for almost 4 glorious weeks (kudos to companies who let you work remotely!). More to come soon and in the meantime, whether you’re getting rain or not, a happy summer to all!
