Forest School
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Anonymous
Just a little review on forest school for those considering 
My child just completed a year of Forest school preschool; he just turned 4. This was not originally planned but due to covid, we felt it was the safest option. Our particular program was NOT full-time but there were two sessions (M,W or T/TH) and we picked both to get as much time as possible. We did have to hire other sitters to help with transportation, after-school care and friday care and that was a pain. The negative: They pooped in holes mostly and that was REALLY difficult for my child who potty-trained the week forest school began! We thought initially it was going well but after 6 weeks, accidents began happening and we much later learned that he had been holding his poop so the poor buddy is on some miralax now to help....that and juggling all the childcare pieces were the HARDEST parts. It was sometimes challenging with all the accidents, making sure he had enough clothes. It had to be specific types of clothing too which added up as we had to get lots of back-ups. Now with the positive.....my child grew in confidence and was JOYFUL. I mean...his previous daycare pic looked like a mug shot compared to the 300+ ADORABLE photos that show just pure childhood JOY. Seeing that profound level of happiness, honestly brought tears to my eyes as I reviewed old pictures. He developed friendships, loved his kind and patient teachers, and got to explore so many beautiful natural areas. I got to visit their last week and just see how they are were SO SO curious, brave, and content. It was just really impressive to see. My child also has had a speech delay and worked with early intervention until he aged out and now has private therapy. I noticed a drastic increase in his speech skills. In his last daycare: he had some challenges including some hitting, some biting, and just saying "no" which is all of course, totally developmentally appropriate. This year, he essentially had NO behavioral concerns....in fact he was little forest school rockstar and used every sense to immerse himself in his environment and explore. It was quite the change!! He was previously found eligible for a speech impairment and was just re-evaluated and found ineligible because of the significant progress he's made. I honestly feel that a lot is due to his emotional and physical needs being met at forest school (in conjunction with weekly speech therapy dec-may). All this to say, while the cost was intense and there were certainly challenges, I have no regrets. If you have a local program, I'd definitely recommend exploring it to see if it's right for your child. |
Anonymous
| Wow. So many questions. They pooped in a hole in the ground outside? In front of other children? Every child used the same hole? Did they not have access to private bathroom facilities at any point? This sounds absolutely crazy. |
Anonymous
| This is one of those things that I love in theory but would hate in practice, sounds like a childcare nightmare. Would rather send my kid to regular full-day daycare and go on regular hiking/camping trips. |
Anonymous
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Outside all day seems awesome but why wouldn't they have restroom facilities? Part of preschool is potty training (or reinforcing potty training) and it seems counterproductive to teach them to do something like poop on/in the ground instead of the life skills they need.
Also it seems like they only really thought about boys when coming up with this plan because how do little girls squat to pee in a hole without making a mess of themselves? |
Anonymous
| Paying a lot of money to have my child poop in a hole and get constipated? I think I’ll stick with daycare. |
Anonymous
| All you PP’s focused on pooping and your own convenience. I would jump at the chance to have my DC’s days filled with so much joy and freedom. |
Anonymous
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In my experience, preschools don’t get much bathroom privacy anyway.
OP, it sounds awesome. My child’s preschool had some days completely in the woods like this, but most days inside/playground. |
Anonymous
| Did you find one of these in the DMV area? If so, please provide links/reviews of a specific school. |
Anonymous
No one posted about convenience? But OP brought up the poop and now her kid has a medical issue because of it. Yeah, that's worth focusing on. My DC's days are filled with joy and freedom, and indoor plumbing too! |
Anonymous
| I love the idea of forest school. I do not love the idea of my DD only having access to a hole in the ground to relieve herself. Surely there are other options. |
Anonymous
Me too! They should upgrade to a portable toilet or two but thats neither here nor there. I looked into it but we need daily care not partial days and PT. Even 9-2/3 or 8-2 we would be able to swing. |
Anonymous
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Name names, OP! Which forrest school is this?
My kid is at the Audubon Nature Preschool, 100% outdoors and they have toilets. No pooping in holes, which sounds vile. |
Anonymous
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OP here- so I don't live in Northern VA anymore so we are elsewhere in VA but they went out to different spots weekly where sometimes there is no toilet available. They would go off a little distance away to use the bathroom. Having spoken with other parents, it seems like my child is the one that had the biggest issue with it. He struggled to potty train but is making good progress now. It's extremely common in preschool children who get nervous pooping, so it's possible it would have happened in another setting as well. I honestly didn't see any other children bothered by it. Like I said, mine is a little immature. I think if we had prepared him months in advance like most parents, perhaps it wouldn't have been an issue. As it was, we had 1 week in between pulling him from his old daycare, potty-training (mostly over a weekend) and then sending him Tuesday for school.....it was wild!! We decided last minute to pursue this as his old daycare refused to take ANY covid precautions that would practically mitigate spread and he has asthma. We lost his Grandma suddenly, came into some money and decided that it was necessary to spend extra money to keep him safe this year so it all happened in a whirlwind situation.
They got hike in the forest in the winter, enjoy a warm fire and hear stories, create elaborate imaginative scenes in nature, play in meadows with the blue ridge mountains behind them, make forts in the fall leaves, jump and explore beautiful mountain creeks, lakes, and learn how to catch newts, butterfly's and be confident and excited to learn about them. They learned about regulating their emotions in nature (btw, lots of studies show the SEL benefits of repeated exposure to nature play), climb areas that maybe they would have nervous about previously but learned to trust their own skills and there was this sense of calm when they played. There were excited squeals and talking about things but they were all so intent about their "work" and honestly, it was really cool to see. TBH, I would never have pursued this due to the scheduling challenges but if thats not a major conflict, I'd recommend something like this. |
Anonymous
Are they licensed? I find it hard to believe the local licensing agency would allow there to be no running water and toilet facilities. |
Anonymous
I'm happy to share the name but it's in the Shenandoah Valley, northern VA so my child's program probably wouldn't work for anyone on here. I will say it is EXTREMELY popular in my area and spots fill up quickly. We just lucked out with covid and the right timing to get in. We had to let them know if early February if he was returning for 2022-2023....he's not sadly because while it was a WONDERFUL opportunity, the financial impact of having to pay for extra childcare was too much for us. Between this program, his sitters, and summer care, we will have spent $15,000 on childcare this year for him....daycare is roughly $7,500 annually. He's headed to a NAEYC-accredited preschool for prek. I think a lot of families did 1-2 semesters for their children. One parent I spoke with did 2 days a week forest school and 2 days a week a traditional part-time prek program. Another family chose to have their child attend for 2 years and he's now going to start kindergarten. Seems like a very bright, happy, well-adjusted child. |