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ISO a nature based or school with a lot of outdoor education
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Anonymous
My son just finished K in a Mont. County public school. It is a highly regarded school. He HATED it from the first month. He loved his preschool which was very child centered and the kids spent a lot of time outdoors. He is a nature nut and spends 90% of his day outdoors in any weather. His K experience was so terrible that I toured many private schools to see if he could find a better environment for first grade. He was accepted into a few of them but since they didn't offer enough FA, I had to turn them down (I am a single parent and don't earn much). He is very bright (whose kid isn't?  He was reading well when he started K and it was something he enjoys doing although his school wouldn't allow him to move up to a reading group in the grade above even though the reading groups in K were far behind him. I would love to find a public or charter school that is nature or outdoor based. He spent most of his summer either at various nature camps or outdoors catching insects, etc. I got his back to school letter a few days ago and mentioned school supply shopping to him, he started crying and begging not to go back (which is what he did most of last year). Does anyone know of a school that might suit him? Thanks.
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Anonymous
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Unfortuntately, outdoor activity is not a priority in any MCPS schools that I know of and there are no charter schools in MoCo. There are two private schools in Darnestown that are much less expensive than most: Butler (Montessori) and Seneca Academy. The schools both have lots of opportunities for outside activities. Butler has woods, stream, fields and includes a ropes course, and horses.
I hope you find an option for your DS. I think most kids don't get enough nature time but for those kids that really crave it, traditional school can be a miserable experience. |
Anonymous
| Maybe a Waldorf school? Or call a Waldorf school (I know there is a great one in Arlington) and ask if they have any suggestions or ideas? |
Anonymous
| Try Barnesville School in MoCo, also very reasonable and lots of land to roam. Also, Sandy Spring Friends has lots of outdoor activity and a huge, beautiful campus, although it is as expensive as the DC privates. |
Anonymous
| If you don't mind the drive. Burgundy Farm in Alexandria. |
Anonymous
| Thanks PPs. My son did get into BF and a few other schools but they just didn't have anywhere near enough FA for me to be able to afford it. The one good thing is that I am self-employed and could move almost anywhere. I want to find either a public school or charter school and it doesn't even have to be in this area. I've found some info about a proposed charter in Mont. Co called Seneca Creek (I think) but that doesn't seem to be a definite yet. Does anyone know of any others anywhere that focus on outdoor education or a nature based curriculum? |
Anonymous
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I'll take you at your word that you're willing to move ....
look at schools in Portland, Ore. and Seattle. I hear good things from my extended family in Boulder, Colo. but don't have first-hand knowledge like I do with Portland and Seattle. Short of that, I would at least apply to Green Acres in Rockville and ask again about FA. GA and Burgundy had the best outdoor campus situations I have seen in the metro area. Oh! There's supposed to be one school in Charlottlesville, Va. too, that's like Burgundy but I don't know the name. |
Anonymous
| I can't remember if it was Falls Church or Arlington, but I recall reading that one of these public school jurisdictions offered a wonderful outdoors program for elementary kids ... wish I could remember if it was just at one particular school like a magnet program or system wide. Perhaps someone else knows? |
Anonymous
| Haycock elementary in Falls Church has an outdoors program run by the PTA. |
Anonymous
I grew up in Portland and Seattle and have no idea what you're talking about. Which schools? |
Anonymous
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There's a charter school opening in Richmond VA this fall that has a nature focus.
http://www.patrickhenrycharter.org/ |
Anonymous
| What about the Friends Community School in College Park? Environmental stewardship is a core value of the school. I'm not sure how much more outdoor time the students experience on daily basis relative to other schools, but there certainly is an appreciation of its value. They've recently moved into a new, "green" building that looks a little plain from the outside is quite wonderful inside. i.e. It was designed and situated on the site so that each classroom receives an equal amount of natural sunlight. One whole wall of each class faces southerly and the school abuts a nature area. Each class takes one or two camping trips per year. |
Anonymous
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Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, close to Olney and Ashton
It's expensive but very hands-on, and they take advantage of the lovely campus by connecting lessons to nature. |
Anonymous
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Campbell Elementary in Arlington. The below is from their website.
Campbell's campus has a courtyard habitat and a series of thematic gardens, all adjacent to the Long Branch Nature Center. K-1 classrooms open directly to the outside, where weather stations, bird feeders, and rotating classroom experiments can be tended and monitored. Each class, preschool through 4-5, has a large raised garden bed they use for classroom gardening projects. The courtyard is home to a migrating family of ducks who reappear each spring to raise a brood of ducklings in a pond that is also home to fish, turtles, frogs, and marine plants. Long Branch Nature Center, its interpretive programs and its woodlands, are an easy walk away. |
Anonymous
Science Focus Elem in Arlington as well. |