Forest Schooled | Learning & Development

Learning & Development

Posts discussing the value of holistic educational approaches like Forest School and the role of adults in promoting learning and development to foster resilient, confident, independent, and creative learners

Starting a Program from Scratch Again (Or not)... Part 3

Forest Schooled

Jul 1, 2021
6 min

Starting a Program from Scratch Again (Or not)... Part 3

Learning about and reflecting on all that I don't know We often say, "Start with what you know"... but what if we said instead, "Start...

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Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 2

Forest Schooled

Mar 12, 2021
4 min

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 2

Several months ago I shared a bit about my desires and reservations for starting up a new program since moving to a new place. See...

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Supporting behaviour through relationships, instead of rewards and punishments...

Forest Schooled

Jan 17, 2021
6 min

Supporting behaviour through relationships, instead of rewards and punishments...

"What do you need to feel safe?", I asked. "I don't want to get hit by sticks!", he said. I was standing between two boys whose play had...

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Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 1

Forest Schooled

Sep 27, 2020
5 min

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 1

Over three years ago when I moved countries from England to the USA I was full of inspiration from all the things I'd learned while living

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Growing from 'Forest School' to 'Nature-rooted learning'

Forest Schooled

Sep 16, 2020
4 min

Growing from 'Forest School' to 'Nature-rooted learning'

Language is funny. Sometimes I can’t quite find the right words to describe what I truly mean. I have this problem all the time when trying

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What am I going to do to keep myself uncomfortable?

Forest Schooled

Aug 31, 2020
5 min

What am I going to do to keep myself uncomfortable?

Years ago I attended a brief workshop at a conference that, in just a short two-hour window, provided me with lessons that have stuck with

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Forest Schooled

Aug 17, 2020
3 min

Storytelling Resources

Ever since gathering a group of storytellers together at the start of the global shutdown in 2020 for weekly livestreams, I've been getting

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Considering Ecological Relationships, Impact, and Reciprocity in our Outdoor Programs

Forest Schooled

Jun 14, 2020
6 min

Considering Ecological Relationships, Impact, and Reciprocity in our Outdoor Programs

Okay I have something to confess... it’s been a weight on my shoulders (and on my ecological conscience) as an environmental educator. It's

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Forest School Perspectives: Making Space for Diversity in Practice

Forest Schooled

May 26, 2020
6 min

Forest School Perspectives: Making Space for Diversity in Practice

This blog was first shared by the UK Forest School Association. You can view that post HERE. Imagine something exciting happened to you an

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Learning when to stop asking children questions, even when it's in the name of “inquiry”

Forest Schooled

May 9, 2020
5 min

Learning when to stop asking children questions, even when it's in the name of “inquiry”

I’ve written before about my use of questions to prompt or assist children (and adults for that matter) to consider something more deeply..

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Guest Blog - Early Childhood Ways of Knowing:

Landere Naisbitt

Dec 1, 2019
10 min

Guest Blog - Early Childhood Ways of Knowing:

How Kindergarteners Teach Me About Nature Connection and How to Live in Healthy Relationship with the Earth This is special. This...

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Forest Schooled

Nov 3, 2019
3 min

Forest Schooled Evolves... Again

Well, I’m dusting off the ol' Forest Schooled keyboard. It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog here. Life moves and sways, shifting...

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Forest Schooled

Sep 1, 2019
3 min

Forest Schooled, The Book

Okay, you know that feeling when you have an idea and then someday that idea becomes a reality? It's an amazing feeling and one I am so...

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Emergent Curriculum... when the lessons emerge with the Land

Forest Schooled

Jun 30, 2019
6 min

Emergent Curriculum... when the lessons emerge with the Land

There was a nest. It was high up in one of the pine trees. We thought it was just the remnants left over from the previous year until a...

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Forest Schooled

Jun 21, 2019
1 min

Backwards Planning

I've been branching out on blog writing and am sharing my stories on other pages in addition to Forest Schooled. Follow the link to the...

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Why I'm grateful Forest & Nature School is long-term

Forest Schooled

May 16, 2019
1 min

Why I'm grateful Forest & Nature School is long-term

I've been branching out on blog writing and am sharing my stories on other pages in addition to Forest Schooled. Follow the link to the...

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Facing Colonization in our Work with the Land

Forest Schooled

May 1, 2019
2 min

Facing Colonization in our Work with the Land

& Building our Understanding of Indigenous Perspectives Growing up in the United States, and more specifically Hawaii, it always felt...

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Lessons learned from starting programs from scratch...

Forest Schooled

Apr 27, 2019
5 min

Lessons learned from starting programs from scratch...

After starting a handful of programs from scratch, there are so many things I’ve learned from the process. (See Starting a Forest School...

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Forest Schooled

Apr 12, 2019
1 min

“So what do you do about puddles?!”

I've been branching out on blog writing and am sharing my stories on other pages in addition to Forest Schooled. Follow the link to find...

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Integrating Forest School into a Public School Day

Forest Schooled

Mar 24, 2019
9 min

Integrating Forest School into a Public School Day

In the Starting a Forest School Program from Scratch series I described the steps I took to get a couple of programmes up and running in...

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Forest Schooled

Jan 21, 2019
4 min

Learning through taking risks...

I took a risk. It was the coldest day we'd had in the school year so far and nobody was quite back in the mindset of playing in cold...

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Forest Schooled

Jan 5, 2019
6 min

Intervening in Children's Play...

This is a tough one for me to write, but here goes... One of my missions in Forest School and even through writing this blog has been to...

677 views0 comments

Forest Schooled

Dec 16, 2018
3 min

Delivering programs at night...

This has been a really exciting time of year for me because it's the first time I've delivered Forest School sessions in the dark! I...

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It's not your dam, Mother Nature gave the rocks to you...

Forest Schooled

Oct 11, 2018
4 min

It's not your dam, Mother Nature gave the rocks to you...

"I'm going to build a dam!" a six year old named Carter said. And off he went to the stream where he started to move rocks from the...

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Children's risky play and experiencing 'scary-funny'

Forest Schooled

Sep 30, 2018
4 min

Children's risky play and experiencing 'scary-funny'

The other day at Forest School a five year old named Ryan approached me with tears in his eyes. He was calm, but also clearly upset. He...

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Nature is not always nice... And that's why I do this work

Forest Schooled

Jun 29, 2018
4 min

Nature is not always nice... And that's why I do this work

I went to a conference recently that was all about connecting children with nature. Sounds like something that should be right up my...

219 views0 comments

Forest Schooled

Jun 22, 2018
6 min

Learning with storytelling...

I've taken a huge leap in my practice recently. I've started telling stories. Now, I know that might not sound like such a big deal, but...

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A History of the UK & US Forest School Movement

Forest Schooled

Jun 3, 2018
1 min

A History of the UK & US Forest School Movement

If you've been following along with me over the past several months, you may have caught my ramblings here and there about how I'm...

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Starting a Forest School program from scratch: Part 5

Forest Schooled

Apr 29, 2018
4 min

Starting a Forest School program from scratch: Part 5

Preface: I've called the first post in this series "Part 1", but a friend reminded me that there is so much more that comes before this...

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Starting a Forest School program from scratch: Part 4

Forest Schooled

Mar 18, 2018
4 min

Learning & Development

Starting a Program from Scratch Again (Or not)... Part 3

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 2

Supporting behaviour through relationships, instead of rewards and punishments...

Starting a program from scratch again (Or not)... Part 1

Growing from 'Forest School' to 'Nature-rooted learning'

What am I going to do to keep myself uncomfortable?

Storytelling Resources

Considering Ecological Relationships, Impact, and Reciprocity in our Outdoor Programs

Forest School Perspectives: Making Space for Diversity in Practice

Learning when to stop asking children questions, even when it's in the name of “inquiry”

Guest Blog - Early Childhood Ways of Knowing:

Forest Schooled Evolves... Again

Forest Schooled, The Book

Emergent Curriculum... when the lessons emerge with the Land

Backwards Planning

Why I'm grateful Forest & Nature School is long-term

Facing Colonization in our Work with the Land

Lessons learned from starting programs from scratch...

“So what do you do about puddles?!”

Integrating Forest School into a Public School Day

Learning through taking risks...

Intervening in Children's Play...

Delivering programs at night...

It's not your dam, Mother Nature gave the rocks to you...

Children's risky play and experiencing 'scary-funny'

Nature is not always nice... And that's why I do this work

Learning with storytelling...

A History of the UK & US Forest School Movement

Starting a Forest School program from scratch: Part 5

Starting a Forest School program from scratch: Part 4