If you go out in the woods today...

The very first forest school sessions will be starting in October and there is a lot of excitement about it. I've been asked about curriculum a few times. The answer is not a simple one.

What will they learn?

The short answer and the truth is, I don't know yet.

There are things out there, things to be learned, I'm sure of it.

I have some thoughts, some ideas about what I can throw out there. Some things that they will likely notice, some things they will likely want to do. I have an idea about our routine for the day. How we will gather to begin our time together. I know we will talk about expectations and maybe read a short paragraph or poem. We will have time for sit spots (being quiet in the forest), we may learn a skill or practice looking around through new eyes. There might be clay, paper, animals, climbing, rock stacking or traditional teachings. We will come back to our gathering place after having our adventures and our snacks. We will decide when we get there.

What we are learning is not as important to me as how we are learning.

How we are learning is much easier to answer.

Our curriculum for this program is centered almost completely on the "how". We will be using our whole body to figure things out. We are working on connecting to the earth, to each other and to ourselves. We are going to figure it out with friends, on our own, with guidance and maybe by accident. Mostly we will figure it out.

A whimsical thought from my forest journal.

We will start small. We will get bigger.

We will notice things. We will dig deeper.

We will hold hands. We will hold sticks.

We will practice skills. We will hone tricks.

We will be quiet. We will bang drums.

We will breath air. We will greet sun.

We will walk and talk and find our way.

When we go out in the woods today.