At Soaring Eagle Nature School, the experience of being in nature provides children with the skills, tools, and space they need to develop their natural gifts.
The outdoor school provides several programs aimed at getting children into the forest regularly over the course of the school year to enrich their learning through nature awareness in a unique outdoor environment.
“What we really want to do is get children outside so they can have meaningful connections with the natural world,” founder and executive director Jenna Rudolph says.
The school is now accepting applications for its innovative Forest Learners Program.
The Forest Learners Program is an immersive three or four-day-per-week nature-based program that allows children to learn life, naturalist, and survival skills alongside math, reading, writing, and science.
“Outside is the easiest place to learn and have school. Kids get the opportunity to learn things in a very tangible, hands-on way. They’re not learning about plants from a book; they’re learning by looking at it and noticing the shape of its leaves, the number of petals it has and who’s pollinating the plant,” Rudolph says.
“Children get to use their inquiry and create observations based on what they’re seeing, hearing, and feeling around them.”
The program sets learners up for a life of deep nature connection, resiliency, positive learning, and total comfort in the natural world.
“If the students have to put up a tarp because it’s raining, that’s what they have to do. They have a real-life opportunity to adapt to different situations while outside,” Rudolph says.
“Kids learn that they can handle any situation because they’ve spent a full day outside in the snow or they’ve completed a challenging task together.”
As the current cohort of seven to nine-year-olds moves forward into the new school year, the program is adding a younger cohort of children between the ages of six and seven.
Each year, the children will continue with their same cohort, and the curriculum adapts to the ages of the learners as they grow older.
“We offer a blend of regular forest programming, mixed with academics, to create a well-rounded way of learning and being at school,” Rudolph says.
The Forest Learners program includes 136 days of nature school, more than 550 hours outside, two nature mentors and one B.C. certified teacher. The class size is small, capped at just 12 students.
“We have a group of staff who care about the wellbeing of each child and want to see them thrive and grow,” Rudolph says.
“With a low mentor-to-child ratio, there are lots of opportunities for the children to become a cohesive, tight-knit group, and a lot of opportunity for one-on-one time.
Children can be seen by their teachers and their classmates. Their needs can be met and they get a chance to learn in the way that works best for them and participate the way they want to.”
The program uses the 8 Shields Model, which is based on the patterns and cycles found in nature, and emphasizes social and emotional learning, as well as hands-on skills.
“There is a real benefit and importance for kids having a different kind of opportunity for their learning where they can have more freedom for self-expression and be who they are without the confines of a heavy curriculum, walls and desk. This enables children to grow up and be who they are.”
Applications are now being accepted for the new school year for the full-time Forest Learners Program. To learn more, visit www.soaringeaglenatureschool.org/forest-learners-program-guide/.
