As I drive this winding bit of country road, a forested ridge rises on my
right and fertile farmland drops gently away on my left. Somewhere on this
scenic part of my drive, I begin to feel calmer. I’ve left the energy of the
city behind and entered a simpler, quieter place.
I turn onto a gravel road lined by tall grass that leads to a school in the
forest. There are two wood-clad buildings surrounded by gardens of wildflowers.
These simple structures blend into the trees and they are the physical
manifestations of the Carp Ridge Eco-Wellness Centre near Ottawa, Ontario. It
provides all types of services, from naturopathic doctors at the Health Clinic
to seminars on sustainable building practices in the Learning Centre. These are
also the grounds for the Carp Ridge Forest Preschool (CRFP) and that is what
brings my son and me here every Thursday morning.
The sounds of the forest greet me when I open the car door. I like to stand
still for a second and listen to the birds and the crickets. I can feel the
weight of the city leave for awhile as I sniff the air, heavy with the smell of
growing things. Every week, I’m thankful that my son gets to spend part of his
day here. It’s through this program that I’ve been introduced to the concept of
forest schools, their history and what kind of impact they can have on our
children.
The CFRP was the first of its kind of Canada but the roots of the forest
preschool movement are in Denmark. There are also many schools in other parts of
Scandinavia, Germany and the UK. Like its European counterparts, the CFRP
maintains a small student-teacher ratio and has a child-led learning mandate.
The school’s coordinator, Marlene Power-Johnston, decided to start a forest
school after working in traditional daycares. “The institutions didn’t feel
right for my values. I was absolutely frustrated,” she says. She felt that
policies based on measurable outcomes like reading and math were not appropriate
for such young children. “There is too much pressure on our young children.
Hands-on experiences are needed, not learning from a book,” she believes. Once
she realized that an alternative was needed, her research led her to authors
Richard Louv and Carl Honoré. Their books, Last Child in the Woods and
Under
Pressure respectively, helped her to realize that a forest preschool was the
right way “to express everything I am passionate about.” . . .
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Jennifer Gautreau lives in Ottawa, Ontario. She is a
stay-at-home mom who is nourishing a budding freelance writing career.
