This year we found a wonderful program for my son to do, attending the "Environmental Connections Outdoor School" which is a once a week full day of nature study, free play, and exploration outdoors. They meet in a local park, and they do have a picnic shelter with a roof but otherwise they are really outdoors all day, all year.
Yesterday was a rainy and blustery day, which my daughter and I spent indoors (at church and at home) and still felt the need to go out for steaming hot bowls of pho for lunch. As we looked out the window at the rain, we said "poor buddy, he's probably all wet and miserable".
When I picked him up, however, the sight that met me was not a bunch of bedraggled children huddled under a picnic shelter. Instead, the children were playing in a shelter they had built in the woods, playing tug of war with an ivy vine they found that was apparently indestructible, and sliding through mud puddles and pits. Yes, my son was all wet and dirty, but he was decidedly Not Miserable. In fact, he said he had the best day ever and couldn't wait to do it again. He had spent the rainy day carving sticks, building a fort, dissecting owl pellets, hearing local history stories (about the first peoples of this land and the settlers who came later), and generally having a grand time.
We all belong outside, but children especially should be outdoors. The connection with nature, the survival and resiliency skills learned, the healthy benefits of fresh air and plenty of physical activity - these are precious and valuable aspects of outdoor education.
I'm so glad that 20 % of my son's schooling time is now spent in this way!
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