At forest school, Charlotte Mason’s philosophies naturally lead us as we strive to help students fully appreciate nature and benefit from its study by blending scientific inquiry and artistic expression to give a well-rounded baseline of experience for students that will serve them well with more formal study of the sciences in later years. Our motto is, "Explore, Inquire, Care!"
Explore. Authentic learning occurs through unstructured play, adventure, and
wandering. We meet at parks around the south St. Louis County area to expose our students to the various elements of God’s creation. This leads our students to make first-hand observations in the moment and to hone their powers of observation.
Inquire. Questions arise in the moments and places we are. The children start to sense the wonder and beauty of the world around them. They then start to pursue the order and perplexity that is God's creation. The investigations develop and lead to experimentation and research and the formation of hypotheses.
Care. We strive for our students to understand that they are stewards of the world around them. They learn to use the resources at hand wisely to provide protection for a future time and to cherish others and to display consideration for all of God's creation.
On a typical day at Forest School, your child will participate in circle time, explore during nature study and make an entry into their nature journal, eat lunch, have an instructed art, handicraft, survival skill, science, or wild edible lesson, and have free play time!
