Nature Based Learning for 3-6 Year Olds:

8:30am-1:30pm Mondays and Wednesdays $480 a month

8:30am-3:30pm Tuesday and Thursdays $650 a month

Both Monday through Thursday $1075 a month

Tuition is September through June. Students should be 3.5 years old by Sept 1st. Some age exceptions can be made for the Monday and Wednesday class.

Students go outside everyday in appropriate gear that allows them to explore in all weather. A little more than half of every day is spent outside. We hike and enjoy free play and we garden. Inside our classrooms we feel tucked away in a nest filled with books and art and puppets and baking. About 12 students will share their day with a teacher and a teacher assistant.

Every morning we enjoy hot oatmeal with protein, followed later with a second snack that is a protein with a fruit or vegetable. Forest Friends provide these snacks including occasional class baking projects or items made from our modest garden. The afternoon class also receives a mix of nuts and seeds and dried fruits with water while hiking. All students bring a lunch from home which will be refrigerated and can be heated at meal time.

Our focus is on learning routines and social skills in a homelike classroom that encourages imagination and wonder. Forest Friends is Waldorf-inspired and nature-based. We ask that school time be a relatively media free zone so that characters like superheroes and and characters be limited to home time. What rule would you make if you were a king or queen or president? What powers would you have if you were a super hero? We ask that all students have safe bodies and safe words. We encourage and celebrate diversity and shared experiences.

We begin and end the year with a family picnic at the park three blocks away. We celebrate Fall equinox with Lantern Walk for an hour at the Commonwealth Lake at sunset by candle light. We gather again for Spiral Walk in December to celebrate Winter Solstice which is to say we honor the changing of the seasons and the time of year when family can come together to notice another year has passed and to make a wish. We celebrate spring on May Day with a May pole. We have a two week winter break and a one week spring break that matches the Beaverton School District Schedule. We are closed for Labor Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, Presidents Day and Memorial Day. We close for weather if Beaverton Public Schools are closed.

Families are encouraged but not required to participate in the classroom as a parent helper. This may be an hour or two a month and we invite you to join us on or near your child’s birthday. We wish to have the class feel like a community that includes our babies and siblings and adults including grand parents when local or visiting.

Daily Rhythm:

We gather for half an hour outside in the mornings. Our day starts with a morning circle time where we sing and make wishes for our day. After a breakfast snack, we have indoor play with art, story time, music, nature knowledge, plays and puzzles. A second snack finds us headed outside for free play in a space designed to encourage curiosity and experience and exploring the gifts of nature. Lunch is enjoyed inside with sharing time. The Monday/Wednesday group ends the day in the garden at half past one o’clock.

The Tuesday/Thursday class heads outside for a two hour adventure before their 3:30 pick up. We hike through Foothill Park and Commonwealth Lake Park and the neighborhood a one block circle around those parks. Some days our outside time will involve a long walk sighting occasional geese and blue heron and ducks and nutria. Some afternoons take us to a hiking path with little muddy hills perfect for sliding down or to act out the three pigs in the woods with puppets and a game of wolf tag. Students in this class must have listening skills and impulse control that allow them to stay with the group and follow instructions to participate.

Some families choose for their four or five-year old to attend all four days. This could be ideal for someone who is preparing to attend kindergarten five days a week in their next year. It is still nice to have two shorter days that can be used for resting time or standing playdates or athletic games or classes. We want the time students spend at preschool to be when they are not over tired or overwhelmed. When they can feel grounded and collaborative and cooperative…. Their learning will be so joyful that when you ask them what they did at school, they will tell you they just played.

4-5 Year Olds All Day:

Ours is a child led philosophy. We believe children at this age are creating a social emotional foundation that will serve them through out their life time. It could not be more important to learn emotional intelligence and self regulation. Many students today can benefit from tools that help them with different aspects of sensory integration. As their fine motor development naturally progresses, we support and encourage their interest in pre-literacy and STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) skills.

There are no fund raising or work party commitments. The annual tuition for your child includes parent coaching sessions you can choose to avail yourselves of if you wish. It is no small task to escort these young ones through their childhood and it is nice to receive some support in that process. It is also marvelous to land in a community of like minded parents who often end up forming meaningful friendships along side their preschooler.