HOLLAND, Mich. — It’s been six years since Holland Christian Schools launched its Forest School, a program where students spend the school day, mostly, outside. 13 ON YOUR SIDE caught up with the district for an update on this nontraditional approach to learning.
Miska Rynsburger is the Forest School principal. She said, “The importance of play in childhood, I can’t overemphasize.”
She told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that classrooms are long overdue for a makeover.
“The way school is designed traditionally goes back 150 years ago,” she said. “Access to digital screens has changed the landscape of childhood and the ability to play, to wonder, to walk through your backyard and be a little bored and develop your own play.”
This district gives families the option to truly nurture students in nature.
“To help a child learn to take calculated risks, to collaborate with each other, to support each other, their self-efficacy begins to bloom when they contribute an idea and they find success,” said Rynsburger.
All this excitement outside doesn’t come without some risks.
“Our kids come home pretty dirty. So, hopefully they have a powerful machine in their laundry room,” said Rynsburger.
Forest School kindergarten teacher Mychala Spoelman agrees, saying, “They will come home covered in mud.”
Classes take place outside most days with a few exceptions.
New this year, the school is now renting what used to be a vacant home, not far from the school’s campus.
“If we need a landing spot to collate our data, or we have straight line winds, or all of sudden we have a thunderstorm, or we need a secure place to come, we can access this home,” said Rynsburger.
As for the students, they prefer class outside.
Walter is one kindergartner taking part in the program. He said, “We found frogs that we [caught] with our hands.”
“It’s so much fun,” said Spoelman.
There’s also one-on-one instruction, which Forest School leaders say can be more effective.
Grace told the 13 ON YOUR SIDE crew that she’s five-and-a-half years old. She also described some of the lessons she’s been learning with Forest School.
“The teachers teach us letters and we learn numbers,” said Grace.
“They’re more focused because they get that time to get their energy out,” said Spoelman.
Principal Rynsburger added that, “If you’re five years old, whole group instruction can be tricky to attend and engage fully.”
Spoelman jokingly described how students express, “Much more curiosity and the emotional intelligence, too, because they have to deal with a lot more problems out in the forest like, ‘somebody stole my favorite stick,’ like, how do we deal with that?”
School leaders say Forest School looks different for kindergartners compared to what it’s like for older students. They say there’s more productive play for fifth graders in the program and that those students are currently studying water quality.
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