Since the 2005 publication of Richard Louv's
Last Child In the Woods, which made a connection between "nature-deficit" and growing trends toward physical and mental health disorders in children, there has been increasing interest in nature-based learning in the early childhood education community. Research indicates that the many benefits of nature play significantly contribute to children's' mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
As an educator who studied developmental psychology and wrote her dissertation on self-regulation, Sarah Whitaker was aware of the nature-based education movement. But it wasn't until 2018, when her oldest child turned 3, that she saw first-hand the need for her spunky little one to have the opportunity for authentic outdoor experiences and physical challenges that would give him a deeper connection with the environment. With the help of an active and
supportive community (and a lot of work),
Athens Forest Kindergarten
was born.
From the Beginning
Whitaker knew from the start that AFK would be a cooperative preschool, that it would be held outdoors, and that it would prioritize holistic, social-
emotio
nal d
evelopment and ALL children's right to play. The nature and education scenes in Athens, GA are thriving and supportive, and the area has lots of families that float between related programs, and people employed by multiple related organizations. She looked at AFK as "an offering to the community", which meant living up to the community values of accessibility and inclusivity from day one.
Nature education and progressive education have mostly been activities for privileged and predominantly white communities. AFK has been explicit in their commitment to working with anti-racist, anti-bias, and LGBTQ+affirming values, and keeping these ideals at the forefront of their work. As a result, the program offers as wide a range of financial accessibility as possible for the forest kindergarten, and they do extra fundraising to support their community programs. Whitaker explained, "We are trying to shift a lot of paradigms at once - what does education look like, what does it mean to be part of a co-op, what does risk-taking have to do with educating small children, etc. So we understand that there will be a lot of education required to get our message across in a way that people are open to! We are here for the challenge."
Adjusting To Meet Community Needs
AFK is still relatively new, but they are constantly adjusting their program to be responsive to the community. Between their first and second year, they changed locations from a delightful setting on private land in a neighboring county to their current home at Sandy Creek Park, a public park within the Athens city limits. Between the move and a change in the days of the week for their programs, year two was almost like starting over again when it came to recruitment, establishing procedures, and purchasing supplies, but the challenge has been worth the effort. AFK is especially grateful for the support of the Athens Clarke County Leisure Services division for providing a home for the forest kindergarten at Sandy Creek Park, which, according to Whitaker, feels like where they were meant to be.
AFK also recently changed from talking about community work as "outreach" to using the term "AFK Connects" to avoid positioning themselves above or outside of the rest of their community. When attendance dwindled for their weekly Playgroup, they took that as important information and decided to shake things up by moving towards a new model of monthly Forest Fridays, which will incorporate the place-based aspect of forest kindergarten by returning to the same land monthly rather than rotating around the community. They will also be "making visible" some of the otherwise invisible work about what emergent curriculum looks like. And finally, they will provide caregivers with a take-home each session about continuing their child's learning experience at home.
AFK currently has 9 students enrolled in their program and a few more on deck to start in January. They will cap the class between 12 and 16, depending on ages and the availability of caregivers to act as Forest-Helpers.
AFK offers many options in terms of tuition and volunteer commitment. In order to ensure that they meet both financial and staffing needs, they plan their budget based on everyone paying the minimum tuition tier. Not every parent wants to spend time as a Forest-Helper, so the AFK staff works to find a way that everyone can contribute in a manner than is really meaningful to them. For example, one parent is a school psychologist and she is making a "social story" template that will help children adjust to the program better when they first start.
A New Twist on Parent Education
Parent education is at the heart of cooperatives, and in staying true to their model of accessibility and inclusivity, AFK has innovated in this area. While they offer 5 to 6 in-person parent ed options over the course of the year, they have realized that for many parents of young children, the only community building or self-care they will make time for has to revolve around their children. To make education accessible for parents, AFK created an online book club through a public
Facebook Group.
They hope to continue offering two books per year through this platform for those who do most of their socializing and learning while juggling kids and iPhones, because that's just part of being a parent these days. They also advertise all of their community education programs to the broader Athens community and keep the price as low as possible.
Plans for the Future
Currently, 2 of Whitaker's 3 children participate in the AFK program, and the youngest will start next year. She reports that the almost 4-year-old and newly 6-year-old are both very much at home in the outdoors and very high energy, and AFK has been exactly what they needed. The only thing she could imagine would be better is a 5 day per week version of the program, which is one of the things AFK is working toward.
In addition to expanding the preschool to 5 days per week, AFK would consider teaming up with another organization to run a different type of afternoon program on the same site to better accommodate full-time working parents.
As the Director, Whitaker hopes to devote increasing efforts to research and advocacy. She is actively looking for partnerships with other educational researchers, trying to get involved with efforts to protect a child's right to free-play outdoors via school recess. AFK also offers consulting services for other early childhood educators who want to learn the how and the WHY of free play in nature.
Ultimately, Whitaker wants to establish AFK's reputation for promoting nature-based, play-based early childhood education with aspects of inclusivity and accessibility at the forefront. It is through these efforts that AFK can live up to the
ir goal of providing
#forestkindergartenforall
!
___________
Many thanks to Sarah Whitaker for taking the time to thoughtfully respond to many questions to provide the foundation for this article, and to AFK's official photographer,
Caroline Singletary
for sharing her photos!
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