A new nature-based school will open this fall at the Dunwoody Nature Center, a 22-acre park and education center located off Roberts Drive.
An announcement released July 15 by the DNC said the Oakwood Forest School emphasizes “outdoor learning and exploration, encouraging children to connect with nature through play and discovery.”
“The seasons are our lesson plans and the natural environment is our teacher,” Holly Loscavio, Dunwoody Nature Center’s Program Director, said. “By taking away the four walls of a traditional classroom setting, students are able to be more independent, and given the opportunity to thrive. Kids go home every day dirty, tired, and happy, and we think that’s a beautiful thing.””
The first class, which will be limited to a dozen 4-year-old children, will run from September to May. The children will attend Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., according to the release. Tuition is $500 per month per child.
Teachers Mattie Howey and Rachel Dodd will be running the kindergarten. According to the DNC website, Howey grew up in Cherokee County and studied early childhood education at Georgia Highlands College. She has previously taught forest Kindergarten programs and has worked as an outdoor educator at DNC.
Dodd, a 2015 Covenant College graduate who received her master’s degree in 2018 from UT-Chattanooga, has been an environmental educator for 10 years in camps, forest schools, traditional elementary schools, and nature centers.
“Forest kindergartens started over 150 years ago in Germany, based on the philosophy that every child should spend the majority of their school time outside playing in nature and learning about the world around them,” the website said. “Today, there are thousands of nature-based educational programs around the world that have evolved from this basic forest kindergarten idea.”
For more information and to enroll, visit Oakwood Forest School or contact Dunwoody Nature Center at holly@dunwoodynature.org.
