As the sun stretched it’s vibrant rays over our most beloved nature preserve, my youngest daughter was very anticipatory about beginning her first day of homeschooling (Backstory: Reluctantly, we recently made the tough decision of pulling Willow, our 3-year-old,  out of her forest school due to various reasons, although my oldest daughter still attends daily). I was so worried that she would lose her love for the great outdoors throughout this change. It wasn’t until I came up with the idea of homeschooling to foster this love of hers, and allow it to continue and strengthen, that a great epiphany occurred. Why not combine my passion for Waldorf education and my passion for Forest Schooling, and support my daughter’s love for both? Why not home-school in the forest with a gentle Waldorf curriculum? That’s just what I did, and I’m happy to say that it seems to be unfolding into a sweet experience!

There’s just something so magical about wintertime homeschooling in the forest. The crisp, cold air; the frozen lake as smooth as glass. The crunch you hear under your feet as you walk over the frosty earth, in a peacefully quiet forest. The delight we get out of hearing the birds singing to each other, or the sparkling icicles that hang from overhead and glisten in the sunlight like tiny crystals.

“Come this way, mommy!” Willow called out, as she skipped beneath the frosty trees. We made our way to a bit of a clearing, where we decided to settle down for our circle time. This would be the place we would come to every time we home-school to sing seasonal songs and nature-themed finger plays… and luckily it worked quite nicely! I couldn’t help but think to myself how the forest would change along with us through the seasons, and what beauty would surround us in the process.

After our circle time came snack time; Willow delightfully chose a giant fallen tree to sit upon while eating her snacks. I had everything in our cooler to bring with us… perhaps in the springtime I will switch to our picnic basket. Hmm…

After our snacks were all eaten, and the rays of the sun warmed us up a bit, it was time for some free play! Willow ran off into the trees and began building an enchanted fairy house out of some carefully chosen sticks. Apparently, a lot of them needed to be broken in half in order to be the “right size”.

Afterwards was the bulk of our time in the forest… our nature walk! This is where we took the time to learn about reflections (which Willow was mind-blown over, by the way) in the little puddles from our prior rain along the way. She couldn’t believe that she could see the sprawling trees above her in the water below her! It was just like a mirror! I suppose she just never noticed these things before.

After sloshing in some squishy mud, balancing on bumpy logs, and even hearing an owl echo in the distance – we were ready to wrap up our day and pick up older sister Skyla from her forest school. It was time to leave our beloved forest… goodbye until tomorrow!