Tucked in a quiet, twisting neighborhood in southeast Denver, past the bustle of cars and nine-to-five lives, lies a small institution passionately devoted to the alternatives in early childhood care and education.
In this neighborhood, three and four-year-olds explore and learn under the caring and attentive eyes of Ryan Pleune and his fellow teachers. Pleune is one of the founding members and owners of the Nature School Cooperative.
“We wear lots of hats,” Pleune said. “We usually don’t refer to ourselves as teachers, we refer to ourselves as guides.”
Pleune described the role of Nature School guides while watching a small group of preschoolers looking for bugs and rocks in a shallow riverbank.
“Our job is to make sure there is safety. Often it’s physical safety,” Pleune said as he shifted to see the kids better. “I’m watching the water here, making sure nobody is going above their knees. There’s often a lot of emotional safety. That’s where the adults will step in and say ‘No, that’s not a good choice.’”
The Nature School Cooperative is an alternative child-led and nature-based early childhood classroom, originating in Europe. It emphasizes not only academic learning but also social, emotional and developmental skills.
“We fall into play-based pedagogy. It’s student-initiated and student-guided learning. Everything from academics to social and emotional learning,” Pleune said.
It seems the kids love Nature School.
“I like making potions,” said one three-year-old, as he packed mud into a bucket.
“And I drew this, I’m the Super Kitty,” said another from the branch of a tree.
According to the Nature School website, the main goal is to “believe in the capabilities of all children. All learning develops from trust-based relationships, interconnectedness, and a felt sense of belonging.”
“It’s been a really cool way to see kids’ socioemotional skills be widely ahead of their peers,” said John Worthing, a guide with the Nature School Cooperative who has a master’s in social work from the University of Denver. “Their ability to understand complex emotions like frustration and their connection with nature, to see the seasons pass and new buds grow has been really beautiful.”
Outdoor schools have been functioning without official licensure, but that is set to change in Colorado with a bill allowing these schools to be recognized with state childcare licenses. Sponsored by State Sens. Janice Marchman and Kevin Priola and State Reps. Junie Joseph and Barbara McLachlan, the bill outlines qualification rules and would appropriate $30,000 from the child care licensing cash fund to the Department for Early Childhood for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“This is really exciting,” said Matthew Hebard, the founder and administrator of Forest School in Denver. He has spearheaded the legislative battle to get outdoor preschools licensure for the last decade. “I mean, it only took 10 years, but we’re here. A lot of us are doing really good work right now.”
Now that the bill has officially passed in the General Assembly, the consensus is that more alternatives in education will be available and funded, not only to provide students with a better experience but also to certify and legally validate outdoor learning programs.
“I feel very strongly about this. I want to support it,” said Chelsea Thomas, a Denver resident and the mother of preschooler Luke Thomas, who attends the Nature School Cooperative. She is one of many parents who testified at the Colorado State Capitol during the push for licensure. “One of the reasons I spoke at the State Capitol was because if it’s certified it would be more widely available and parents would be more comfortable with it.”
Thomas felt that there were many benefits to nature-based preschool programs, particularly from a parents’ perspective.
“I think when your kid is in school, and you start realizing maybe they don’t fit into that environment, instead of thinking there’s something wrong with your child or your parenting, maybe what you need is another school environment,” she said.
Natalie Burnside-Bostow, mother of three-year-old Orion agrees.
“I one hundred percent think that nature is important at every stage of life and development. Early exposure to nature lends itself to kids that are resilient, compassionate, and they see themselves as part of a larger picture.”
Burnside-Bostow attended outdoor schools throughout high school. She said it’s important to her that her children experience the same type of education and learn the skills that come from being outside.
“There are a lot of things I wish people knew about the benefits of nature in education. For me, I feel like I have this skill set of resilience, problem-solving and dealing with difficult situations that has come from my education,” she said.
Ultimately, it seems those involved are passionate and willing to continue the fight for alternatives in education. The bill for certification and funding changes everything.
“I did a master’s program and our first assignment was to draw a picture of what the optimal learning environment was,” Hebard said. “At the end of the assignment, me and another gentleman realized we had both drawn pictures of children playing outside.”
As of now, tuition for the Nature School Cooperative is $2000 a month for a three-month course. More information can be found here.
“The hope is that these kinds of programs will reach a wider demographic of people. We all wish we could do this for free, but right now it’s not a viable reality. Not until we get the right funding and licenses,” Pleune said.