Outdoor time belongs in the school day
A recent Schools Week article makes the case for outdoor education as part of every child's school experience. At The Learning Habitat, that idea is already part of how we teach.
A recent Schools Week article proposes a legal minimum for outdoor education, including at least 30 minutes outside each day and a minimum of one lesson taught outdoors. Its message is simple: outdoor learning should not be treated as an occasional extra.
We agree. At The Learning Habitat, outdoor time belongs in every class, every day. Movement, fresh air, observation, play, and conversation are not separate from learning; they give students more ways to engage with it.
Every class. Every day.
Outdoor time can be a science observation, a book discussion, a math problem, a sketch, a conversation, or a chance to reset before returning to focused work.
The goal is not to take academics outside for show. It is to let the world become part of the lesson and to support the whole child while the learning is happening.
Core academics, deepened under the trees.
Our Forest Immersion Programs at Stevens Creek Nature Center and Elon Park connect the natural world with core academics. Students explore science, ELA, history, art, social studies, environmental education, critical thinking, and creativity through hiking, experiments, play, and learning under the trees, in the creeks, and in the mud.
That is what we mean by immersion: outdoor learning does not replace the fundamentals. It gives reading, writing, science, and thinking more ways to come alive.
Read the article
This reflection was inspired by the Schools Week article, “Why I'm trying to change the law to mandate outdoor education.”
Read the Schools Week article →