New Tennessee school to offer outdoor learning programs

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Situated against the Prentice Cooper State Forest and surrounded by 26,000 acres of semi-protected land, the setting of River Gorge Forest School spans a lot further than typical school campuses.

The school, opening this fall, offers preschool and kindergarten for kids aged 2 1/2 to 6 years with curriculum based on what the students observe and their natural curiosity, said Susanna Fussell Dodson, one of the school’s three co-founders.

The programs are fully outdoors with shelters nearby in case of inclement weather, and the school focuses on holistic development of children through behavioral, emotional and physical development along with academics.

“It’s a great program, too, for kids when you’re trying to build both fine motor and gross motor skills, because they’re navigating boulders, they’re crossing streams, but then they’re also taking a deep dive, a look into the minutiae of even micro-ecosystems of the forest,” Dodson said. “But they’re outside all day, they are moving throughout their environment instead of being forced to sit inside unnaturally still for extended periods of time, so their bodies are getting stronger, they’re finding their center of balance, and it really overall promotes a much healthier lifestyle from the get-go.”

Ahead of opening in the fall, the school began piloting the program in January with two families, including Dodson’s, but initial class sizes come fall will be seven children in preschool and seven in kindergarten. For kindergarten, the school classifies as a home school tutorial program under a Nashville umbrella school called The Farm School, and families will need to register with The Farm School to receive credit.

Susie Grant, teacher and co-founder of the school, said a main difference between a...