Growing Up Wild

The benefits of Nature Play and how my own Homeschooling journey shaped my business and educational philosophies.

It all started with a preschool bully.

Freshly 4, I headed into my first year of preschool at a private, well-respected program.

While there are some great benefits to traditional preschools, for me, the ways in which it held me back were obvious from the start.

First off- Let's talk about mean girls.

I have always been friendly and made friends rather easily. However, for a long time, I was taken advantage of. I always trusted and gave everyone around me the benefit of the doubt that their intentions were pure and their word was true. Even at 4 years old I found out how untrue that is of most neurotypical people. My diverse brain has always been very systematic and black and white. If you say you're my friend, you're my friend.

But then the most popular girl in class thought it was weird that I didn't wear dresses. My overalls were apparently not girly enough and I kissed my mom goodbye when she dropped me off--my best friend was told she had to stop talking to me if she wanted to be friends with this girl.

At four.

This obviously has stayed with me for the last 23 or so years. I can picture the spot on the playground I sat dumbfounded and watched Kirby walk off with the rest of the girls feeling heartbroken and confused.

The school was not built for all children. When I made it to the end of our little "Fall days" booklet the first week of school, before the rest of the class, I was reprimanded for skipping ahead. And not believed when I told the assistant that I had only skipped ahead because I had read the pages on my own already.

So when mid-year parent-teacher conferences rolled around, they advised keeping me back for a second year of pre-K instead of moving on to kindergarten due to--"Social Delays".

This is where so many kids get shoved into the pipeline of special education and institutional learning. This is where I would have probably received my ADHD diagnosis much earlier because my strengths didn't reflect the desires of the institution.

But instead, my mom saw me. And pulled me out mid-year to begin homeschooling immediately.

When she began looking at curriculums for preschool learning, she quickly realized I was far beyond that in academic skills and we started off the second half of the year with Kindergarten work and then started 1st grade the next year.

I don't know if my neurodiversity would have been picked up at a public school, but I don't think it matters. Because the inability of children to thrive in an institutional setting with ADHD or other neurotypes isn't the fault of the child. But of the environment.

At home, we read books I wanted to read, played games and did puzzles, created, explored, and did hands-on learning projects. We sat and listened to my mom read to us as we climbed trees--one of my fondest homeschooling memories to this date.

Rather than forcing me into the institutional learning model, my mom curated an environment that helped me thrive and learn at my pace--which tended to be faster than Lightning McQueen.

In the years since my ADHD diagnosis, my mom has actually asked me if I thought I would have been more successful/better off if I had gone to school and been diagnosed as a child. My answer is--maybe more successful. Maybe I would have finished my college degree. Had more friends who didn't walk out of my life because I was just too much.

But would I have my spark? My passions? My creativity and sense of adventure? I don't think so. So my answer is always, unequivocally, no. I am so thankful for the education my mom provided me in my early years because it didn't just teach me what I needed to regurgitate for tests. It taught me to learn. And to love learning.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

That's what my mom did. Taught me to yearn for the vast sea of learning and exploration.

To question my surroundings.

To listen. To speak up. And to create.

There have been a lot of other lessons and influences in my life that have made me who I am--but the connection to family, nature, and curiosity I believe is the foundation of who I am and how I teach as a mother, nanny, educator, and leader in my community today.

I don't have all the answers, and I'm no conservationist, but I have one thing that many institutional educators do not--humility. I know that I don't know everything, but what I do have is the yearning to find out. And I strive every day to pass that yearning onto my charges and son in everything do.

While some may just see kids digging in the dirt, I see a future etymologist finding a new species of earthworm and all the neat things about it.

Instead of a lazy kid picking clovers in the middle of a soccer field, I see a future botanist observing the natural world and how it works.

Instead of a feral child jumping off of logs and rocks, I see a future engineer testing the effects of gravity and learning the basics of velocity that will help them engineer the next high-speed rail that connects our cities.

My son, Rowen, his happy place

There is no end to things to learn and explore in nature. So I encourage you EVYERDAY.

GET OUTSIDE.

It doesn't have to be for hours. It doesn't have to be all day. But I promise, when you get outside with intentionality and with a sense of curiosity and ready to learn WITH the young people in your life, you will find yourself more in balance and desiring that time more and more each day.

There are benefits to outdoor play for all of us, to check out a few, head to this list by the amazing organization 1000 Hours Outside!

And remember.

Get outside.

Learn with them.

And you will all thrive together.

Thanks for reading, and check back next week for the next installment of Naptime Nature Chats hosted by The Year of the Nanny Club on Clubhouse at 2pm!