The Forest School of Minnesota

Updated 10÷9÷15
I no longer believe my previous review (below) to be true or have merit. While there are some good things that came out of our child’s experience at this school, in retrospect, I think the owner is unfair, manipulative, and untrustworthy. Without going into detail and to maintain the privacy of what happened to our family, over time our child has told us some things about the way he was treated that is worrisome and unsettling. The children are scared of her (and so are some of the parents). Instead, we were told that our happy and funny boy had a grumpy disposition. Turns out, it was because of Michele and her school. After 2.5 years there, he was bored but she, instead, accused him of having bad behavior (classic excuse by a teacher who has plateaued). I would not feel comfortable recommending this school nor vouching for the woman who runs.
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I concur with Allison C.‘s review. Our 3 year-​young son began at the Forest School this summer and it has been a transformative experience for him and us. Michele treats each student as an individual. She works with them to foster leadership skills, cooperation, creativity, patience, kindness, and understanding of their bodies. If there are any behavioral or developmental challenges of the child, she works creatively with the children and parents to help address them at home and at school. Our son is better at sharing, cooperation and listening because of Michele’s care and investment in his development. What we really like is the idea that the day’s agenda is dictated by the children’s pace in exploring on their way to the forest or lake, or elsewhere. It is not focused on getting the children to learn to read, write or be potty trained before they are ready. Still, she incorporates these skills daily by teaching them to write their names with their fingers in the sand or snow, or to read the street signs, for example. What we also like is that our son interacts with children between the ages of 2 – 6, so he learns to help out younger students while also learning from the older students. The groups are small, and as Allison mentioned, Michele works with you on your schedule and the budget. We feel very fortunate to have found her especially since so many «nature» schools are popping up when in fact they don’t spend most of the time outside. How will that work in the winter? Just as it did when we were kids. They don’t stay outside the entire time when it’s very cold. They come inside and get cozy and then go out again! What do they do when it rains? They put on a rain jacket and pants and go puddle jumping! It’s a real nature immersion school that teaches our son the appreciation of his environment and all its living creatures and how he relates to that environment in space and time. In that respect, he learns about his own body, his emotions, and himself.