Flowersong Outdoor School is open rain or shine.  Children wear insulated boots, rain pants and rain coats with layers of warmth underneath so that they stay content and dry all day long, even it they find an enormous puddle to jump in.  On rainy days, we visit locations with covered areas where we can eat our meals and do lessons and art, but other than that we will be all outdoors.  We are careful to choose safe locations on days where there are high winds to ensure the safety of the children, families and staff!

There are many opportunities for parents or caregivers to participate! We encourage families to share a holiday, craft, skill or cultural topic with us, and come to celebrate their child's birthday.  Families are also invited to monthly 30 minute gatherings during the school day to help create a sense of community, learn more about what we are learning, and participate in fun activities.  We also end the year with a class family camping trip.

On a typical day, parents are welcome to stay a few minutes to play a game or read a story to their child, but this is a drop-off program and is not designed for parents to attend with their child daily.  

Your child's safety is part of our curriculum.  We want your child to learn how to stay within the boundaries, follow our school rules, make safe and appropriate choices, learn to problem solve with peers and take care of themselves, the natural world and their classmates.  At the same time we also want them to take appropriate risks and challenge themselves.  This article can help you better understand the work we are doing at Flowersong.

Flowersong Outdoor School is a three days per week program taking place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  All students enroll for these three days.  There is no 4, 5, 1 or 2 day enrollment.  We find this is just enough time to dive deeply into topics and by having everyone attend every day we can move on to new ideas faster and have more consistency and continuity.

The day begins at 9:00 and ends at 2:00, including a closing circle with caregivers at 1:50 where the children share a little about what they did during the day.  We understand, however, that there are times when you may need to drop off your child late or pick them up early.  On these dates, please communicate your plan ahead of time so you'll know where to find us.

Twice per year parents will come together in the evening on Zoom to learn more about how things are going and to talk about upcoming events, curriculum and plans.  Observations of the children will also occur in the late fall and early spring to help inform Flowersong curriculum.  Conferences with individual families will occur based on these observations to help give each family individual feedback about how their child is doing and to make plans for ways to enhance and support their learning.

All enrolled children are expected to be fully immunized per California law, and proof of immunization must be submitted prior to attendance. Requirements can be found here. If your child is on an alternative immunization schedule for medical reasons, a doctor's documented and signed immunization plan must be on record and kept up to date as your child works towards full immunization.