Our “classroom” besides the garden will be everything around the school, which – being Terény and its surrounding area – is especially diverse: forests, castle ruins, fields, pastures, forest ranches, viewpoints and beautiful, small, old Palóc villages can all be found nearby.
During our first year, we will explore the area, familiarize ourselves with the forests’ flora and fauna and experience various natural phenomena. We will examine the organisms in our spring water samples with the help of mobile laboratories, observe 200-year-old trees in the forest and uncover their stories. While looking for animal tracks, we will count numerous kinds of oak trees and identify different types of herbs and mushrooms. During autumn, we can listen to stags bellowing, and if the children feel like it, talk to hunters and listen to their point of view. By going out in every season, we will see the many faces of the forest. For us, the forest is an inspiring recreational place, and we hope to pass on the joys of walking in the forest to the children as well.
Having “mindfulness” lessons in the forest is part of the plan, but survival hikes and orientation competitions have come to mind as well.
Working together with rangers, national parks, and mushroom experts, we learn what forests give us and what we can do in return. We organize local movements to protect forests (by collecting garbage, for example).
On foot, by bike, or even on horseback, we will spend as much time as possible in the forest, enjoying the fresh air. We will find out whether we can live in the forest without electricity and heating and talk to forest rangers about the treatment of local forest areas. Should one of the children think of teaching a pig to hunt down truffles, we will arrange a way for them to do so. Our goal is for children to enjoy their time spent in the forest, consider its protection important, and understand why its diversity and growth matter a lot.