What is your school`s daily rhythm?

• 8:35-8:45 Office hours for parent conversations/answering questions

• 8:45 Class begins! Snack and morning circle and story time

• 9:15 Hiking begins! Please text Haley if you are running later than 9:15, so the teachers can arrange to meet you

• 9:15-11:45 Adventuring! Exploring! Trailblazing! Learning! Building confidence and independence!

• 12:00-Return to tarp for lunch and art and more stories

• 1:00- Say goodbye to 1pm departures, prepare for our afternoon hike

• 1:00-2:45-Last hike of the day

• 2:45-3pm: Pickup at the landing spot/trailhead!

What should I pack for my child to have a great day?

In our Preschool class, children are not asked to hike carrying their entire backpack. This is great news, because it means families can pack more to ensure their child is extra prepared! Children are only asked to carry their own water bottle on our hikes. This is to ensure they have constant access to water throughout the day to prevent dehydration.

Bring:

• 2 snacks and 1 lunch. 1 of the snacks should be in a separate container in case the lunch is spilled/gets dirty.

• Extra clothes that are appropriate for the weather that day

• For warm days, an extra water bottle

• Plastic bag to store dirty clothes in

Optional but encouraged:

• hand sanitizer

• wipes

What should I not pack?

We realize asking children to leave their favorite toys at home can be a challenge, but holding toys or stuffed animals during our school day prevents children from using their hands to explore, and can be dangerous if they trip and fall and don`t have their hands free to catch themselves. A compromise some families have found helpful is leaving the toy in the car during the school day!

• any small plastic items that can get lost and be harmful to the environment

• stuffed animals

• toys

• rope-like toys than can become a strangulation hazard

How do I dress my child for success?

• Keep our activities in mind! Clothing should be good for running, climbing, playing in dirt, using paints, etc.

• Looser clothing is preferred over tight clothing (such as skinny jeans)

• Fabrics that are stretchy and your child can move in

• Layering is better! Your child will require different layers as the weather/ their activity levels change throughout the day

• For sunny days, sunscreen is more practical than a hat for young children. Hats will fall off or are taken off by the child.

• Even for hot days, shorts are not encouraged due to scrapes, insects, and poison oak. Socks should be long and cover the bottom of the pants so that the whole leg is protected.

• Waterproof pants are a fantastic investment, and are lightweight for warmer days, or can be layered over another pair of pants for cooler days. We do not have chairs, so your child will be sitting on a log, in a tree, or on our tarp, which can all be damp. 

• Always bring a jacket for your child

• gloves are not encouraged for cold weather, as they have to be taken off for the child to eat and are easily lost

• when buying new rainsuits, two-piece suits are preferable to one-pieces so the child can go to the bathroom easier

What about rainy days?

We love rainy days at forest school! The sound of the rain is calming, and engaging with raindrops and puddles can be a great sensory experience for young children. You can check out the tent we have here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtI1X3in-0s

We will evaluate the weather on a daily basis to determine the best plan of action. Wind speeds of over 20MPH in combination with heavy rain can create a dangerous environment due to falling branches, and we will give a heads-up ahead of time if we need to cancel school for safety reasons.

Has all of your staff passed a background check?

Yes, all of our staff has passed a background check before beginning training and interacting with children. We only want the highest quality of teachers, and paying our staff more than the average local preschool allows us to be extremely selective about who we bring on board.

Do you have insurance?

Yes, we have general liability insurance. For more specifics about our policy, you can send us an email inquiry.

How much is tuition for your program?

It is really important to us that our program be accessible to families with different levels of income, so we are charging a flat rate of $12.50 per hour per child, regardless of how many days the child is enrolled. Families will be billed retroactively, and only pay for days their child attended, every 2 weeks.

What about emergencies?

Most of our staff has T-Mobile, which offers the best phone service coverage in our forest school area. We also carry a first-aid kit, and all of our staff possess current CPR certification. Our protocol in emergencies is to contact parents or emergency contacts immediately, and 911 if appropriate.

Is your school licensed?

California`s childcare licensing regulations are based on the assumption that there is a site that can be inspected every year to make sure that it is safe for children. Forest schools can not be licensed by the state of California unless they have a permanent indoor site. Caterpillar to Butterfly is committed to upholding all California Community Care licensing regulations best practices (that are not related to a physical school building/structure). These regulations can be found here:

https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-licensing

Families are always welcome to observe our program to ensure we are following through with our commitments.