A number of Victoria parents are spending the weekend outdoors so their children can spend half of their first year of school outdoors too.
The grounds surrounding South Park Family School transformed into a tent city Friday, as people wait in line to get one of the 20 coveted spots in the school’s “nature kindergarten” program.
“I like the other idea of a softened introduction to a classroom for my child,” said Peter Sutton, who has been waiting since Friday afternoon. Enrollment is on Monday.
The program, which is open to children across the school district, has kindergarten children spending their mornings learning outdoors and exploring the environment. South Park is across the street from Victoria’s popular Beacon Hill Park and a short walk to the ocean. The students then spend their afternoons in a traditional classroom setting.
“When my grandson has to go into kindergarten and sit in a desk, with a room, his vision is limited to the boundaries of that room,” says Bev Rempel, who was waiting with her granddaughter on Sunday.
A communal area was set up by some of the parents, allowing them a place to warm their hands over an electric fire and watch football games on a laptop. They’re all committed to giving their children an exceptional educational experience – but they’re also aware of how strange their 60-hour campout may look to some.
“I wouldn’t blame them at all,” says Sutton. “I certainly scratched my head and wondered what I was doing myself when I was setting up my tent.”
“But…having spent a few hours with a couple other parents, I now know that my child will now be in a classroom with other children whose parents are as involved with their children lives as much as I like to think I am.”
PHOTOS: The tent city outside South Park school in Victoria, B.C.
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