"My whole life I've gravitated towards working with children outside the typical school system," says Whitney Glage, the owner of Tiny Forest Academy.
Located in Tiny Township in Simcoe County, Ontario, it's what is known as a forest school—an outdoor academy that offers supplemental alternative and holistic learning for children.
"If the kids want to spend five hours building a fort, they can do that," Whitney says. "And during that time, they'll be doing math, problem solving, and working together with their peers. There's a million different ways you can pull in academic curriculum under the guise of 'we're just building a fort.'"
Whitney grew up in Midland, Ontario, and the large network of families and community members she got to know over the years helped get her business off the ground. Whitney's work ethic has also been crucial to the school's success. "She teaches, plows snow, repairs infrastructure, and manages the endless administrative work involved in running an independent school," says school educator Kait Byrick.
Her vision is to provide a space for children to figure out who they are and to foster soft skills like communication, self-regulation, and collaboration. It's open to students enrolled in the public and private school systems as well as homeschooled students and students doing pod-style learning.
To ensure rich learning experiences, the school's staff includes certified teachers, farmers, naturalists, coaches, artists, and musicians, and there's a 5:1 ratio of students to educators. Forest schools like Whitney's have been growing in popularity in Canada, but Whitney drew inspiration from her family background.
"My dad and many of my relatives are from Germany, where outdoor kindergartens are common," she says. "They come to school prepared to get muddy and dirty."
At Tiny Forest Academy, the students range in age from infants accompanied by parents to eighth graders. During the school year, children come one day a week and can attend summer camps offered in July and August.
Whitney's background in education and entrepreneurship began when she and her best friend developed a children's summer day camp while they were still in university. She's also worked at other summer camps and—after getting an English degree at the University of Guelph—Whitney ran children's functional movement programs and summer camps at a CrossFit gym owned by her brother.
"I discovered that I really like being able to make change as soon as I see a need for it. I get really frustrated when I'm stifled by bureaucracy and red tape."
In 2016, Whitney began a Bachelor of Education at Lakehead Orillia with the goal of offering alternative education for children. She graduated in April 2018 and by June 2018, she'd started Tiny Forest Academy.
"A lightbulb often turns on for kids at the forest school," Whitney says. "They learn confidence and respect for themselves and for others. Our goal is to foster a love of learning, if we aren't doing that, then we're not doing our job."
Seeing the way her students come alive in this new environment has reaffirmed her career vocation. "We have a lot of kids who struggle in the standard classroom setting where they sit at desks for hours at a time, but who thrive at forest school."
Most mornings begin with educators asking the kids what they want to do. One group might want to look for animal tracks and another group might want to sit in a hammock and read a story.
"The beauty of being outdoors is that children get what they need, whether it's quiet time or climbing trees," Whitney says. "My favourite thing is saying, 'Look at all the learning that happened today,' and the kids respond, 'We didn't learn anything.' I love it because they think it was just a fun day outside."
Kait Byrick enrolled her children in Tiny Forest Academy, and she was so impressed by what she saw that she now works as an educator at the school. "Imagine walking into a conventional schoolyard and seeing kids climbing trees, using saws, and building a fire," Kait says. "Hard to imagine, right? Despite overwhelming research detailing the importance of risky play," she adds, "our education system is unfortunately not designed to support this type of learning in conventional schools."
Learn more about forest schools by watching the interview with Whitney posted below.