The Guelph Outdoor School

The Guelph Outdoor School is designed as a rich learning alternative for young people between the ages of 8 and 16. Priority is given to children labelled as ADD / ADHD and those who struggle in the conventional classroom format of most public and private schools. The school is inspired by a lecture series by Jon Young, a tracker and naturalist. The lecture refers to those individuals who often understand the forest with ease, the ones that can attend to multiple events at once. These learners are able to focus on specifics but often hear, see and feel the hidden details that others miss. In the classroom, it is the humming of the florescent lights, the quiet churning of a pencil sharpener, the tap-tap-tap of a shoe. Outdoors, the child is gifted, making sense of multiple stimulus, not distractions, but events truly worthy of their attention. They are attending to the stuff of life, it is where the child discovers the natural rhythm of the land and of herself.