Parent Volunteers in Outdoor Education

[Herb Broda]

Recently a parent pointed out to me that schoolyard and other outdoor volunteering provides unique options for the “not so typical” parent volunteer. She is perfectly happy to spend a few hours weeding flower beds, but is not interested in attending traditional parent/teacher association meetings. There are certainly many parents who are eager to be involved beyond just providing cupcakes or attending monthly evening meetings. And to be very blunt, it is simply impossible to implement and sustain a multi-faceted and multi- classroom outdoor learning program without the help of parents and other community volunteers.

Summer is a good time to plan or tweak a volunteer program. Here are a half-dozen tips for utilizing parent volunteers:

1. Show connections -- First, parents need to understand why you are emphasizing outdoor instruction. Have parents take part in a sample outdoor activity as part of a parent group meeting. As the activity is debriefed, parents quickly see the value of outdoor learning and its connection to academic content.

2. Survey parents—Put together a quick survey to find out interests, hobbies, or special training that parents may have to contribute to the development of learning enhancements on the school site. Be sure to query about technical and construction skills as well as nature- related interests.

3. Develop a predictable schedule—it helps to keep workdays on somewhat of a schedule-- for example, the third Saturday of every month, or the first Monday from 3:00-5:00. It helps to use several different days and times since some very willing volunteers may not be available on Saturday mornings, but would be delighted to help on a weekday afternoon.

4. Provide options—Nobody wants to weed ALL the time. Provide lists of tasks to be accomplished and let volunteers select tasks they would enjoy. If volunteers notice that one task is being overlooked, someone will step forward.

5. Plan to replace-- An inevitable reality of school volunteerism is that your star volunteer will leave. An outdoor program should not be defined by one teacher, nor should the parent volunteer effort be driven by the herculean efforts of one or two parents. Develop a leadership pool by providing lots of ways for many parents to lead and coordinate activities and projects.

 

6. Acknowledge volunteers-- We all appreciate a thank you. Find ways to acknowledge the efforts of your volunteers through certificates, social events, newsletters, school assemblies, etc. One Ohio school has students raise plants to give to volunteers as a small thank you gift.

                                                               ---Herb Broda

[Juliet Robertson]

Hi Herb

 

This is a lovely practical list. I'd like to add to this...when parents enrol their child into school, get them to complete an optional skills and interests sheet where they list their profession, hobbies, skills and interests. This can go beyond simply outdoor activities but extend into any other project work. In my experience, people often like to be asked directly, so if one knows a person with a skill who could assist the school then a direct approach really works.

 

A great example of this is one this fence blog. The fishing net was made by children with the help of a local fisherman. It's been used as an outdoor display. One year later, it's still up and running - in fact at the moment it's full of recycled spiders!

 

I've also involved older children in maintenance programmes over the summer. For example, from the school fund we paid children pocket money to come and water the plants on a twice weekly basis. 

 

Hope this adds to any discussion - I'd love to hear more suggestions from others.

 

Best wishes

Juliet

 

 

[Herb Broda]

Hi Juliet--

  The fence art is wonderful! Every school has the "ugly chain link fence" which can become a marvelous gallery upon which to display student work. Thanks for sharing.