Fwiw, I send my pre-schooler to one. They often go by the lower-case name "forest school", although there is an official Forest School in the east bay, and fran

Fwiw, I send my pre-schooler to one. They often go by the lower-case name "forest school", although there is an official Forest School in the east bay, and frankly the outdoors that the kids spend time in is more of a cross of beach and park, less forest. When it rains, they wear galoshes and get suited up. Forest schools tend to have a "learning through play" philosophy, at least the ones I'm aware of. https://learningthroughplay.com/explore-the-research/the-scientific-case-for-learning-through-play https://learningthroughplay.com/explore-the-research/the-sci... I suspect they do well at socializing kids, and letting them figure things out for themselves. Definitely not doing some version of teaching to the test. Other advantage: it stayed open during COVID. Disadvantage: The smoke season in CA is a problem.