1. Create a budget.
2. Plan dates and location; arrange for meals.
3. Get approval from the K-12 Board of Education.
4. Let schools know so parents can start planning/saving for the extra cost or include as part of the registration fee for the grade levels involved.
5. Schools need to get their school board approval.
6. Choose a theme; prepare a design for t-shirts and flyers.
7. Plan the schedule. Get ideas from other groups that have an Outdoor School program in place.
a. Group worships; b. Activities – short classes that students rotate through, attending each class once, or a choice of a longer class they attend every day for more in-depth study; and c. Arrange for guest speakers, instructors, volunteers for supervision, lifeguards for water activities, a registered nurse or other licensed medical person.
8. Decide whether you want all the grades to have the same schedule and activities or to have a multi-faceted program with separate activities for 8th grade or for grades 9 and 10.
9. Consider planning alternating curriculum depending on the number of grade levels attending, i.e. if your program is only for grades 5 and 6, have a 2-year cycle; if it’s for grades 5 – 7 have a three-year cycle, etc.
10. Send out registration information about three to four months ahead to schools and to churches to include homeschoolers. Include Registration time and date and the time and date your program is over. Every school should have a few homeschoolers planned into their student insurance budget at the start of the school year. Including them in various activities is a good marketing tool.
11. Collect T-shirt sizes and order shirts.
12. Plan rainy day options and locations for each activity period.
13. Assign sleeping quarters.
14. At registration:
a. Post sleeping quarter assignments and the first day’s schedule where drivers can see it while waiting for their school to register, as groups often arrive in multiple vehicles at different times.
b. Collect one check made out to the conference from each school that covers all students from their location (the conference can later reimburse the school if a student ends up sick after the treasurer wrote the check).
c. Homeschool parents need to pay the school directly and the school’s check needs to include any homeschooler amounts, so it is a school activity that is covered by school insurance. d. Collect Consent to Treat forms to give to the camp nurse. e. Hand out t-shirts by schools, or by cabins for larger schools.
15. During Outdoor School keep notes of what works well and what needs to be changed for next year, so your program keeps improving.
Video from the Arkansas-Louisiana Outdoor School.
Time Event
7:00-7:20 Rise and Shine
7:20-7:30 Line Call/Flag Raising
7:30-8:30 Breakfast & Chores
Staff Worship
8:30-9:00 Pause for Praise
9:10-10:05 Field Study 1
10:10-11:05 Field Study 2
11:10-12:05 Field Study 3
12:10-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:30 Lunch Recess
2:45-5:15 Afternoon Classes
5:30-6:15 Supper
6:20-7:20 Recreation
7:30-7:40 Line Call/Flag Lowering
7:45-8:45 Worship
9:00-9:45 Get ready for Bed
9:45-10:00 Reflections
10:00 Lights out
