Outdoor School is Officially In Session! • The Fashionable Housewife

We’re thrilled to be a part of Macmillan’s
Outdoor School Super Influencer Team!

Launching next Tuesday, April 27th, Outdoor School (from Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group), will have three definitive, interactive nature guides: Animal Watching; Rock, Fossil, and Shell Hunting, and Hiking and Camping all geared towards ages 8-12.

There are also two smaller, pocket Essentials Guides on Animal Tracks and Survival Skills. Both are made with durable Tyvek material and are waterproof and tear-proof.

There are also three Spot and Sticker books – Animals, Plants, and Birds. Each book has 400 beautifully illustrated stickers for kids to enjoy. As an added bonus, the sticker books fold out into a checklist sticker poster for kids to keep track of the animals, plants, or birds that they discover during their outdoor adventures!

My oldest son (10) absolutely loves to be outside (just like his dad) so he was over the moon to do official “Outdoor School“. He jumps at any excuse he can use to go outside! Thanks to lots of walks and talks from his dad, he already knows the names of most trees and mushrooms and is quite knowledgeable about foraging too. Outdoor School is right up his alley!

Trying to decide which book has been his favorite for the past few weeks…

The amazing new series was created by big names in the outdoor community that includes Jennifer P. Davis (Nat-Geo Adventurer of the Year) and Haley Blevins (a former teacher who has walked over 10,000 miles of trail).

All of the illustrations are clear and beautifully done. I love how each topic is organized into categories and then further categorized by color. This book series is just so well-done. I’ve looked at a lot of curriculums over the years, and this is actually one of my favorites. I’m really impressed!

Why Your Children Need Outdoor School

As you know, hands-on learning and playing outside is more important than ever before. Between remote learning becoming the new norm and more people getting out of the system completely to homeschool full-time, it’s so important to incorporate outdoor time into our schedules. Being a long-time veteran homeschooler, I’m really excited that homeschooling is becoming more mainstream because there are so many cool resources showing up now, like this one!

According to the Child Mind Institute, “the average American child spends 4 to 7 minutes a day in unstructured play outdoors, and over 7 hours a day in front of a screen.” (A statistic that has only gotten worse with the start of the pandemic and increased at-home learning.)

Outdoor School is the perfect thing for families who realize the importance of outdoor time and who want to unplug their kids from their screens, fire up their little imaginations, and experience all the wonders of the outdoor world.

Explaining to me everything he learned about geodes…

Telling me all about mushrooms…

Great For The Whole Family

While my 10 year old son has been the primary user of the Outdoor School curriculum, it’s been fun for my special-needs 6 year old son as well. He is obsessed with skeletons, bones and fossils (can you tell?) so his favorite book to do with his brother has been the Rock, Fossil, & Shell Hunting one.

He can’t read the books himself, but really enjoys looking at the pictures and helping his older brother hunt for things. It’s been a great way for these two unlikely friends to bond and learn to cooperate with each other.

Pre-Order The Books

We have been absolutely LOVING Outdoor School and know your kids will too! They will have fun reading about new things, not having to be cooped up in the house, and learning to enjoy the outdoors. I can’t wait to tell you more about our adventures in a couple of weeks!

The Outdoor School series of books will be released next Tuesday, April 27th, but you can pre order them now on Amazon from the link below!

Click here to pre-order the books on Amazon!

Free Printable

Print out the FREE printable below to take part in the Rewild Your Life Challenge that you can do even if you don’t have the Outdoor School books. It’s a great way to get your whole family more involved with nature!