Hi, I'm Ambre. I'm a mom of three. I'm originally from Europe, and my husband is from Virginia, and I want you to know, right from the start, that I'm just another mom who's building something for her kids.

I created Learning Outdoors RVA because I couldn't find a school that suited my children. I'm not a teacher, and I had never run a school before, and this isn't a business, and it isn't my profession. I'm a mom who wanted a good place for her children to grow and learn, and for lack of other options, I decided to build it.

How it all started

When my eldest turned two, I tried putting him in private schools, and I ran into a lot of frustration. I was really unhappy, for a few reasons. First, the teaching: some of the teachers were wonderful, but with others I found myself wondering what they were doing there, and what training they had received. Then there was drop-off. I wanted to see what happened during the day, and to be welcome if my child needed me to stay in the morning, but parents weren't allowed in, and I could feel I wasn't welcome. At pickup we were always told everything had gone wonderfully, and later my child would tell me that someone had pushed him, or that he'd learned words he shouldn't have, or that he'd been sad and missed me, and none of it was ever mentioned. And the children spent most of their day shut inside, in a classroom, when what they needed at that age was to be outside, moving, touching, exploring. That's when I realized it wasn't the right fit for us.

We spent almost a year in France, where my child was outdoors with an educator the whole time, and I saw the difference it made for him, and when we came back to the United States in 2023, I decided I wouldn't put him back in a conventional school. I looked at homeschooling, but the groups I found usually asked parents to stay and lasted only an hour or two, and I wanted a real community where I could drop him off for longer, and keep working part-time, without running from activity to activity. And that's when I decided to create this school.

What I wanted for my kids

I build this school with a mom's vision, not a school director's, so things are done really differently. Each time, I ask myself what I want for myself, and I build around that: a place where children can be outdoors and play, while they learn. I've always admired how tribes work — someone with a vocation teaches, ages are mixed, and children are around several passionate adults who share a skill — and that's what I wanted here.

After two years of running the school, I've really been able to see how important mixed ages are, first of all for learning. Children naturally want to learn what the older kids know how to do, so there's a natural drive to learn, and it also helps them master what they already know, because when you have to explain something to a younger child, you need to have understood it much more deeply. For example, it's very common that when children are learning to read, they don't love reading to their parents, and when an adult tells them to read, it's not something they enjoy. But when we ask them to read a book to a younger child, suddenly they all know how to read.

And mixed ages matter just as much for discovering who they are. When children are divided by grade, something unnatural happens: they're all competing with each other. They're the same age, so they try to be better than their neighbor, and the goal isn't what they accomplish, it's just doing it better than the other.

With mixed ages, that disappears. We go back to something natural, where you encourage the younger ones and help them get better, and you're inspired by the older ones: you watch what they do differently and try to reach their level. So the only competition left is with yourself. You try to raise your own score instead of competing with those around you, and naturally, that's extremely good for the child.

The teachers I would have loved to have

I choose every teacher myself, and I look for the ones I would have loved to have as a child: passionate people who love what they do, the kind where you can see the spark in their eyes, and who are often more excited than the children. For me, every teacher should be like that, and when we started two years ago we made mistakes, as every new start does, and we learned from them, and I would rather open the school only with the right teachers than compromise on quality. Teachers' quality of life matters enormously to me, because if you pay for something cheap, a saving is made somewhere, and that saving cannot be made on the people we trust with our children, so teachers are paid, including paid time outside class, to build a curriculum made for those specific children, one that evolves with them every week, and small classes are what make that deep connection possible.

As a mom, there are three things I want in my children's day: I want to know they're safe, I want to know they're having fun, and I want to know someone is fostering their curiosity. So that's exactly what I ask our teachers to build everything on, their curriculum and the way they teach. Safety comes first, because we're outdoors and we share the land with animals and plants. Then the day has to be fun, because children want to play, and a day without laughing isn't a good day. And curiosity is where the learning happens: addition can become a race through the forest, and if a hedgehog walks by, we stop and watch, because the goal isn't to rush through fifteen subjects, it's to follow the children and go at their pace. When we ask the kids what they did, they say they just played, and that's exactly how it should feel.

For me, the connection between parents and teachers is one of the most important parts of all of this. As a mom, I want to know I can trust the people I leave my children with, and that they'll talk to me honestly, not just to give a good image of the school. So at the end of the day, our teachers take the time to talk with parents about how the day really went, what went well and what didn't.

It goes both ways, too. You can tell the teacher in the morning that your child slept badly and doesn't have much energy today, and know the day will be adapted for them. Here, there isn't a program that the children have to fit into; it's the other way around, there are children, and the program adapts to them. So you're truly welcome to share with the teachers what you expect, and what matters to you that your child develops, because that's what they're paid to do: build a program that fits your child and your family.

And at the end of every week, each teacher sends every family a private message about their child: what they did that was great, how they've grown that week, the tough moments and how they worked through them, what they're working on right now. Really, what they see in your child through a teacher's eyes. I find that's something we parents so often miss, and nobody ever tells us.

What I wanted was a sincere, deep communication between parents and teachers, because we're a team. We're together, supporting the child, not two strangers who cross paths in the morning and again at pickup. And the teachers are there for you too, with little tips and advice, because as a parent it's nice to have someone to lean on, and to ask for help sometimes. That way, your child feels that a whole group of adults cares about them and loves them, not just that a couple of adults are watching them.

A place for the whole family

I also want my children to be around other kind children, so I select families who are like-minded about raising children, because when I pick my child up, I don't want to hear that another child is mean to him every day, or talks aggressively. Everyone thinks differently, and that's fine, but on children's education it matters, and the group here is harmonious and safe.

It breaks my heart when school is only a place for the child and parents orbit around it without really setting foot inside, so I wanted a community, with spaces for parents to sit, chat, and work, without wasting time commuting. If you can work remotely, you bring your laptop and you're on the same site as your children, and you can take a break with them or go watch their game and come back to work, because it isn't a mysterious place where parents aren't allowed — everyone is together.

Parents are welcome to stay and take part, stay and work, or drop off, and each family finds its balance. Families face huge challenges today, and if I can make life a little easier, I'm happy.

Where we're going

My vision is to create this space for ages 1 to 18, because I never want to have to put my children in a conventional school. I want to give them an education of excellence, and not going to a conventional school doesn't mean giving up excellence — quite the opposite — and I see how quickly and deeply the children learn here, because how you teach is what matters most.

For me, a school of excellence rests on three pillars, and each one matters just as much as the others. The first is nature: understanding the world we live in, how it works and how to take care of it, and learning the real skills that make you self-sufficient. The second is academics, all of them, reading, writing, math, science, taught seriously and well, just not at a desk. And the third is self-improvement, helping each child become the best version of themselves: finding their place in a group and caring for others, learning meditation and inner balance, knowing their strength and their worth, and not being afraid to fail or to start again.

Because the goal was never just to fill their heads with knowledge. I want them to grow into whole human beings, young adults who know how to think and who know themselves, who use their mind and their body to make the most of everything they're capable of, and who know what makes them happy and what their priorities are. Balanced, confident young adults who believe in themselves, that's what I'm building this for.

Today, our program welcomes the Preschool Group, for ages 2.5 to 5, the Elementary Group, for ages 5 to 9, and the Wednesday Group, for ages 4 to 13, and growing this space from age 1 through 18 is the vision we're working toward. It's beautiful to see them every day, happy and thriving, and I'm happy I did this project just for those moments, because they don't want to leave, and they're happy to arrive every morning.

Come spend a day with us

Choosing a school for your child is a big decision, and I don't think it should be made after a quick tour and a brochure. These are our children, the most precious thing we have. That's why we offer a Discovery Day instead.

Your child spends a real day with us, in class with the other kids, and you can stay with them the whole time, work from our parent coworking space, or drop off, whatever feels right. You get to see how your child feels here, and you can take your time before you decide. It's a trial day for us too, so we can make sure it's a good match for your family.

So come spend a Discovery Day with us. We'd love to meet you and your child.

— Ambre