Cedarville Global Community School (CGCS) is a nature-based preschool based in Gainesville, FL. The school currently has 65 children enrolled, ranging in ages three months–Pre–k. Most students are enrolled from 8:00-5:30 daily and spend 3–4 hours outside. CGCS prioritizes maintaining a learning environment where everyone can learn at their own pace with encouragement.
Natural Start spoke with Cedarville Global Community School’s owner and director, Debby Kinman-Ford, to learn more. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to watch the video tour they provided of the school!
What opportunities in nature do you find to teach children about the values of community?
Our students are taught from day one that no matter how little a person is, there is always another being that’s even smaller. Everyone has an important job in taking care of the people and other beings in our world. We spend much of our day discussing our relationships with animals and the many magical creatures–fairies, gnomes, dragons and brownies–we have at our school. If we don’t take care of the trees, the fairies and gnomes will have no place to live, and if we don’t take care of our pet bunnies, guinea pigs, hedgehog, mice and fish, then they will get sick.
What does it mean to be a global citizen, and how does your nature-based curriculum promote the concept?
Being a global citizen means being respectful of all living beings in our world and honoring what they need to survive and be happy. As seen in nature, what one tree needs compared to another plant or animal is different. Similarly, in the human community our needs differ from one another–we all live in different houses, eat different food, and celebrate in different ways. We teach our students that a good and kind person understands such differences and respects them.
What advice do you have for other programs that want to raise global citizens?
We believe that kindness and respect are core pillars for all living beings to live in harmony. We encourage other programs to teach social responsibility, stewardship, and respect from a young age so that children will grow up to be curious and accepting of differences around them, rather than fearful and intolerant.