180: 2025 Reflections & Looking Ahead to 2026: Growth, Community, and Teaching Beyond Walls

In this special reflective episode, I pause to look back on 2025—a year filled with growth, connection, creativity, and community inside Outdoor Classrooms.

Rather than an interview, this episode is an invitation to slow down. Together, we reflect on what it truly means to build outdoor classrooms over time—with intention, curiosity, and care—while looking ahead to what’s taking root for 2026.

🎙 In This Episode, You’ll Hear About:

🌱 Beginning and ending 2025 with the Outdoor Teaching Bootcamp

How starting—and closing—the year with Bootcamp created a powerful, cyclical rhythm for educators moving through the Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program.

🌸 Life in the Secret Gardens

Parent/child classes, drop-off afterschool programs, birthday celebrations, an art show, and what it looks like when children and adults are given space to truly slow down and connect with nature.

🔵 Teaching Beyond Walls Capstone & Certification Milestones

Celebrating our first graduates, their powerful capstone projects, and the ever-growing Graduate Testimonials page.

🏫 Professional Development & Conference Presentations

Training with Evergreen Day School (Cambridge, MA), Roots and Wings Nature School (NH), Brookwood School (Beverly,Ma) and presentations at Natural Start and MEES.

🎧 179 Podcast Episodes & a Growing Listener Community

Reflections on the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, reaching over 1,000 listeners each month, and what these conversations mean moving forward.

🌿 CIRCLE Membership highlights

12 new workshops added in 2025

12 books read together

Monthly Roundtable discussions

Seasonal masterclasses: Exploring Nature in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall

✍️ Personal milestones

Writing and submitting the first draft of my book, traveling to Acadia National Park and Joshua Tree, and how place continues to shape this work.

🌟 Looking Ahead to 2026

In the final portion of the episode, I share what’s guiding me into the new year:

A commitment to documenting 2026 with one video a day

Using nature as a healing and reflective tool through seasonal living, cooking from the garden, intentional walks, journaling, and habit-building

Expanding CIRCLE Gatherings in the Secret Gardens to deepen community connection

Preparing the January edition of the CIRCLE Chronicle, including:

Our 2026 book list for Roundtable Discussions

12 new monthly workshop topics

Exploring opportunities to connect the Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program with higher education pathways

Seeking like-minded sponsors for the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast to help reach even more educators while staying deeply aligned with our values

💬 Featured Reflections from the Community:

“This podcast reminds me why I became a teacher. It grounds me and gives me permission to slow down.”

“This program gave me language for what I already felt in my bones.”

“CIRCLE feels like professional development that also feeds my soul.”

🌱 A Note for Potential Sponsors

As we head into 2026, Outdoor Classrooms is seeking values-aligned sponsors who believe in nature-based education, community-centered learning, and teaching beyond walls.

If that sounds like you—or someone you know—we’d love to connect.

🔗 Learn More & Stay Connected

FREE Resource:

🌿 Our Children's Library: 4 Types of Teaching Gardens Booklist (PDF) (halfway down the page)

Resources & Links:

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