Build a geodome where the children of Bosque Escola Avelãs can store their materials and take shelter on rainy days.
5 years ago, in a small place in the upper Alentejo, a group of families got together with the aim of educating their children in contact with nature. The partnership with the Municipality of Marvão made it possible to enjoy and take care of a charming farm on about 8 hectares. This is how Bosque Escola Avelãs was born.
This inclusive community project that embraces all families, regardless of their financial capacity, requires, on the one hand, great creativity in budget management, and on the other hand, it allows to bring and welcome new families to this depopulated and
extremely aged region of the interior. Right now, the biggest challenge for us, to continue to grow and welcome more children, is to find a space of physical refuge and warmth in the heart of the forest.
We dream of a space that maximizes children's immersion in Nature and minimizes the impact on the farm's landscape. Thus, the idea arose of building a geodome with about 40m2 so that the children of Bosque Escola Avelãs can store their materials and be comfortable studying, especially on days when the weather conditions require it.
If children don't grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it,
they will not understand it.
And if they don't understand it, they won't protect it.
And if they don't protect it, who will?
Sir David Attenborough
In the hope that this idea will prevail, we make a virtual appeal to all sentient beings who support us in this mission.
About the author
More and more people are aware of the positive impact of being outdoors on our mental and physical health. Over the past decade, the term Nature Deficit Disorder has become popular, bringing the idea that humans, especially children, are spending less and less time outdoors, and that this shift results in a wide range of problems; behavioral and emotional. Forest schools are springing up across the country.
Bosque Escola Avelãs (BEA) is a community project, founded in 2017, located in Marvão and aimed at children from 3 to 12 years old. It is an outdoor education project, centred on the child, in a context of nature and following the principles of the Forest School.
The BEA takes place at Quinta das Avelãs, a space that combines the forest in its natural, wild and free aspect with the farm and the permaculture principles of caring for the land, caring for people and caring for the future.
Bosque Escola's activity responds to the needs of local families and allows the establishment of new families in the region.
BEA's pedagogic activities for preschool and primary-age children promote free play and art as conductors of discovery of nature and learning, and support the concepts of the invisible school and nature as a teacher. These activities provide children with
regular opportunities to build confidence through hands-on learning in a forest environment. Alongside school content (literacy, mathematics, foreign languages, ...), this curriculum covers topics from the natural world such as flora and fauna, emotional
skills such as teamwork, conflict resolution, risk management and personal care, communication, self-esteem, food and hygiene.
For more information:
Email – Correiodobea@gmail.com
Website – www.bosque-escola-avelas.org
Budget and due dates
Scheduling:
1st fortnight of October: publicity of the fundraising campaign
1st fortnight of December: start of construction of the shelter
Beginning of January: opening of the new space
Budget:
Total cost of construction of the Geodome: €15,000
Costs borne by the project and material donations: €3000
Amount to be raised: €12,000
If the campaign exceeds the amount to be raised, the surplus will be used to purchase teaching materials.
Images
Documents
