Based in Fairhope, Alabama 

Homeschool Enrichment 

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In the Nature Connect Homeschool Enrichment program, students connect with their peers through play, activities, and outdoor exploration. From the moment the students arrive, facilitators actively engage the children with a variety of games, such as Run Rabbit Run, Shapeshifter, and Racoon Steals Donut. This helps them to develop friendships as well as to consider animal relationships. For example, in the game Shapeshifter, students are encouraged to reflect upon facts about their animals such as classification, habitat, and physical appearance.

 

Throughout our day, students are engaged with the natural world. Staying together as a group, we move around our wooded campus observing plants, birds, and insects. A highlight of our day is exploring the freshwater creek, where students often find salamanders, tadpoles, minnows, frogs, and a plethora of natural clay perfect for sculpting. We take time to reflect on our surroundings in nature journals or during a “Sit Spot,” where we simply sit quietly in nature and take it all in.

 

Children have many questions throughout the day: what do salamanders eat?; does the Sparkleberry tree produce flowers?; why is the clay different colors? Instead of answering the questions, Nature Connect facilitators encourage students to look for clues in their surroundings. They may not find the answer that day, but over time they will discover something that will lead them closer to an answer. And that is an empowering feeling.

 

Each week, the homeschool enrichment classes focus on a nature theme, and facilitators use books, crafts, and games to engage the children. Over the course of the year, students will be introduced to skills such as: plant identification, animal tracking, shelter building, fire safety, bird identification, storytelling, and hazard awareness. Recently, we added “skill beads” to the homeschool program. Students earn a particular bead for trying to learn a designated skill, such as lighting a ferro rod, trying to identify a certain tree, or practicing First Aid. ​To foster learning, we also enjoy hosting guest speakers and meeting at field trip locations, such as Weeks Bay Estuarine Research Center, Blakeley State Park, and FEEF’s Pelican’s Nest.

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Our mixed-age group provides a unique opportunity for older and younger students to learn from and collaborate with each other. We love to see an older student offering to help a younger classmate with writing skills, or a younger friend showing an older student where she caught a salamander. Our homeschool enrichment program provides a special space for students to connect with each other, the natural world, and the community.

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Sample daily schedule

 

• 9:00 Welcome and Drop-off, Arrival games

• 9:30 Opening Circle

  • Sharing gratitudes, introducing the weekly theme, reading a book or poem

• 9:45 Snack

• 10:00 Weekly theme activity

• 10:30 Bathroom

• 10:45 Natural Exploration

• 11:​45 Bathroom/Handwashing Break

• 12:00 Lunch

• 12:20 Games or Weekly theme activity/craft

• 12:45 Closing Circle ​

  • We each share our favorite part of the day

• 1:00 Goodbye and Pick-up​

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Enrollment requirements:

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• Age: 6-10

• Because we learn in an outdoor classroom without walls, children must be able to stay with the group and follow instructions most of the time.

• Children must show respect towards peers, teachers, nature, and the church property.

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​​​​​​​​​​​See Tuition and Fees​ here. Sibling Discount Available.

See calendar for holidays and breaks.​​

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