Programs

The Naturalist

9-12 year olds

Imagine a program that combines the natural sciences, literature, and the outdoors with real life skills for sustainable self sufficient living. We will do things together like growing cold weather crops, foraging for wild food on the abundant OC property, preserving canned goods for winter, cooking outdoors and possibly building an outdoor beehive oven.

We will also spend time in the art room, learning the craft of bookbinding and stamp carving. We will make our own journals to keep with us along
the way; a place to record observations and ideas. We can even make our own ink! Our stamps and small log books will be used for letterboxing,
an activity which combines navigational skills with hiking and art.

We will learn about the natural world and our connection to it. Bird watching skills will be developed in the field and in our participation in Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Project Feeder Watch. We will develop our knowledge of Botany through outdoor hikes and scavenger hunts and games like Wildcraft. We will put our knowledge of these medicinal plants to use when we learn to make healing salves, syrups and tinctures.

This program will develop critical thinking and analytical skills through the examination of data collected for Project Feeder Watch and the taxonomy of plants and animals. Math skills are fostered during calculations both in the kitchen and the field. Self expression through word and picture are encouraged through nature journal entries. In addition, we will take time each week to dip into the well of literature inspired by the natural world and our connection to it. Each week we will make connections to related fiction, essays and poems through reading together and discussing passages from a variety of authors including Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jean Craighead George, Aldo Leopold, John Boroughs, John Muir, Annie Dillard, Emily Dickenson and many others.

Registration | Tuition
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