World Geography: Africa

Arts and Science Homeschool Enrichment in Colorado Geography

Our Arts & Science Homeschool Enrichment program during Winter and Spring trimesters was dedicated to World Geography — Africa.

The diversity and abundance of Africa left the kids in awe and excited to travel there one day. The goal for our lessons was not only to have the children learn the information, but most importantly to inspire curiosity and self motivation to discover the world around us and beyond! What we learned was just an introduction to this beautiful continent and we desire to encourage our students to continue their own learning and discussions at home!

Click here to see our full overview of all the activities and fun we had during this curriculum.

World Geography: Africa overview — click here

Anatomy curriculum wrap up

STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

As we are wrapping up our 2022 fall trimester we wanted to share with you some of the photos from our STEAM program (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math), this fall it was dedicated to human anatomy.

Skeleton clay modeling

Our core project was playdough modeling of human skeleton. Over the years we developed and worked with the children on a number of playdough modeling projects on topics such as birds, hibernation, ant hill structure and botany. These projects are both science and art. Children find them fun and engaging, while slow pace of the step-by-step project offers deeper understating of the topic and better retention of new knowledge.

While working on a playdough modeling project the following disciplines are incorporated:

  • ✓ Science — botany, anatomy, biology, etc. Depending on what we are modeling.
  • ✓ Mathematics — children use measuring tape and rulers, we discuss proportions, comparative sizes and shapes.
  • ✓ Fine motor skill and sensory work through making of various elements needed in the course of the lesson.
  • ✓ Arts and self expression — during the project children learn both to model someone’s else’s work (essential in development of new skills) and once new skills acquired children are free to create and add their own elements to the project.
  • ✓ Logical thinking — learning to plan a project made of multiple steps.
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

Hands-on experiments

STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

As each week we worked on building a next section of the human skeleton we discussed with the children the function of that skeletal segment. Children learned about nerves and their role in communication between the brain and all of the body. We discussed the essential role of the rib cage in protecting vital organs, such as heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. The children were fascinated about the dual bone structure of the forearm and lower part of the leg, and seeing how that structure makes twisting movement possible! We had a fun experiment on digestion, and even built a little robotic hand.

Scroll down to see some of the photos from these projects of fall’s STEAM curriculum.

Hands-on experiment topic: spine, vertebrae and spinal disks

STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

Hands-on experiment topic: lungs

STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

Hands-on experiment topic: hand structure

STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy
STEAM homeschool enrichment program on anatomy

Rock climbing in Cheyenne Canyon

rock climbing classes for children in Colorado Springs

In a previous post about our rock climbing classes I shared photos of the kiddos climbing in Red Rock Open Space. We really enjoyed our trips to Red Rocks Open Space through the winter, with it’s different terrain from our usual locations and the sun keeping rocks warm.

Recently, as the weather finally started to get warmer our forest school had a few rock climbing classes in Cheyenne Canyon, which offered a very different type of rock surface to climb. Here in this short post I wanted to share a few photos from our climbing classes in Cheyenne Canyon this past Spring season.

Our rock climbing classes are done with the guides from Front Range Climbing Co, and we couldn’t recommend these guys enough.

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Hanging out with wolves, May 2021

Our Spring semester 2021 is about to finish. It is a bitter sweet time for us this year, as we are also saying farewell to a few of our dear students whose families are moving out of state. Before the kiddos move away onto new adventures we wanted to give them another special experience to carry in their hearts after we part ways — a meet and greet with wolves.

hanging out with the wolves

In case you haven’t seen it in our previous posts, about twice a year we get together with the wolves (and people 🙂 ) of the Colorado Wolf Adventures for some close time with the wolves, as a part of learning about the role of predators in an eco-system, and the incredibly valuable role of the wolves specifically.

hanging out with the wolves

Our last 2 meet-and-greet with wolves had to be cancelled due to all restrictions around COVID. And so we were very excited that with the latest changes to COVID restrictions it became possible for us to get together with the majestic animals, before some of our students move off onto new exciting things in their lives!

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Learning about animal tracks with children — what worked and what didn’t

learning animal tracks with children outdoor learning activities at the forest school

At the end of February after 2 months of learning about African Wild Dogs it felt like the kiddos were ready for a new topic to learn about. They still very much loved playing with our African Wild Dog stuffies and vet and ranger supplies, but yet it felt like their minds were ready for something new to learn about and absorb. So at the end of African Wild Dog learning block we had a little graduation and our aspiring rangers “flew” on our make-believe airplane-log back to their home base in United States. And so I thought learning about animal tracks would be a logical new topic to learn about, as what rangers don’t need that particular skill, right?

Learning about animal tracks however didn’t click with the kids from the first go. But I was determined to find a way to interest them in it. And so I kept trying few different approaches to find the one that would click. Eventually I got there!

Even though, there are a lot of beautiful supplies and curriculums out there, but they are of no use if we as parents or teachers do not find a way to interest our children in them. And getting there often takes more than one attempt before one succeeds. 🙂

And so I thought in this post to share with you the process of fine-tuning and tweaking of our learning projects that we go through in order to establish the connection that will engage the children, make it fun and enjoyable learning adventures.

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Our African Wild Dogs inspired learning

“What we learn with pleasure we never forget” ~ Alfred Mercier

Colorado Springs forest school

Learning about nature is an essential part of our program. Not only we believe in the importance of children learning about natural world and the need to protect it, especially in our times when species are disappearing so quickly. But also nature-based learning is a wonderful way to touch upon many disciplines while keeping them all tied in together, thus avoiding the pitfall of disassociated learning.

“… nature-based learning is a wonderful way to touch upon many disciplines while keeping them all tied in together, thus avoiding the pitfall of disassociated learning.

Colorado Springs forest school

So this winter our nature learning was dedicated to African Wild Dogs. All of the learning activities were play-based and were so much fun for kids and us. I’m excited to share it here with you. In the process of this play-based learning we touched upon zoology, animal anatomy, geography, basic veterinarian tools, as well as learned how to use radios, compass and stethoscope.

Video

Here is a little video covering some of the moments from our 2 months learning journey. And below it you can find more photos and details about our activities.

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We have adopted a pack of African Wild Dogs

“Children have a natural affinity towards nature. Dirt, water, plants, and small animals attract and hold children’s attention for hours, days, even a lifetime.” – Ben Hewitt, Homegrown

We are excited to share the news that our forest school has adopted a pack of African Wild Dogs in order to help this wonderful, but critically endangered species to survive.

Further in this post I tell a little bit about how this adoption came about. But first, I wanted to share this wonderful documentary about African Wild Dogs. The documentary is by Kim Wolhuter, and I highly recommend his other nature documentaries.

“Dogs in the land of lions” film

If this video fails to load you can find it available for free here on PBS.ORG. Continue reading

Magical encounter on Winter Solstice 2020

Each year we celebrate Winter Solstice with the children at the forest school. Our festivals and celebrations always have a touch of magic making them a special experience for the children. Last year during our Winter Solstice celebration we had a surprise visit from Father Winter to our school cabin in Palmer Lake. This year we ran into Tomte — from the Yule Tomte and Little Rabbits story — in the forest.

We also find ways to make the celebrations meaningful, where children are rewarded for kindness and care towards other people or animals.

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Our weekly rock climbing classes

Colorado Springs forest school nature kinder garden outdoor enrichment program and rock climbing for children

We are very excited to announce that we have added weekly rock climbing classes to our forest school program. It has been a dream of ours for some time. All of out students have always been so excited for any opportunity to climb — be it on a boulder, a log or a tree branch. And climbing onto things is often mentioned as one of their favorite moments of the day when they return home.

So after figuring out few logistics, I’m very excited to make rock climbing a new weekly activity in addition to our other exciting activities. The rock climbing is done under the supervision and instruction of professional rock climbing guides.

Colorado Springs forest school nature kinder garden outdoor enrichment program and rock climbing for children Continue reading

Our program is now in a Colorado Springs location

Forest school Colorado Springs nature kindergarten outdoor school program

This post is about 2 1/2 months overdue, but I wanted to share an update about the new location for our forest school program. As of August 2020 we have moved the program over to the Southwest side of Colorado Springs. The move came as a result of a number of trail closures and restrictions in Palmer Lake where we used to operate. It was an ongoing and developing situation throughout the summer, and eventually we felt we could no longer offer there the beautiful outdoor experience that is the essence of our program.

Our new location for the forest school program is about the same distance time-wise for anyone living in Colorado Springs south of Monument, and is significantly closer if you live in the central part of the city and further South. In fact this location was our primary choice for a nature-based school when we first conceived of it 2 years ago, but due to zoning rules in Colorado Springs we could not set it up there the way we wanted at the time.

Forest school Colorado Springs nature kindergarten outdoor school program Continue reading