Does your family enjoy nature? Do you want your children to learn more about it? The Discovery Wilderness School in Comstock Park, Michigan may be the school for your home-schooled kids!
Here at this school, students are taught about plants, animals, and nature while being immersed in nature every day! The classes are held at the actual park, where any student aged 2-18 can participate, and courses are separated by age. Having an actual school in the wilderness enables these kids to develop a sense of protection for nature and become better stewards of earth’s creation.
Younger students can play, explore trails, hike along the lakeside, and more all while stopping to learn more about the nature they are witnessing with their own eyes. Connecting with nature is an opportunity the teachers really want their students to experience at a young age, and this school does just that. Walking and hiking on uneven grounds help children develop superior motor skills. When creating projects comes into play, they tend to use materials found in nature, and make it work in a fun way. They learn to live in a place where finding access to materials promotes creativity.
Older students can do more activities like kayaking, snowboarding, rock climbing, animal tracking, fishing, wood carving, building shelters, and much more. While they do these, they also have coursework to complete while being outside and completing several team building exercises. For the oldest students, they even get tested on an overnight trip in the woods! This shows just how much they can learn about nature while taking these courses.
Mathew Meals, GreenStone Credit Analyst out of the Grand Rapids branch, sends his daughter Ava to the kindergarten class at the Discovery Wilderness School. This year in August, he and his wife Mary volunteered their time to help the school build two outdoor playgrounds for the students this year, all while using only logs and rocks found in the large park.
“Creating these outdoor playgrounds for the kids allows them to become more interested in nature itself, as well as enjoy their time playing in it even more.” said Mathew. “Nature impacts our lives every day, and I truly believe it should be a part of every student’s education.”
To learn more about the Discovery Wilderness School, please visit Discovery Wilderness School.
