LIBERTY LEARNING MINISTRIES
Empowering children to lead, serve, and inspire.
WELCOME TO NATURE TIME
Reimagine special education. Nature Time is dedicated to helping children with special needs grow, develop and heal at their own pace through exploration. Delight, discovery, and adventure fill the outdoor days at Nature Time. We provide a nature immersion program to foster physical, emotional and mental balance through an authentic connection with the natural world. Rustling leaves, squishy mud, fragrant pine – we know intuitively and logically that the outdoors is the best place for our children. Every sense is stimulated by nature for optimal growth and development. Outdoor activity calms and balances excess energy. Your children will sleep deeply and peacefully after a day of exploration....Children who spend more time outdoors are stronger and healthier as well.
ABOUT
Nature Time's philosophy is that children need to spend a large portion of their day outdoors to get the stimulation and natural learning experiences their bodies crave. We believe that hands-on experiential learning is the best approach to developing a healthy body and promoting higher thinking. Being outdoors provides them with not only fresh air, it encourages imaginative play, creativity, hand-eye coordination, balance, physical strength, mental clarity, promotes social skills, reduces stress, improves vision, and increases attention span. When children’s natural curiosity is encouraged, learning flows organically from stimuli encountered in the outdoors.
The general structure will include circle time, wilderness exploration, learning discussion and games. Nature Time provides a perfect launching point for growth and development in children.
CLASSES
The Nature Time program follows the design of internationally recognized Nature Immersion expert Erin Kenny.
With over a decade of experience, Nature Immersion Specialist Erin Kenny has become an internationally recognized expert in the Forest Kindergarten early childhood education model. Through her work, Erin has developed The Cedarsong Way®, a specific method of teaching science that is distinguished by the use of an outdoor classroom, child-driven flow learning, child-inspired emergent curriculum and an inquiry-based teaching style. The Cedarsong Way® is a compassion scaffolded pedagogy which promotes advanced social skills, teamwork, cooperation and a high level of emotional intelligence. Through authentic nature immersion, The Cedarsong Way® stimulates children’s inherent stewardship towards nature; and through the unstructured flow learning, it encourages children’s natural love of science resulting in a deeper understanding and superior retention of natural science principles.
Classes sizes are small, with a 7:1 learner/instructor ratio. Location to be determined and classes will take occasional outings to nearby nature reserves.
This is an entirely outdoor program, rain or shine, serving ages 5+. There is no bad weather with the right clothing.
RESEARCH
A Scandinavian study found that children attending an outdoor school had lower rates of illness, better motor skills (especially balance, agility and hand strength), and better powers of concentration. (Grahn et al. 1997)
Research from Germany found that by age 10 children who attended play-based programs excelled over the children who attended early learning centers. They were more advanced in reading and math and they were better adjusted socially and emotionally in school. They excelled in creativity and intelligence, oral expression and "industry". (Miller and Almon 2009)
Since 1970 nearsightedness (myopia) has increased by 65% in the US. Controlled studies in Denmark have found that exposure to more daylight helps protect children from myopia (Vitale, Sperdato, and Ferris 2009).