Mission

Helping children deepen their relationships with themselves, other humans, and the rest of the natural world.

Our Services

Explorations in Ecology Meetups

Our ongoing homeschool and after-school Explorations in Ecology Meetups support children playing and learning in nature.…

Consulting Services

We offer consulting services for homeschooling parents, forest school leaders and practitioners, and other educators…

Tai Chi Chuan Classes

What is Tai Chi Chuan? Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan, Taiji Quan) is an ancient Chinese martial…

Relaxed Ecological Home Learning Activities

Don’t Try and Replicate Your Children’s Public-School Experience at Home!

This blog is for those of you that find yourself homeschooling for the first time. As a former alternative school…

The Learning Zone – Sprouting Beans

In the previous activity we talked about learning as a fun process that should expand, extend and enrich your child’s…

Interest Based Learning

Learning should be fun and should expand, extend and enrich your child’s interests and understandings. For example, if your child…

It’s All About Relationships!

Today’s activity is for your family to work together to: (1) produce a list of as many of the elements…

Representing Mutualistic Relationships

In the last several last homeschooling tips we talked about mutualistic relationships. In this tip I’ll introduce a tool that…

Using Relationships Among Plants in Gardens

In the last homeschooling tip, I talked about using mutualistic relationships as a resource in ecologically designed systems. I recommended…

Patterns that Connect

I am an advocate for ecological education. Ecological educators focus their attention on interactions, interdependencies, relationships and connections. This point…

Patterns that Connect: Elaboration

Today, I want to elaborate on patterns that connect. The good news is that we have confirmation that an almost…

Observing Closed Loops in Nature

Yesterday, I mentioned that cycles are a favorite pattern of mine. Truth-be-told, I think helping children learn about closed loop systems (my…

Closing Loops at Home

Yesterday, we talked about observing closed loop systems in nature and looking at how materials mostly flow into and out…

Composting

Yesterday, we talked about closing some loops in our homes and I mentioned that today I’d be talking about sheet-mulching…

Love of Learning

We’re going to take a break today from talking about composting and growing plants to talk about what we as…

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Today’s tip includes a nature scavenger hunt customized for the mountains of southern CA that should, maybe with minor tweaks,…

Natural Building

Building things with natural materials is a great way to connect with nature that provides many opportunities to learn science.…

Observing, Categorizing and Naming Trees

Using our senses to observe what’s going on around us is a very primary activity. It is primary in at…

Sheet Mulching

We’ve talked some about closing loops at home, composting and structural patterns. Last week, I also shared the assignment that…

Six Parts, Six Parts, Six Plant Parts that Plants and People Need

Generally speaking, there are six main parts that most plants have that help them perform their life functions. Humans eat…

Play with Your Children and Ask Them Questions Based on Their Direct Experiences in the Natural World

Today’s tip includes a specific activity for those of us that live where it snows. We just got about eight…

Grow Something!

I think one of the most important activities any of us could engage in right now, is growing food. Growing…

Teaming with Microbes to Create a Sourdough Starter

Microbes, those invisible creatures we need a microscope to see, get a bad rap in general and are even more…

Form and Function

As I have already mentioned on several occasions, I am an advocate for wholistic education. Wholism is a worldview that…

Playing in the Dirt

When I was a kid, I loved to play in the dirt. I still do! As I’ve gotten older I’ve…

Plant Something!

Today’s post is either a cop-out because I want to spend more time outside hiking and gardening or my most…

Relationships Between Organisms in Nature!

I am an ecological designer. My design domains are educational and food systems. As a ecological designer, I focus on…

Get Muddy and Learn about the Water Cycle

When I was a kid, I took every opportunity I could to play with the flow of water. Living on…

Sorting Soil – Rocks and Minerals

As I discussed in a previous tip, one of the major components of soil is particles of weathered (i.e., broken…

Focusing on Relationships in Natural Building

In the last several homeschooling tips, I’ve talked about using relationships as a resource in wholistically designed systems. First, I…

Base and Sector Mapping

Housing developments and factory farming are two examples of practices that fly in the face of wholistic design. These methodologies…

How Healthy and How Mature: Observing Plants up Close and Personal

As I have mentioned many times before in these relaxed homeschooling activities, I am a wholistic designer. One of the…

Topography, Landforms and Contour Lines

Topography is important to hikers, gardeners and landscapers yet contour lines are hard to understand.