Maple Key Tutoring

08/07/2026

Fresh painting inspiration from Andrea Nelson. I have enjoyed using her ideas as jumping off points with students.

08/07/2026

Time to get weeding on the 18th!

Though the chickens in the fenced in area are trying to help 😅

08/06/2026

Doing all the back to school information on a computer this week makes me long to get back outside on the farm!

Here's to another great year of gardening, painting, baking, poetry, and deep discussions!

05/27/2026

As someone else who is a self taught artist who loves discovering process, I Andrea's perspective.

I have used many of her videos as inspiration in tutoring or art projects for my students.

Also, her personality is just infectious. She looks like and sometimes acts like Giselle from Enchanted. 😁

Give her videos a try this summer!

05/27/2026

Part of having time to rest in the summer means thinking about what practices I want to reinstate for the next school year.

Sometimes it's for the students or myself.

I had put down my personal watercolor nature journal for almost 4 years. Not for anything other than I just shifted my focus... but wow am I so glad to revisit and revive it. Such a chronicle of local nature, COVID time, family trips.

I love to show this during tutoring time to students as an opportunity for embracing solitude and doing something just for you.

05/07/2026

Next week wraps up our '25-'26 school year -- the 5th year of Maple Key, a milestone I can't believe is real!

The end of the year always brings up big emotions, but as I often do, I discover encouragement in a book.

A student and I were finishing The Sea Turtle Scientist during our tutoring time and the author shared about Theo, a former sea turtle fisherman from St. Kitts, who now educates locals and tourists alike on how to conserve the native leatherback's habitat. He said Theo knows that helping one turtle on one island will have a ripple effect long past him and the work his team does.

Being in the education game for so long, I really needed to hear that this week. Not because I am special, but as a reminder that we desire for the relationships we build at Maple Key to be formative for everyone. If the goodbyes are hard, it means the feelings and the work was and is so incredibly real.

We are looking to go back to small enrollment next year, but am glad to talk to parents if you know of a middle school girl who might benefit from a holistic tutoring/mentoring approach for next school year.

04/30/2026

Had a great day at Main Street Farmer's Market selling veggies and herbs 🌱 with The Barn at High Point Farms who were selling the most gorgeous bouquets 😍. Always a delight to catch up with Chattanooga folks and vendors.

Our area likes gardening so much that there is room for all the farms and organizations growing things. No competition, but rather partnership in a bigger vision of good health and sustainability.

Like last year, 75% of our proceeds go to local organizations -- Children's Hospital and McKamey Animal Center. The other 25% go to the students for their help in the process. We value entrepreneurship, charitable giving, and starting big projects from scratch and seeing them to completion.

If you need any plants, just let us know! 😀

04/20/2026

There is a lot to paint and draw on the farm this month 💐

Registration for the '26-'27 year is still open at maplekeytutoring.com!

04/01/2026

New on the blog: How we're helping reuse glass in Chattanooga and promoting how to keep it out of the landfills through a local company!

How to recycle your glass in Chattanooga and keep them out of landfills

03/25/2026

Community day was a lot of fun! Litter pick up and repotting plants using locally recycled glass from Overlooked Materials were two of the biggest highlights.

I also clocked about 15,000+ steps, so everyone was sufficiently tired from our city walking. 👟