Natural Learning Academy

Dropping some recent photos to give a feel for our space, since I'm awful at updating social media 😅

I will have 1 opening for a 5-10 year for the 2026-2027 school year.

My program is Wednesday/Friday, though I am open to splitting if someone is interested in 1 day per week.

I've also held a "play day" over the summer in years past, where interested families can come see our space, what types of activities/materials are available, and chat with current families to determine if it would be a good fit. If you'd be interested in this, let me know!
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The opposite is also true - when we view children as competent, worthy and capable of responsibility, they become those things also.

Your thoughts effect your actions, so when you begin to think of children as competent, you also begin to treat them as such.

And when you treat them as such, it makes room for growth.

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Two year olds do not need to stand in a line because "They will need to do it WHEN they are in Kindergarten".

Three and four year olds do NOT need to trace letters and write their name because "They will need to do it WHEN they are in Kindergarten."

ALL children deserve the respect of being met WHERE THEY ARE...right here, right now.

NOW is not WHEN.

NOW is the time for all the skills that must come BEFORE to have the freedom to be developed through child-led play.

Skills that are BEST developed via child-led play:

•MOTOR SKILLS: WHOLE BODY motor skills
****NOTE: "fine motor skills" do not improve by isolating them. Developing fine motor skills requires using THE WHOLE BODY, which happens organically in child-led PLAY.

• PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE is not developed with timers and micromanaging. FORCING children to stay at a station until a timer dings is NOT increasing attention spans and patience.
Patience and attention develops when one's own ideas don't work as planned, or an idea simply takes time to execute. It develops when one is intrinsically motivated to accomplish a challenging task.

•FLEXIBLE THINKING, LISTENING SKILLS, CONFLICT-MANAGEMENT, COLLABORATION, are best developed while OWNING the creation of a new game or setting up the story line for THEIR play. The establishing of rules, the seemingly constant debate of how the game will work, the designation if roles:
Child 1:"I want to be the mom, you are my baby and you are the puppy.".
Child 2:"I dont want to be the puppy, I want to be the mom."
Child 3:"How about we are all moms and we are friends going out for coffee with our babies."
is LOADED with opportunities for vital LIFE-SKILLS-DEVELOPMENT.

This post could be a book, but since it is not, Im stopping here. I hope you get the point from this short list.

There's an argument against truly play based learning (meaning 100% genuinely led by the child versus traditional teaching with clear adult expectations that just appears more "fun") that it is just an excuse for the adult not to have to do anything.

WOW if that couldn't be further from the truth.

For the children to spend any moment "working as if I did not exist", there is so much that has already had to happen to make that possible.

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Among these are:
✨ Relationships - There has to be an established relationship of trust, not only between the adult and each child, but also between the children.

Children need to have full trust that their ideas and work are valued and respected (by both children and adults). Trust that help is available only if and when they need it, and trust that they are always safe.

The adult needs to completely trust that each child is fully capable of leading their own learning and that their work is important.

The adult also needs to have a close enough relationship with each child to know when they are being invited in by each individual child, and to know what the child's abilities and play needs are.

✨ Children's needs - Children's needs must be fully met. Physical, emotional, connection, sensory, environmental, etc. Every single one.

The environment has to be set with materials that allow them to engage in their own ideas. Materials that meet their specific play needs/themes must be present. There should be materials available that are challenging/interesting enough to be stimulating while also not so challenging as to be completely overwhelming.

✨ Empowerment - Children must be EMPOWERED.

Empowered to lead their learning.

Empowered through their environment - materials are within their reach and the environment is set up where everything within their reach is available to them and their ideas. Items can be moved, materials can be mixed. They need to be empowered enough to know this and do this without any doubt/fear of being corrected for doing the "wrong" thing.

If something they need is not present, they need to be empowered enough to ask for it. Relatedly, they should be empowered to advocate for any needs they have, with both children and adults.

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And to be clear, the children are not always "working as if I did not exist". Some moments/days, they need a whole lot of me. But boy, those minutes/hours/days where they are.... It's so beautiful. You can see so clearly every single second that went into making it possible, and just how valuable each of them were.

Photo quote: "The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'" - Maria Montessori

Marlie: Mom, Adeline is climbing up all of the slides instead of just the green one, even though I told her not to and that's the rule!

Me: Yeah, that was the rule you all agreed on last year. What are your concerns with her climbing up all of the slides?

Marlie: We aren't able to go down, and I'm worried I'll kick her.

Me: Okay, Marlie is concerned that if all the slides are available for climbing up, she won't be able to slide down, and someone may get hurt. What can we do to make sure people are able to slide down, climb up, and everyone stays safe?

*Open discussion between all children.*

They discussed all of the slides being available to climb up/slide down, and whoever is on the slide having the "right of way" and directly communicating with each other on a case by case basis. They decided that wasn't reliable enough.

They discussed only the green (middle) slide being available to climb up. Adeline let them know that it is fun to climb up the outer slides because of the walls and the spray features at the top.

They then worked out how to meet that need, along with our original safety needs, and decided both the green and blue would be for climbing up then sliding down, and the orange reserved for going around the back and sliding down only.

I reminded them we would try this, and if anyone had a new concern, to let us know so we could solve for it as well.

Communication, collaboration, perspective taking, problem solving, community & belonging.

These are the skills we miss out on when rules are just placed on children without involving them.

Children are capable & worthy. Trust them & let them lead 🫶🏼

I will have ✨ 1️⃣ opening ✨ in my homeschool enrichment program for the 2026-2027 school year.

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More information for those interested in August enrollment:

💚 GULFPORT, MS
💚 CHILD LED LEARNING

✨ 1 opening for Homeschool Enrichment beginning in August! ✨

FAQ:
* RATIO 1:6
* HOURS 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Wednesday/Friday
* AGES 5-10

{Children will need to be registered homeschoolers & my program serve as enrichment.}

* MEALS Breakfast & snack provided.
Children should be sent with a lunch.

* WHAT? 100% child led
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Division of responsibility:

🙋🏽‍♀️ I provide materials based on children's interests/needs/requests.

🧑🏼👧🏽 Children decide if/what/how/with whom/for how long to interact with materials.

🙋🏽‍♀️ I provide input as invited by the children. (through requests, body language, behavior, etc.)

✨ We also go on a field trip about once per month ✨

If you have any further questions, comment 👇 or PM
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"What's this for?"

"It's for your ideas!"

The very best thing we can do for young children is open up our environments to the ideas of the children.

Contrary to popular belief: children do not need to be told what to do. Children are born wired to learn, to explore, to try, to seek, to test and to discover through THEIR PLAY.

When adults tell children what to learn, what to explore, what to try, what to see, to test, to discover and to play, children LOSE their drive to do those things for themselves. They lose confidence in their own ideas and quickly become dependent on your ideas.