EverWild Mentors

Welcome to EverWild! There is much to be excited about in this journey of connecting to nature. First and foremost we extend our gratitude to you for advocating for your child and their right to play, spend time outdoors, and direct their own adventures. We pride ourselves on EverWild’s experienced nature-based mentors who support your child during their adventures. EverWild mentors have a unique background of working with children and a passion for nature-based education. Read about their journey to EverWild here. Our program is designed to engage your child with the natural world so that they can develop a meaningful connection with the Earth. In the process of doing so there are many other areas in which your child is growing and developing. We encourage you to explore the research behind the many benefits your child will receive from spending time in nature:

● Nature Improves Your Health and Wellbeing ● Nature Improves Academic Outcomes ● Nature Play Can Encourage Care for the Planet ● The Benefits of a Nature Based Education ● Physical Health Benefits of Nature Contact ● Mental and Emotional Health Benefits of Connecting with Nature

Our mentors are providing this connection on a deeper level. They completely embody the Coyote’s Way of connecting to nature and the methods that Jon Young spoke to in the 8 shields method of mentoring (a training that all mentors have completed). Our mentors are a role model for your child, a trusted leader, and often looked up to as magical wizards that know how to capture your child’s curiosity and engage them with their natural gifts. EverWild mentors will challenge your child as they take the long way through Los Angeles’ wild spaces to experience a journey all their own. Your child will reach the end of their comfort zone, the edge of their awareness, and expand their understanding of the world around them. They will go deeper into their experiences, over and over again developing a deeper and deeper relationship with themselves, others, and the natural world. Your child will develop layers of attachment to our many nature based locations by revisiting them during the changing seasons and the many stages of their lives. We hope you will become inspired by your adventurer and will return to these locations outside of EverWild. Your child will be excited to lead the way and share their knowledge and experiences with you. Thank you for joining the EverWild community. We look forward to the many adventures ahead.

See you in the Wild,

Amanda Caloia

Executive Director

a. Philosophy

EverWild’s Forest School provides children with meaningful outdoor experiences and high-quality mentorship in Los Angeles' canyons, beaches, wetlands, and wild spaces.

Encompassing forest-school and place-based learning philosophies, children spend 100% of their day outdoors, immersed in the local environment and alongside nature-based mentors. Children are guided by nature as they play, explore, discover, and create. EverWild Mentors support deeper learning through project-based learning. Mentors develop projects based on children's interests, naturally occurring events in nature, environmental stewardship skills, and Next Generation

Science Standards. EverWild enhances children's social and emotional development, 21st-century skills, and ecological literacy.

We believe in creating opportunities for children to become nature-connected, passionate, and innovative life-long learners with the desire to protect and care for all living things.

b. Learning: The EverWild Way

Place-Based Learning

Before we can ask a child to help the Earth they must first build a relationship with it. Place-based learning immerses children in their immediate environment. Placing children directly in nature supports their understanding of the local environment, knowledge of Earth’s living systems, and guides them to discover their place within it. As the child grows, the complexity and richness of their environment and knowledge of a particular place expands in breadth and depth. When a child has a meaningful relationship to nature they feel compelled and driven to care for it, protect it, and replenish it. We incorporate environmental conservation and stewardship skills into each class. We have organically led and have been led by the children to clean our streams and estuaries, to pick up trash from the beach and our canyons, and to support nature in the removal of invasive plants and regrowth of native plants. Aside from planned environmental conservation efforts led by our mentors and visiting community experts, children often utilize their autonomy in our program to create environmental projects and practice environmental stewardship skills in each of our classes.

Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning provides the opportunity for gaining more knowledge about the natural environment and supports the development of the child's 21st century skills. Projects are driven by the group's interests and naturally occurring events in nature in collaboration with group members and with the support of qualified

mentors. Mentors provide materials and tools to guide the group towards the next step in their project and provide inquiry to encourage deeper thinking. Children collaborate and learn from one another in a mixed age group allowing for real world situations, social interactions, and the practice of 21st century skills. Projects are developed by qualified mentors and encompass the group’s interests, what is happening in our local environment, and are in alignment with age appropriate Next Generation Science Standards. When mentors develop projects they are including a hands-on and cross-curricular approach to learning. Many families utilize their child’s projects and work at EverWild to provide proof of academic learning in all subject areas. By nature, we find that children are organically learning about Science and ecology but credentialed teachers have identified children practicing and learning all academic subject criteria at EverWild’s Nature Immersion Program. To gain a better understanding of what this may look like and to view a few of the projects we have completed in our program please click here.

21st Century Skills

Project Based Learning supports the growth of children's 21st Century Skills including: Collaboration and Teamwork, Creativity and Imagination, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills. Children at EverWild direct and manage their own learning while inspiring and learning from one another; experiencing all roles from leader, supporter, expert, apprentice, and friend. Mentors and parents provide support and resources that aid in supporting the child throughout this learning process.

“If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, “the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings. ” — David Sobel- Beyond Ecophobia