At Wildwood Christian Academy in Marble Hill, the curriculum and scheduling reflect the school’s emphasis on education outside the classroom where students learn in different ways and begin to understand themselves, others, and how they relate to nature. Weather permitting, each day students enjoy a mid-morning snack and free play outside on the ball field, basketball court, or play structures. In the afternoon, students have physical education which includes gross motor skills practice, games, free play, or a nature hike on the trail around the campus’ thirteen acres.

In addition to these daily activities, students take advantage of the area in which Wildwood Christian Academy is located to enrich the curriculum being taught in the classrooms.

In the early fall the kindergarten and first grade went to the Hillcrest Apple Orchard in Ellijay. The children had been learning about different types of apples, how apple trees grow, and had made 3-dimensional apple trees in art. At the orchard the children took a trip back in time and visited rooms which contained glimpses of a farming community of the past. In connection with having learned about baby animals, the children also visited the petting zoo getting to hold a chick, pet a calf, and feed a kid.

These same two classes also went to the Elachee Nature Center in Gainesville to enrich their study of plants. At Elachee, the children learned about the parts of plants and the many different things plants are used for. They identified a number of plants and their uses. The children also took a nature walk, spotting all types of living things, finding evidence where a caterpillar had been, and predicting what type of animal could live in hole which was they discovered. They identified feathers and various types of nuts.

In October, the kindergarten and first grade visited Burt’s Pumpkin Farm and learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. They also identified different types of gourds and pumpkins.

The older students at Wildwood in second through sixth grades have also been enjoying and studying nature. They spent one day at the school’s headmaster’s farm working in multi-age groups practicing data gathering: taking a tree sampling in a forest calculating percentages of types of trees within a measured area. The students spent time in team-building activities, getting to know each other better and learning to appreciate each others’ strengths.

One of the most interesting activities involved a survival story from Hurricane Katrina. Elizabeth Cook, one of Wildwood’s teachers, decorated a clearing in the woods with Mardi Gras beads hanging from branches and a display of her grandmother’s oil paintings of the French Quarter. She then told the story of how her cousin escaped from Bernard Parish swimming for twenty-four hours from rooftop to rooftop. In weaving the story, Mrs. Cook helped the children understand much about the culture and values of the people of New Orleans. Mrs. Cook had twelve members of her family displaced by Katrina. Their needs had been addressed by the families at Wildwood as a service project.

The second through sixth graders then visited Amicolola State Park where they studied creeks, finding crawfish, salamanders, and water striders, and learning about the relationship between living creatures and the health of a stream. They took a nature walk to the base of the falls, identifying plants and participating in discovery activities.

At the Elachee Nature Center, students followed up on their creek study doing water quality tests on the Chicopee Creek. They tested for oxygen and ph levels and learned how rain, silt, and chemicals from surrounding areas affect water quality. They also studied ecosystems that exist from the ridge to the creek bed and observed these on a nature hike. The students ended this trip as they do all field trips with a time for self-reflection and journal writing.