Salt Spring Nature Academy
A place for children to learn through nature, curiosity, and connection on Salt Spring Island.
Our MissionRaising the next generation of stewards, critical thinkers, and kind humans.
Salt Spring Nature Academy grew out of simple questions. Where can parents stay connected to their children's learning and collaborate with caring educators? Where can children spend real time outdoors, develop meaningful social connections, and get the support they need with literacy and numeracy as homeschool students?
We strive to nurture resilient learners who are connected to themselves, to others, and to the natural world. Through nature-rich, child-led learning, we foster strong academic foundations, critical thinking, creativity, and a deep sense of stewardship and belonging.
Our Community Values
Relationships first. Children learn when they feel safe, known, and respected. Every day starts with connection. Families form the heart of the program, building a village culture with children at its centre.- Nature as teacher. Children develop care for others, responsibility for their environment, and a sense of belonging through daily time on the land.
- Emotional growth. How children relate to themselves and each other matters as much as what they know. We teach self-regulation, empathy, and conflict resolution as core skills.
- Every child, not every child the same. Learning is individualized and collaborative with families. Programming aligns with the BC curriculum, but how each child gets there depends on who they are.
What children experience
Children at the Nature Academy spend their time between forest, meadow, creek, and an indoor learning space.
Outside, Every Day
Rain or sun, frost or heat. Children spend real time outside, walking forest trails, checking the creek, identifying plants, building shelters, and measuring what they find. The 70-acre property of forest, wetland, and meadow is the primary classroom.
Focused Indoor Learning
Indoors, children work on literacy, numeracy, and creative projects in a dedicated learning space. Educators tailor instruction to each child's level and pace, using weekly themes that connect what happened outside to what happens at the desk.
Mixed-Age Learning
Children learn in groups organized by development, with regular cross-group time. A kindergartener watches a Grade 3 student lead a project. Older children practise patience explaining things to younger ones. The structure is intentional.
The people behind the Nature Academy
We are professional educators, parents, and community builders.
Minette Moolman
Co-Founder & Primary Educator
Twenty years working with children, from leading a fully outdoor preschool to five years as Program Director at Little Red Schoolhouse. Minette holds an ECE designation and brings a passion for teaching academics and deep nature connection to the Nature Academy's primary grades classroom. Also a gardener, herbalist, and mother of two.
Tyler McClaron
Primary Educator
Holds a B.Ed. from the University of Ottawa, with a background in theatre, forest play programming, and Parks Canada interpretation. Tyler spent four years leading forest play programs and served as Program Director for the Biosphere Institute's WildSmart Program before bringing performance, humour, and outdoor education to the Nature Academy.
Naomi Lynne
Education Assistant
A clinical herbalist and permaculture gardener who came to education through Waldorf early childhood settings in Ontario. Naomi supports the Nature Academy's classroom with a quiet attention to what children need and a working knowledge of the natural world that turns a walk in the forest into something worth paying attention to.
Kristen Frampton
Co-Founder & Administrator
A parent who wanted supportive programming with substance for her own homeschooled children. Kristen handles the organizational side, from communications to logistics, building a functional parent collective. Her professional background is in supporting children's social-emotional well-being.
What parents say
“From the moment we joined Salt Spring Nature Academy, we felt held as a family. The learning is grounded in nature and deeply respectful. Our daughter is growing in confidence, creativity and independence. We are truly grateful to be part of such a caring community.”
Tonia C. and Martin P.
Parents of a Grade 1 student
Seventy acres of forest, wetland, and meadow.
Salt Spring Nature Academy sits on the unceded territory of the Hul'qumi'num and SENCOŦEN-speaking Coast Salish peoples, who have lived on and stewarded this island for millennia. Learning takes place on a 70-acre property on Blackburn Road, bordering conservancy land. Between the indoor learning space, outdoor classroom, and the forest, children access a continuous stretch of ecological diversity that we learn from, and learn to care for.
Living Landscape
The land includes old-growth and second-growth forest, seasonal creeks, a wetland, a pond, and open meadow. Children encounter rough-skinned newts, Pacific tree frogs, pileated woodpeckers, and deer throughout the seasons. They learn to identify native plants, trees, and fungi as part of everyday life on the land.
Where Learning Happens
The land is the classroom, and an outdoor sheltered space gives children a base when outside. Activities may include building shelters, tracking prints, measuring stream flow, and documenting what they find. Math, science, and literacy grow out of what they experience firsthand.
Follow our journey
Mud, meadows, math, and everything in between.
Frequently asked questions
What ages does the Nature Academy serve?
What are the program's days and hours?
Do children need to be registered as homeschool students?
Is the program aligned with the BC curriculum?
Is there a waitlist?
How do we enrol?
What does it cost?
Come say hello
The best way to learn about the Nature Academy is to talk with us.
Visit
355B Blackburn Rd
Salt Spring Island, BC
V8K 2B8
Children must be registered as homeschool students or enrolled with an online school to participate.