Even the tiniest insect cannot be considered attentively without astonishment and without praising the Creator.
~ St. Augustine

Welcome to the Outdoor Learning Center!

2nd Q 20-21 Newsletter
3rd Q 21-22 Newsletter

Imagine you are a fourth grade student and you have been testing your hypothesis on whether plants exposed to more eastern or western sunlight will grow faster. You have just finished observing the feathery, rainbow carrot seedlings, measuring the tallest in centimeters, and recording your data in a table.  Your two planters, made from recycled milk jugs which you painted brightly in a nature design using pointillism, still make you smile. Some class time remains, so you wander in wonder through the garden breathing in the light, clean fragrance of Belinda’s Dream roses, orange thyme, and lemon balm. A fiery skipper butterfly catches your attention and lands on a salvia flower. You date and label a new page in your nature journal and sketch the petite insect’s delicate, freckled wings and write a poem to capture the way he flits from flower to flower, pollinating along the way. God is good, and you can feel His love just as you feel the warm sun on your face.

The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton  Outdoor Learning Center engages students though hands-on activities, like gardening and Charlotte Mason-inspired Nature Study, to foster curiosity and wonder forming faith-filled, life-long learners. Some students use their nature journals to write poems, songs, or prayers, while others record questions, label plants or animals, or simply observe, reflect, and sketch. Other than nature journaling and gardening, students have been growing through object lessons, teacher-requested curriculum-related experiences like the one described above, and special speakers and programs. Teachers schedule their class to visit the Outdoor Learning Center once or twice a month.

With a wide range of educational topics and grade levels, we are continually guided by the OLC’s three focuses: nourishment of the mind, body, and soul. These guiding principles complement our school’s mission statement to “…educate the whole child (Spiritually, Intellectually, Socially, Emotionally and Physically), in a Christ-centered environment.”  

Jesus said we should become like children to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Children naturally find beauty and awe in the simple things God created.  In the Outdoor Learning Center, we seek awe while learning from Creation, and find truth in Psalm 111:10, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”                   

Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
 to prepare for a better future,
 for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.

- Excerpted from Pope Francis’s “A Christian prayer in union with creation,”
in Laudato Si’, no. 246