(6-12 yrs.) Did you know that Huntley Meadows Park was once part of George Mason's holdings? Discover this forgotten Founding Father as you make your own candle, design your own stencil to mark crops, write with a quill pen and decide the future of the Virginia colony.

(6-10 yrs.) Help us in the kitchen garden and practice your seasonal cooking skills.

(4-10 yrs.) Students will join a naturalist to learn new ways to observe and explore the natural world. Classes will use tools and equipment to not only learn how to navigate the outdoors, but also to better understand the part we play in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. The focus of study varies each week depending on the season.

(7-11 yrs.) This program is based on the popular Pohick Rangers series geared to meet some homeschool science requirements. Topics vary. Meets every other week.

(8-15yrs.) Students receive hands-on instruction in wild bird identification, migration, habitats and conservation through citizen science. Instructors use preserved species, and wild birds to illustrate the concepts. All lessons are structured around the Virginia standards of Learning.

(8-15 yrs.) Dive into watershed education at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. Receive hands on lessons about aspects of watershed education in a variety of water environments. Topics to include macroinvertebrate searches and identification, watershed ecology, life cycles, food chains, stream monitoring techniques, pollution problems and watershed protection. All lessons are structured around the Virginia Standards of Learning.

(8-15 yrs.) Delve in into the wonders of our local plants with hands-on activities and nature exploration in this four-week course. Sessions include searching for early spring wildflowers and other botanical signs of spring, discovering native herbaceous (non-woody) plants that stay green in winter, learning about identifying native trees by buds, bark, and fruit, and investigating the diversity and beauty of mosses in the park.

(7-13 yrs.) Supplement your historical studies with a fun day of exploring, interpreting and making maps. Try your hand at orienteering, learn about different types of maps from around the world and take home a personalized map of your life.

(7-12 yrs.) Homeschoolers will discover that nature loves math as they explore spring woods and lakes, exploring the Fibonacci sequence in pinecones and spirals in snail shells. Just wonder, no worksheets.

(7-12 yrs.) Homeschoolers will explore the mycorrhizal networks that connect forest trees, learning how fungi facilitate forest communication and nutrient sharing. The program includes mushroom identification, decomposition experiments and network modeling activities that demonstrate the critical role of fungi in forest ecosystems.

(7-12 yrs.) We will be predicting tomorrow’s weather using ancient animal wisdom. Homeschoolers will study how animals respond to atmospheric changes and create their own weather monitoring station. This program combines meteorology with animal behavior observation.