About Wild Oak Preschool

---

Wild Oak Preschool is an indoor and outdoor nature-inspired preschool program for children ages 2.5 through 6 located on a private farm residence in the Applegate Valley. Wild Oak Preschool is licensed by the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC) as a certified family childcare program.  

At Wild Oak Preschool, our mission is to provide children with a unique early learning experience rooted in nature. We offer a stimulating and nurturing environment where children of all abilities, regardless of socio-economic, lifestyle, or cultural backgrounds, can grow and learn together in acceptance of one another and in harmony with their environment. 

Our mission is carried out daily in a small group setting with a specialized curriculum that fosters the child’s innate love of learning and connection with the natural world.  

Wild Oak Preschool’s program is inspired by Charlotte Mason values and principles, and is secular in nature. Our philosophy takes a whole-child approach, which is based on the belief that children are born as complete persons, each deserving of respect and consideration. They have their own unique personalities, spirits, and ideas. Children are not clay for us to mold; rather, they are more like gardens for us to water and nurture. It is up to us to provide a feast of great ideas, materials, and knowledge from which they will feed upon when and what they are ready for. 

A cornerstone of a Charlotte Mason preschool is nature study. This is achieved through time spent outside each day, children connecting with nature and following their curiosities. Charlotte Mason’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that children learn through play, experience, and observation. The foundation of a Charlotte Mason preschool experience is rooted in developing good habits and life skills, playing and exploring outdoors, getting acquainted with nature by exploring through the five senses, and reading living books - books that make the subjects children are interested in come alive. 

Ultimately, we have woven what we felt were the best parts of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy on early childhood education into our own secular, nature-inspired curriculum that includes arts and domestic arts, social-emotional learning, STEM, and nature study into our daily explorations. 

At Wild Oak Preschool, we encourage children to ask questions and wonder about their natural environment, to study and observe the world around them, to search for clues and answers to life’s mysteries, and to appreciate and respect the natural world and all its inhabitants. We let the children’s interests guide and deepen the learning, provide ample time for play-based learning and exploration, and offer supporting materials and books to strengthen their connections with their world and their learning.

Wild Oak Preschool integrates the benefits of a nature-based outdoor program and an indoor preschool environment to create a hybrid, year-round learning environment where children can explore and connect with nature indoors and out. Set on a rural 5-acre farm property, children have a wide range of outdoor environments to explore, including a kids’ naturalist cabin, a boat turned into a sandbox, a nature trail, mud puddles and a mud kitchen, a kid-made mini river system, trees for climbing, experiences with farm animals including sheep and chickens, a ¼ acre garden, an orchard, and a wide-open 3-acre field. 

Wild Oak not only focuses on nature, but incorporates life skills, domestic arts, and dramatic play. Children have opportunities to help with food preparation and baking, as well as set-up and clean-up for meal times. They can dress up, play house and kitchen, curl up with a book and stuffie or blanket, write a letter, and imitate real life as they witness it. 

Our nature-inspired classroom is beautiful, comforting, and filled with treasures found in nature as well as playthings made from natural materials. Our classroom is set up with centers of various interests to the child, and each of our centers is child-accessible  so that they can access what they need when they need it. The room is set up so that children can be independent and make their own choices on what they’d like to work or play with during free time. 

We have a fully stocked art center, and each child is given their own nature art journal. We have puzzles and blocks, loose parts, and a housekeeping center for dramatic play. We have science and discovery tables that provide exciting close-up, hands-on sensory experiences with things found in the natural world. Wild Oak provides an early introduction to scientific tools such as microscopes, telescopes, magnifying glasses, and binoculars. Children become familiar with nature guides. We have a cozy corner with a well-stocked library of seasonal books on rotation and a basket of stuffies, blankets, and pillows. We also have nature and science materials on continual rotation, including magnifying glasses, microscopes, nature touch baskets, and more.

We integrate social-emotional learning into our daily rhythms. We are building a classroom community that fosters healthy peer-to-peer and teacher-to-peer relationships utilizing Slumberkins emotional learning curricula and resources, as well as other early education resources that foster social-emotional learning.  

We explore different topics and themes through many lenses, including hands-on outdoor exploration, indoor scientific examination, living books, arts and music. We go on nature walks, take care of farm animals, swing, collect pinecones and acorns, bird watch, examine insects and plants under microscope and magnifying glass, play in the dirt and mud, identify and make plaster casts of animal tracks, and create magic potions and collections in all kinds of weather. 

Each day will follow a predictable rhythm children can rely on, that also allows for flexibility when needed. Our daily rhythm is posted on the classroom bulletin board, and updates will be posted on our memo board by the entrance. Our daily rhythms will vary from one season to the next, and our monthly learning themes follow the gentle flow of the seasons, inspired by and deeply connected to our natural environment right here where we are.  Each day will include an array of poetry, stories, hand rhymes, folk songs and music, sensory play, art, and nature indoors and out.  The daily rhythm will incorporate guided activities and lessons as well as opportunities for free and unstructured play each day. We have optional breakfast together (depending on individual drop-off times), lunch, and snacks each day. 

Our program’s daily rhythm is guided by the children’s energy and emotional needs, as well as the weather. Please note that our daily rhythm may fluctuate to allow for flexibility within, varying across the seasons, but will resemble this in some form throughout the year. Please check our classroom board or ask the teacher for our most up-to-date daily rhythm for the current season or day.