Head, Heart, and Hands, Teaching the Whole Child
Apple Blossom programs engage the head, heart, and hands to cultivate inner joy, reverence and wonder for the earth, and a deeper connection to our local community and the world.
Apple Blossom preserves childhood with our Screen Free Approach to Learning!
In a world that seems to be moving ever faster, join us in slowing the pace for our children. Our unhurried and developmentally appropriate curriculum fosters deep connection with nature while building foundational skills needed for academic learning. Using a head, heart, and hands approach inspired by Waldorf pedagogy, children enjoy a wholesome approach to learning that includes days spent in outside exploration, handwork, games, singing, world and Indigenous language and culture, folk dance, arts and crafts and more!
SCREEN TIME POLICY AT APPLE BLOSSOM
Apple Blossom Village is a Screens Free Zone. We believe young children learn best through movement, play, real life teachers teach hands on skills, who sing and tell stories, read chapter books, and introduce topics. An occasional exception may be made to listen to an app to learn bird calls, frog calls, plant identification, or Ojibwe language pronunciation from Native speakers.
From Lifeways North America:
Decades of research have shown us what children need to develop, grow and thrive. Below, we list some of these essential brain-building activities, and discuss how screens interfere.
1. Social engagement with caregivers and peers. Children need serve-and-return interactions to build social-emotional and language skills. Screen time is unidirectional, isolating, and interrupts engagement with others.
2. Communication and problem solving practice. These skills are integral to expression, relationships and learning. Early and excessive screen time has been shown to impair these significant developmental skills.
3. 3-dimensional and multi-sensory learning. Children learn best “in real life”- from attentive caregivers and teachers, as well as from physical objects that they can hold and manipulate. Two-dimensional screen time negatively affects visual-motor integration, bilateral coordination and sensory processing. Playing with 3-dimensional objects and toys can mitigate these negative effects.
4. Free and imaginative play. Free play promotes a child’s creativity, imagination, and self-sufficiency- plus it benefits physical and mental health. It is especially important for young children. Screens supply very few of these essential benefits.
Get the Kids Outside and There is no such thing as bad weather are our mottos. Preserving childhood play and movement while fostering deep nature connection takes the right outdoor clothing
OUTDOOR CLOTHING AT APPLE BLOSSOM
We are outside in all weather and for this reason, we must dress appropriately for northern Minnesota weather.
Check out The Outdoor School Shop/Apple Blossom for great information on how to dress for the weather at an outdoor school! To receive a 15% discount on everything in our shop use CODE at checkout: APPLE
HEALTHY FOOD AT APPLEBLOSSOM
We eat what we grow and we learn about planting, weeding, watering, composting, harvesting, preservation, and cooking as part of our curriculum. We provide a healthy and hearty and mostly organic snack each morning for the whole school around 10:30 am each day. Children wash their own dishes.
We have a policy of “Litter Free” or “Zero Waste” lunches. Parents are encouraged to send lunches that have little or no packaging that needs to be thrown away. Wrappers that are sent to school are sent back home in your child’s lunch box (Boomerang Lunch). For tips and ideas on litter free lunch, check out these websites: https://meaganrosewilson.com/2017/10/school-lunchbox-ideas/
https://www.heatherfegan.ca/blog/2019/11/19/leave-the-litter-out-of-lunch