Nest Nature School opens enrollment for 3–5- year-olds

With education at the heart of The Cibolo Nature Center’s mission, we created a nature-based preschool through which we could share the wonders and possibilities of the natural world with young hearts and minds.

What started as a small class in the Nature Center auditorium has now become a licensed preschool with three classrooms, a full staff, and a unique campus at the Herff Farm.

From the beginning, it was important to all of us at The Cibolo for the Nest not to be just a daycare. Holly Campbell, assistant director of The Nest, said, “Day cares are meant to be safe places for children to be supervised while their grown-ups are away, and we are doing so much more than that. We nurture their growth in education and beyond.”

AT THE TRAIL

Alysa Meeks, director of The Nest, said its staff strives to “cultivate the ability to learn, support imagination, and encourage independence in these kids as preparation for not just kindergarten, but for life.”

“We have a huge focus,” Meeks added, “on empathy and emotional regulation, becoming aware of extrinsic factors, like their friendships and how their actions affect others, good and bad, and how we can navigate that.”

The Nest has a “loose parts” playground, daily hikes to a variety of spots on the 80-plus acre Herff Farm, and children are guaranteed to spend 70% of each day outdoors. All of this, together with a regularly trained staff, creates the one-of-a-kind experience of The Nest Nature School.

“Kindergarten and elementary school teachers need to teach children who are teachable. These students will transition from babies to a world of firsts,” Campbell said. “Some will have grown-ups and others in their lives who are equally nervous or anxious about these firsts. And we are here to prepare everyone.”

Enrollment is open for 2023-2024. The curriculum this year will concentrate on how to live and grow without imposing on nature, but rather live with it.

At The Nest, we offer 2-, 3-, and 5-day schedules for children ages 3-5, with half-day options available to accommodate parents’ schedules. There is a cottage for each of the three classrooms, each consisting of students of mixed ages, a lead teacher, and an assistant teacher.

The cottages have a shaded porch for outdoor activities, bathrooms, sinks, and water stations inside, and a wide range of classroom pets to engage the children.

Tours are available for interested families; for details, go to: www.Cibolo. org/Nest.