From home school to classrooms, a new Folsom school takes aim at experiential learning

When distance learning kicked into full gear during the COVID shut-down, many California parents opted to home school their children. Former teachers Stacy James and Kara Lofthouse saw a way to continue and expand the idea.

Getting creative with curriculum, they started with summer camps this past summer, with weekly themes like “Discover and Adventure” or “Soil and Savor.”

In September they welcomed around 80 students to their campus in Folsom, Wild Roots Learning Center, in grades kindergarten through high school, which supplements the home school environment.

James and Lofthouse had both found home schooling during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Our kids were thriving and happy,” James remembered.

They appreciated the freedom and flexibility they found in home schooling. They loved that their kids could go at their own pace if something was difficult. Some families wanted to provide consistency when the course of the year for public schools was unknown. Others liked the flexibility of scheduling for things like family travel.

Curriculum study is a passion for both James and Lofthouse, and they saw a need to have cross-curricular and social learning options for kids who were being home schooled.

As James explained, isolating learning concepts diminishes the student’s retention. Cross-curricular study deepens a child’s understanding.

They also want students to understand why they’re learning concepts. Focus is placed on practical applications for what you learn. For example, they have kids who are studying quadratic equations draw up building plans. James said kids learn how to do math better when they know how it is used in the real world.

There also needs to be a social component at times.

“You can’t play math games by yourself,” joked James.

Though some kids learn well on their own, they still need to learn social and emotional development. She and Lofthouse spent months preparing curriculum and plans for classes that would help enrich learning for families that home school.

They group students together in three main age categories: early childhood investigators, young discoverers, and junior and senior pathfinders. Some students come once a week for one class, some go more often.

According to the California Department of Education, 160,000 students have left public schools since the 2019 school year. With many families choosing to home school, both James and Lofthouse are striving not only to offer class alternatives, but support for the whole family during the home school process.

“It can be overwhelming,” James said. “The (state) standards are hundreds of pages.”

As former teachers, they can help their families prioritize and focus on how to best build a strong foundation for their student or students. They see it as a way to balance what is sometimes an isolating experience for families.

“We are so happy to be a small community where everyone is valued, and to be a strong safe haven,” said James.

Since the students are primarily home schooling, James said teachers send home a handout each week with the standards being covered at Wild Roots and what terms they will be using. This helps the roughly 60 families know what to reinforce and study at home.

They also include ideas for at-home activities. Students can sign up for as little as one class once a week, or go for the full day. The schedule is set up so that parents can use the learning center as much or as little as they would like. On average, students usually stay for three classes in a day.

At Wild Roots, a focus is taking learning outside as much as possible.

When a lesson in linear algebra was going nowhere inside on one rainy day, they went outside to play a math game in the rain. Suddenly the kids were engaged in learning again, James said. Spending more time outside started as a necessity to follow COVID-19 protocols, but there have been benefits in getting closer to nature.

James said teachers also focus on helping each of their students build a strong voice. She said it’s important for students to learn to advocate and make choices for themselves. One of their offered classes, called “Project Soapbox,” enables students to practice public speaking and stand up for something they believe in.

Wild Roots is currently open for enrollment for the winter session, which starts Nov. 29. Classes are available for all ages and grade levels in subjects like art, music, performing arts, social studies, early elementary, mind and body, math, English language arts, foreign languages and science.

Classes are taught by credentialed teachers, and Wild Roots is a vendor for many area home school charters.

For more information or to register for classes, go to wildrootslearningcenter.com.

This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 11:13 AM.