What is the Nature Explorers Club?
The Nature Explorer’s Club is a seasonal, subscription-based membership that provides families with a Florida-specific nature study curriculum and tools to explore the natural world, right where they are. Each quarter, members receive a digital guide featuring thirteen weekly units, each centered on a seasonal theme drawn from Florida’s native plants, wildlife, and ecosystems. Every unit includes a main lesson along with tiered, age-appropriate activities. Some families choose to focus on the main lesson and outdoor exploration for a once-a-week nature study rhythm, while others incorporate the additional enrichment lessons, like art, nature journaling, stewardship projects, or creative writing, to create a full week of nature-led learning. Membership also includes: A monthly nature calendar with key seasonal highlights like meteor showers, migrations, and bloom times A scope and sequence sheet for easy planning and portfolio documentation A creative companion guide, Documenting Your Journey, with tips for building your own personalized Field Guide to Florida While the club doesn’t include scheduled meet-ups or live classes, it does offer connection through our regional Facebook groups, where members can: Share discoveries and seasonal sightings Organize informal outings with other local families Find Nature Study Buddies in their area Access member-only discounts on curriculum and special events run by Florida Adventure Club. Whether you're brand new to nature study or a seasoned explorer, the Nature Explorer’s Club is here to help you make the most of each season, at your own pace and in your own way.
Creating a Nature Study That Actually Works in Florida
A Unique Challenge... If you’ve spent any time at all exploring the idea of incorporating nature study into your homeschool or classroom you have probably encountered the same problem that I hear again and again from parents and educators, “Most nature study curriculums are seasonal and Florida just isn’t!” While your Instagram feeds are filled with blissful photos and videos of children doing nature crafts with Autumn leaves, making ice suncatchers or exploring the anatomy of daffodils, you look out your window and see nothing but green trees and hot weather. Popular nature study books are filled with lessons and activities that just don’t work in our sub-tropical climate, leaving you to pick and choose or try to modify lessons for your family. The Frustration of Florida Seasons... Even though I’m a Florida native, I lived in England for years and seasonal nature study there was one of my boys' favorite activities. Then we came back to Florida and the nature study books I had cherished in England were practically useless in the land of eternal sun and palm trees! I had become used to very obvious seasons - new lambs and daffodils in the Spring, Summer days where the sun was up at 4:30AM and didn’t set till 10:30PM, Autumns marked with gathering chestnuts and brightly colored leaves and winter with its bonfires, exploring snowflakes and sledding. Here it seemed all we had was hot, very hot and hurricane. An Idea is Born... I knew I loved nature and wanted to be able to teach my children but didn’t know where to start – that desire is what led me to complete training as a Florida Master Naturalist, to read every book I could get my hands on about Florida’s eco-systems and to attend multiple trainings on environmental education. This journey of learning also took me back to my memories of growing up barefoot and running wild through the woods with my friends in Central Florida, swimming in the spring fed lake near our house, wild foraging and wildlife watching till I knew the plants and animals around where I lived like old friends. Lastly it led me back to the books I remembered from my childhood in my school teacher grandmother’s library. These were books from the Nature Study Movement of the late 1800’s where the knowledge of the natural world was conveyed, not in textbooks and worksheets, but in narrative and stories that invited children to be active participants in the wonder of nature around them. An Invitation... From that journey I learned two very important things. Firstly, Florida does have seasons, not flamboyant like further north but subtle and beautiful in their own way. Secondly, I wanted to create Nature Study guides with the same warm conversational feel and invitation to wonder that I had read in my grandmother’s library growing up. So, if you want to have Nature Study as part of your homeschool, coop or classroom then consider this your invitation to join our Nature Explorer’s Club.