Our Approach
Join the growing KOLA community in your region or help bring nature-based learning to your area.
Important Note
Our outdoor, small-group format requires students who can participate safely in nature activities and engage collaboratively without intensive supervision.
Nature-Based Learning
Our days unfold outdoors—on trails, in forests, beside rivers. Students explore ecology, wilderness survival, and earth sciences through real experiences.
Social & Emotional Growth
We guide youth through confidence-building, communication skills, and leadership practices in a supportive peer environment.
Real-World Skills
From map reading to fire-building, trip planning to storytelling, our curriculum supports life skills, critical thinking, and creativity.
Find a KOLA Near You
- Workshops and seasonal learning sessions
- Social-emotional learning and leadership development
- Bushcraft, fire-building, and outdoor cooking
- Candle making, nature arts, and traditional skills
- Group process, storytelling, and restorative practice
- Creative real-world projects like:
- Soil sampling and climate pattern observation
- Launching pop-up micro-businesses
- Managing a small-scale farm or garden initiative
- Building eco-structures or water collection systems
- Creating herbal products or natural dyes
- Designing community events and nature-based challenges
Our learning is experiential, collaborative, and grounded in the rhythms of the land and local community.
Our Approach
At KOLA, learning grows from curiosity, connection, and the land itself. We draw from inquiry-based education, place-based ecology, and experiential learning. Our days include a balance of structured learning blocks and open-ended exploration, allowing space for both reflection and risk-taking. We believe in the power of risky play — climbing, building, navigating nature — while maintaining clear boundaries between what’s adventurous and what’s unsafe. Every child is seen as capable, creative, and worth knowing deeply.
Mentorship Over Metrics
We replace grades with growth. Mentors support each learner’s development through reflection, real-world challenges, and meaningful feedback.
Social-Emotional Support
BI-informed approaches with daily focus on communication, connection, and co-regulation.
Rooted in Nature
We learn outside — every day, in all weather.
Hands-On Projects
From advanced maker projects to real-world problem solving and scientific investigation.
Small Groups, Strong Bonds
Maximum 1:8 ratio. Every learner is seen and supported.
Teacher-Led, Student-Collaborated
Guides shape the container. Students co-create what happens inside it.
Program Highlights
KOLA is a Waldorf-inspired, teacher-led forest academy offering a deeply human, nature-rooted alternative to conventional education in BC.
We are a full-spectrum outdoor learning academy designed for today’s world, blending nature-based education, experiential learning, and BC curriculum outcomes.
✅ 1:1 transition support into small group settings (maximum 1:8 ratio)
✅ Experiential, place-based curriculum developed around skill-building in:
- Communication & social-emotional learning
- Life skills & personal safety
- Leadership & teamwork
- Food & physical literacy
- Self-awareness & confidence-building
✅ Academic support and tutoring available on request, led by certified educators or aligned mentors
✅ Inclusive support for children with:
- Autism or other neurodivergent profiles (e.g., ASD, ADHD, ADD, PDA, ODD, CD, ID, LD, NVLD, DCD, SPD)
- Learning or behavioural challenges
- Emotional complexity or school-based anxiety
✅ Programs take place in local parks, forests, trails, and community hubs, blending routine familiarity with adventurous exploration
Children need role models who lead with clarity, care, and consistency. We support autonomy without stepping back entirely.
✅ Designed to support key life transitions, such as:
- Elementary to middle school
- Middle school to high school
- High school to young adulthood (employment, social independence)
Weekly Schedule
Our thoughtfully structured week balances core learning with optional enrichment
Core Program
Monday to Thursday | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Optional Add-On Day (Friday)
Fridays | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (subject to interest)
A lighter, more relaxed day designed to support working families. Activities are nature-based and engaging, but this day may not offer the same structured programming or 1:8 mentor ratio as our core days.
Fridays are great for continuity and extra social connection, but are not required to be enrolled in the main program.
A Day in the Life at KOLA
Experience the rhythm of our outdoor learning journey through each meaningful moment of the day
10:00 AM – Morning Movement & Site Preparation
Begin with purposeful movement as we hike to our outdoor learning laboratory – whether forest, field, or research site.
10:30 AM – Mindful Transition & Group Formation
Intentional moments to center, focus, and prepare for deep learning as individuals and as a collaborative team.
11:00 AM – Research & Discovery Block
Dive into project-based investigations, scientific inquiry, or interdisciplinary challenges designed to develop critical thinking and real-world problem-solving skills.
1:00 PM – Community Lunch & Social Learning
Nourish both body and relationships. Students connect, decompress, and engage in unstructured social learning in our outdoor environment.
2:00 PM – Academic Focus Block
Intensive learning through research, analysis, collaboration, and hands-on application of core academic concepts.
3:00 PM – Innovation & Creation Lab
Student-driven exploration across disciplines – from advanced maker projects and land-based design to collaborative research in science, technology, and creative arts.
4:00 PM – Reflection & Goal Setting
Synthesize learning, share discoveries, and set intentional goals for continued growth and tomorrow’s challenges.
Explore Our curriculum