Welcome to a community
of Explorers
Drop-off tutorial for ages 5-14, grades K-9.
We support students and empower parents at our Homeschool Tutorial
Looking for a community or homeschool tutorial in Maryland to supplement your homeschooling?
Are private and public school options not matching the values and needs of your family?
Elderberry Outdoor School may be for you!
We believe that children learn best by doing, and we trust their learning process.
We know that being outdoors connects children to their roots of play and exploration.
We started as a Homeschool co-op in Maryland
We know that homeschool families, and parents who prefer nature and play based education, thrive within a supportive community.
We support both students and parents.
We feel so humbled and honored to be entering our 6th year serving the local community.
If you’re interested, reach out, join our next open house, or apply here. We can’t wait to meet you!
A Self-Directed Learning Community for the 21st Century
Elderberry Outdoor School is a secular and inclusive, mixed aged, full-day drop-off program for students in kindergarten through 9th grade. We believe that learning HOW to learn is the most important skill our students will need for their future. We do this by using 6-week self-directed learning cycles, as well as by fully embracing emergent learning.
We are primarily nature based, with students spending most of their time outdoors: building, climbing, creating, and hiking, with reading, show-and-tell, journaling, experiments, math games, socializing, art, emotional work, animal care, and so much more built in!
Our middle school cohort uses Build Your Library, Level 7 this year as a springboard for their studies and exploration. In the 2023-24 school year, we’ll be following BYL Level 8, the History of Science.
Ready for something different?
Our approach to education also emphasizes emotional, social, and kinesthetic intelligence.
At Elderberry we focus on:
Passionate about Education
Education and community is the foundation of nurturing a child’s potential.
Growing up, we remember putting the thermometer near the bulb to try to avoid going to school. Now our kids want to slip the thermometer out from under their tongue to try to lower their temps. They cheer going to school in the morning!
If this isn’t your current school experience, you’re not alone! And it is why we were called to do this work — so our kids can be educated differently.
How Kids learn at Elderberry Outdoor School
Elderberry Outdoor School is a safe and nurturing space to explore, try, try again, and grow as learners. We are a community, working to empower and encourage ourselves and others to make our unique paths as we communicate, collaborate, and create.
Elderberry is an alternative to private and public schools, and serves as a tutorial, umbrella, and homeschool co-op in Maryland.
Our values are taught through the core curriculum, with an emphasis on these key components:
Exploration
We share a calendar of monthly field trips to take advantage of group discounts and to double the fun of exploring new places!
Read about our Trips on the Umbrella page.
Program Rates for 2023-2024
Payments are due on the first of each month through PayPal invoices. If you have questions regarding tuition, payments, or volunteering, please let us know!
2 Days per Week
- Pick any 2 days: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday (9:00-3:00)
- Split into nine payments of $450/mo
- 25% discount for additional siblings
3 Days per Week
- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (9:00-3:00)
- Split into nine payments of $600/mo
- 25% discount for additional siblings
As homeschooling families…
…we know you work hard to make the time away from your children as engaging and enriching as possible… especially when it comes to looking at tuition for different programs.
As we enter our sixth year serving the local homeschool community, we are more excited than ever to have witnessed the amazing strides our students have made from our nature-based approach to learning!
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.”
–Mr. Rogers