Nature Study Camp

Nature Study Camp 2026

Join us June 22-26 as we explore nature in the vibrant tradition of Charlotte Mason nature study! Children will enjoy the engaging writings of prominent naturalists; do their own hands-on observation of natural specimens; respond to nature creatively with painting, poetry, and song; and delight in time together in the outdoors.

  • Nature study helps to…

    • Lay a foundation for future study in the sciences

    • Cultivate the skills of careful observation and attention

    • Foster a keen sense of beauty

    • Inspire reverence for the Creator

  • June 22-26 from 9:00-11:30 a.m.

    Herrick Lake Forest Preserve
    Wheaton, IL

  • Children ages 6-12 by the first day of camp

  • The camp cost will be $200 per child. Families who are registered for Valor for the 2026-2027 school year will receive a discounted rate of $175 per child.

Registration is open through May 15, 2026!

Let each of us undertake the patient, unflagging, day-by-day observation of the behaviour of sparrow, spider, teazel, of clouds or winds, recording what we ourselves have seen, correcting our records as we learn to be more accurate, and being very chary of conclusions. All we find out may be old knowledge, and is most likely already recorded in books; but, for us, it is new, our own discovery, our personal knowledge, a little bit of the world’s real work which we have attempted and done. However little work we do in this kind, we gain by it some of the power to appreciate, not merely beauty, but fitness, adaptation, processes. Reverence and awe grow upon us, and we are brought into a truer relation with the Almighty Worker.
— Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Book II pp. 101-102