I started homeschooling in fifth grade, while I was still living in California. As part of homeschool, once a week I’d go to a nature school at several different state and local parks in the Bay Area. I really enjoyed being outside and learning a bit of botany along the way. 

When we moved to North Carolina, I wanted to find something similar, and we soon discovered Piedmont Wildlife Center’s Homeschool in the Wild. 

I started attending weekly in sixth grade, and spent two years as a camper. The summer before eighth grade, I started my CIT (counselor in training) training. I’ve been a CIT at Piedmont for a year and half now, and it’s been fantastic for developing my ability to lead. I’ve guided games, taught nature skills, and learned to form connections with the younger campers.  

A day in my life as a CIT typically looks like this: 

First, I check the weather and dress for being outside all day. I usually wear layers, and always pants because the state park has a flourishing insect population. 

I’ll eat a quick breakfast, pack lunch, and then I typically carpool to the state park with another CIT. 

When I arrive, the CITs and counselors have our morning meeting, where we discuss plans for the day. The counselors ask about what activities the CITs want to lead, and what games the campers were most interested in playing last week. 

After that meeting, the kids begin to arrive and we’ll typically play a simple running game until all of them have been dropped off. 

We start with a check-in, and a fun question to ask everyone. This past week’s question was “Which would you choose to have in your living room: 200 frogs or one albatross? You must choose one.” It sparked a very interesting conversation between a 6 year old and a 10 year old that was really cute to watch. 

In the morning, we’ll typically take a longer hike to a creek where we’ll have lunch and do some creek exploration. Most of the time, the campers want to try and find crawfish and frogs in the creeks, and some of them make little boats out of leaves and sticks. 

While the kids are playing, the CITs and counselors will get ready for our afternoon activities, which are usually either a bigger game in a field or guilds. During guilds we teach specific skills to interested kids. There are typically three of these guilds in any given afternoon: whittling, fire building, shelter building, tree IDs, or some type of nature-based craft. 

At the end of the day, we have a closing circle, where the kids tell us what they liked about the day, and what they want to do the following week. After closing circle, and when all the children have been picked up, we have another CIT/counselor meeting. We discuss how we think the day went, what worked well, and how the CITs can improve on our leadership skills for the future. 

After the meeting, I carpool home with another CIT, and collapse on the couch.