Happy Smiles Start With Healthy Soil

With a focus on environmental impact and creative expression, our camps, nature immersion & homeschool enrichment programs offer a sense of community while fostering land stewardship and creative play for children ages 3-12. You can find us around local San Diego beaches for our Spring & Summer Camps, or exploring outdoor spaces like our local canyons and farms for our 2026-2027 Academic School year. Activities include surf lessons, music lessons, nature-based art, STEM experiments, yoga & mindfulness, hiking, tide pool exploration & more!

Who We Are

  • Child-led, curious, and loving. strive to inspire and empower our students and campers to think for themselves, while providing a safe and supportive environment. We believe that little leaders with big hearts look to us grown-ups as models and guides, and therefore it is our responsibility to be exactly the change we seek in the world. Rooting deep into grounded practices and mindfulness, we create a foundation for silly and expansive play that honors the individuality and radical self-expression of each child.

  • We value creativity, curiosity and play! It is important for anyone (children included) to feel seen, heard, and respected. When they feel loved, they feel safe to love themselves. At the end of the day, gratitude is the key to joy! We prefer building a foundation on heart-centered connection to explore the world around us with an open mind.

  • …is just beginning.

    Welcome to Down To Earth Nature School! We began in March, and have quickly built something magical, all with the help of our friends! After completing 5 camps in our first year, we are excited to launch our full time program in August! Join along for the fun, and help us write our story.

  • Goes a lil’ sum’ like this…

    8:45 Drop off

    9:00 Circle time

    9:30 Snack

    10:00 Activity (nature-based art, STEM, movement, etc. differs daily)

    11:30 Lunch

    12:00 Hike or Beach

    2:30 Snack

    3:00 Pickup

General Interest Application

Our Philosophy

Our forest school follows a similar Scandinavian model that involves daily outdoor learning, child-led exploration, risk-taking, connecting to nature, and mixed ages. A key distinction is that Down To Earth Nature School has a larger focus on integrated academics than most forest schools. Similar to the Reggio Emilia model, we value an emergent curriculum, following the child’s interest. Compared to a Montessori model, we are similar in that we empower independence and practical life skills, however, Montessori is much more structured with specific materials and sequences, whereas we are more fluid and experimental. While the Waldorf model tends to be more teacher-guided and follows a defined philosophy, we are more inquiry-based and science-focused, while still sharing the same value of nature, storytelling, rhythm, imagination, seasonal festivals, and handcrafts.

At Down To Earth Nature School, ecology isn’t just the setting - it’s the curriculum. Nature isn’t a recess, but rather the base of what the children are studying. We intentionally blend STEM with wonder, and we emphasize real life hands-on work. We value systems thinking - asking questions like how do ecosystems work? how do soils regenerate? how do communities function? how do businesses operate ethically? How can children understand interconnectedness?

Our next step? How do we bring our learning to the community? How can we serve our community through being active contributors to healthy communities and ecosystems? It all starts right here. Right now. Start them young.

Howdy! I’m Chula

Founder and Director of Down To Earth Nature School, Chula is a big child at heart with years of experience that contribute to her passion for outdoor play and purpose. Growing up in Southern California, Chula spent her early years hiking and camping outdoors with her family, exploring the wonderful landscapes that surround her. After graduating from San Francisco State University with her BA in Communication Studies and a complementary study in Holistic Health, she moved back down to So Cal, pursuing her career in Community Outreach working to eradicate homelessness at Mercy House Living Centers (501c3) and curating camping experiences and events with CampNCater, LLC in Joshua Tree, CA. In 2024, Chula began working as a nature school educator in San Diego while obtaining her license in Early Childhood Education. While formal education and experience has been a huge part of her life, she also enjoys contributing to her community through music and art as the Director of the Family Garden (a children’s and family programming) at Same Same But Different Music Festival, which began in 2024. Through the years, she has worked with children in a variety of capacities including teaching Hip Hop dance classes, substitute teaching in the Capistrano Unified School District, volunteering with an English learning school in Indonesia, and plenty of nannying. Chula’s blended experience of work in Community Relations, Outdoor education, and Live entertainment are some of the key distinctions that serve her 4 pillars of life: Music, Nature, Travel, & Children. Her purpose in life is to heal ancestral trauma so that we may live in a world of love, celebration & abundance.

Aho!

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