🌿 Welcome to Gaia Collective

At Gaia Collective, we empower children to think independently, lead with integrity, and engage deeply with the world around them.

Our learning experience nurtures the whole child—mind, body, heart, and spirit—through a curriculum rooted in nature, grounded in strong academics, and alive with creativity, movement, and real-world purpose. We don’t raise followers—we cultivate visionaries, innovators, and compassionate leaders for a changing world.

Here’s a look at what makes us different from other learning programs you may have experienced:

📚 Core Academic Foundations

Language Arts
Children engage in rich reading and writing experiences tailored to their level—whether they're learning phonics or crafting short stories. We explore language through journaling, storytelling, poetry, and project-based writing. The students are guided by an individualized curriculum curated by our teachers to help them grow but meet them where they are at.

Spanish Language Immersion
Our staff is fully bilingual, and children experience part of each day in Spanish. Through songs, stories, conversation, and hands-on lessons taught in Spanish, children naturally build vocabulary and comprehension. This immersive approach helps them gain confidence and fluency in a second language while experiencing Costa Rican culture in a natural way.

Reading
Daily time is devoted to reading—aloud, in small groups, and independently. Children discover the joy of books while building fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.

Writing
From journaling about what they see in the forest to writing letters, poems, and descriptive stories, writing is woven through each week to support clarity, expression, and mechanics.

Mathematics
Math at Gaia is dynamic and relevant—children practice concepts through cooking, measuring in the garden, geometric art, mapping, and games. Lessons are hands-on and adapted to each child’s readiness. Our focus is on math that matters. Children explore real-world money skills through playful budgeting, bartering games, and collaborative market days. They learn about value, exchange, savings, and how to imagine and build eco-aligned businesses that serve their community and the planet.

Tech & Innovation Lab
Our weekly lab fosters creativity, logic, and design thinking. Students may code, build circuits, create digital art, or solve real-world problems using sustainable design practices. Whether building prototypes, using AI to identify and categorize species, or learning ethical tech use, students discover how innovation can serve the Earth.

🌲 Nature & Movement-Based Learning

Nature Immersion
Children spend meaningful time outside each day, exploring the jungle, creeks, and ocean. Being located so close to the beach and a rare turtle nesting site gives them a unique opportunity to grow up in a marine biologist’s dream. They observe wildlife, build shelters, and learn to move with awareness and care in the natural world.

Nature Journaling
With a journal and pencil, students learn to document the world around them through drawing, labeling, and reflective writing—building scientific thinking and mindfulness.

Movement & Somatics
We move every day—through animal forms, dance, stretching, yoga, and playful physical games. Children learn to listen to their bodies and move with joy. Our goal is to prioritize a regulated nervous system because a calm and grounded child can learn and create so much better than a stressed and anxious one.

Water Exploration
When the season allows, we explore the element of water through ocean exploration, aquatic skills and therapy, water and sensory play, floating and working with water as a resource sustainably. These activities foster fluidity, cooperation, and grounding. They help teach the children how to be good stewards of our waterways and how to use this precious resource for the greater good.

🎨 Creative & Experiential Learning

Creative Expression
Movement, drama, and storytelling come to life on our outdoor stage. Students co-create skits, dance pieces, musical performances, and improvisation games that build confidence, empathy, and joy in creative expression. Students are taught real world technology skills for creating content to share their creativity with the physical and digital world.

Handwork & Earth Skills
Each week includes earth-based skills like water color, woodworking, weaving, or clay crafting. These slow arts help children build patience, dexterity, and a connection to nature and tradition.

Music & Rhythm
Music is woven into our days—seasonal songs, rhythm circles, and group drumming build memory, language, and a strong sense of community. Additionally, every week we have a special music class taught by a local musician so the children can flex their musical instrumentation muscles.

Garden & Food Projects
Children participate in planting, harvesting, cooking, fishing in our pond, and composting. These projects teach stewardship, cooperation, and gratitude for nourishment. These projects are led by an instructor with a strong educational background in ecology and sustainability. 

💛 Community, Connection & Self-Awareness

Opening & Closing Circles
Each day begins and ends in community—sharing gratitude, breathing together, and setting or reflecting on intentions. This anchors the learning and cultivates belonging.

Mindfulness & Quiet Time
Sit spots, nature meditation, and solo drawing help children slow down and tune in to their inner world and the life around them.

Community Games
We play together often—with games that build trust, empathy, listening, and joyful collaboration.

Storytelling & Myth
Each week includes storytelling from oral traditions, seasonal myths, and original tales that spark imagination and connect children to deeper cultural rhythms.

🔥 Thematic & Elemental Learning

Element of the Week
Our curriculum flows through nature and elemental themes—this year we’re starting out with Earth, Air, Fire, & Water.. These guide our stories, movement, experiments, and reflections, grounding children in the rhythms of the natural world.

Guest Workshops
Throughout the year, we invite herbalists, artists, musicians, and scientists to offer workshops that expand horizons and deepen our collective learning.

🌈 Learning at Gaia is Not Just About Academics—

It’s about connection, curiosity, and confidence. It's about raising humans who know who they are, where they belong, and how they can serve and lead.

We’re honored to walk this path with your family.