Afternoon Program at Sunbeam!

Afternoon Program meets weekday afternoons Tuesday through Fridays for homeschooling kids and for Valley Vista students.

Valley Vista students: will get picked up at their release times. Please ensure we know what class and teacher your child has when you fill out your registration forms. Add Shawna Thompson to your authorized pickup list on file at Valley Vista.

Homeschooling students: drop off at Sunbeam at 2:30pm.

*Siblings: Get 10% off when registering together.

We offer sliding scale for eligible participants committing to weekly recurring signups. Email [email protected] to arrange.

We prioritize child-directed play and imagination! Our daily flow is based on kids' choices and interests. We offer children a safe space to be themselves, relax, play with friends, and move their bodies. Children can climb the oak tree, play in the mud kitchen, cook from the garden, tend animals, and create with tinkering and visual art materials.

Typically, our afternoon kids choose to run and climb and engage in imaginative play and storytelling, which we fully support!

Ages 4-6 Cohort: "Barn Swallows"

We welcome our 4-6-year-olds to Sunbeam Afternoon for outdoor play, animal care, garden tending and cooking, and emergent projects based on their interest.

We offer a variety of materials as well as naturalist experiences to provide "just-right challenges" as well as time and space for them to decompress and "just be" after their morning learning experiences.

Sample Schedule:

• Arrivals, get settled in, wash hands 
• Circle to briefly check in and create a sense of group
• Open Play and project choices (animals included)
• Clean up, wash hands, snack, story read aloud
• Get settled into rest and quiet activities
• Outdoor movement play 
• Garden tending and animal tending
• Closing, 5:00 departures

Ages 7-11 Cohort: "Ravens"

For ages 7-11, this group of homeschoolers and after-school students are invited to be industrious, observant, playful, and helpful in our nature and inquiry based afternoon program. 

Using real tools and projects of their choosing, we will focus on tending the animals and building and making things, such as toys or structures for the animals, fun features for the school, or personal creations that they may want to take home. Children will learn skills and safety responsibilities for using real tools, and they will learn iterative design process such as prototyping, revising, refining.

Additionally, the children may have the opportunity to be mentors to the younger cohort.

We will also invite them to take a moment of quiet reflection of their day, sitting under the oak tree and listening quietly while journaling or watercoloring.