The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority

Tiffin Homeschool Program

Tiffin’s Homeschool Program is for homeschool families who want to spend structured time outside to develop a sense of wonder, appreciation and respect for the natural world. Parents and guardians are invited to bring their children to the Tiffin Centre for Conservation where we take care of the programming so that families can spend time learning outside together. 

There will be one lesson a month on a Friday, and families can sign up for a package of 3 sessions.

All children aged 4 and up must register for homeschool programming. All children aged 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult, however parents are welcome to stay for programming for all ages.

Children aged 3 and under can attend for free and do not need to be registered.

Activities

Tiffin’s Homeschool Program will take place one Friday a month and we have exciting activities planned for each of those days

Session 1

Morning Program
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Lunch Break
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Afternoon Program
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Families can attend Tiffin’s Homeschool Program for half a day, or the entire day!

A guided hike of the Nottawasaga Bluffs while the leaves are changing colours. Visit ‘The Tomb’ with head lamps and read inscriptions from decades ago on ‘The Wall’ as we climb in and around the Niagara Escarpment. 

Join us for a half or full day of learning how to work as a team. Try traversing across the wire cable, swing on the Tarzan rope and balance the large teeter/totter as a big group. How? Through team work, patience and good communication.

Morning program: After a PowerPoint presentation of the species at risk in Ontario, roll play one of those wild animals, trying to survive in their natural habitat. While looking for enough mock food and water stations, make sure you avoid the ‘Nasties’ of survival. Habitat loss, pesticides, poaching, climate change and natural causes will slow down your race to get off the species at risk list.  

Afternoon program: Our second program will be geocaching. We have 20 GPS units with our own course onsite. After teaching a lesson on how to geocache, you can head out to give it a try.  

Session 2

Morning Program
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Lunch Break
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Afternoon Program
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Families can attend Tiffin’s Homeschool Program for half a day, or the entire day!

What is important to know and do when about being outside in winter for long periods of time? Do you know how to stay warm?  Build an emergency shelter, and make a fire with found materials?  

Afternoon program: Learn how to not get lost through learning how to orienteer with our ‘Wilderness Survival’ map and a compass. Answer multiple choice questions about survival along the way.  

Get outside in the snow at the Tiffin Centre and beat the winter blues with Snowshoeing, Kicksledding, and play a game of ‘Snowsnakes’. If we don’t have snow, we will switch out our equipment needs to Geocaching and hike to see our resident porcupines.

An experiential tour of the Tiffin Centre’s working sugar bush displaying the Indigenous, pioneer and modern-day maple syrup making through stories, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The fascinating world of tree science will also be explored.

Session 3

Morning Program
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Lunch Break
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Afternoon Program
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Families can attend Tiffin’s Homeschool Program for half a day, or the entire day!

Participants will be empowered to take an active role in combating climate change for a sustainable future. Through exploration of the interdependent roles of plants, non-human animals, and people in the carbon cycle, they will also discover a wide variety of new, tangible, and impactful opportunities to take part in rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle and mitigating climate change. At a time when youth are suffering from eco-anxiety and action paralysis due to the complex environmental challenges surrounding them, the goal of this program is to build a resilient mindset and capacity for action through highlighting the strength of nature to heal herself and the opportunities and capacity for students to contribute to that healing. 

Learn about the Law of Conservation of Energy, potential vs. kinetic energy and how these are can be applied to green technologies as well as older ‘non-renewable’ technologies. Follow our QR code hike using the tablets provided to see green energies on the property, and access short videos on how the technologies work.  Hands on learning includes some solar powered kinetic robots, pizza box oven for heating S’mores, and more! 

Afternoon program is a hike, using the same tablets to determine your step count and where your hike would have taken you if hiking up the CN Tower.  

Participants will explore the fascinating world within ponds as they dip net in search of aquatic life. Through hands-on discovery, students will investigate and identify the survival needs and life cycles of various pond animals. By sharing their discoveries at the Tiffin “Zoo”, students will have an opportunity to compare common characteristics and the amazing​ adaptations of pond creatures for life underwater.

Your second program, a wild flower hike and games. We will have flower maps on hand and email a digital copy to all participants ahead of time.   

Registration

Children aged 3 and under

Children aged 3 and under can attend for free and do not need to be registered.

Children aged 10 and under​

All children aged 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult​. Full registration is not required as an adult will be onsite with them​. Please visit NVCA’s Payment Portal directly to submit payment. Parents/guardians are not required to register​.

Children 11 or older

Children aged 11 or older have the option to be dropped off for homeschool programs. Parents are welcome to stay. 

If you have never dropped off your child for Tiffin’s Homeschooling program, please be sure to register your child through this link as we will require additional information than the children who are staying onsite with their parents/guardian.

After that, please visit NVCA’s Payment Portal to register for your child. Parents/guardians are not required to register.

Instructions for using NVCA's Payment Portal

Using the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons, please select the number of children you are registering for. 

Choose the homeschool program your family would like to attend by using the “Select One” box under Select an Option. After you are satisfied with yours selection, please add your order to your cart.

To complete payment, select the cart icon and proceed to checkout.

For parents staying onsite with their children, full registration is not required. Please go directly to the payment page and include the names and ages of your children in the ‘Add a Note to the Seller‘ box in the checkout page.

Pricing and Hours

Lessons must be purchased in packs of three

Pricing Details
$40.25

Must be accompanied by an adult.

Full registration is not required as an adult will be onsite

$58.25

Must be accompanied by an adult.

Full registration is not required as an adult will be onsite

$95.30

For youth aged 11-17

More registration details are required as an adult will not be onsite with youth

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a paper ticket required for this event?

No, a paper ticket is not necessary!

What is the refund policy?

If you cannot attend 1 of the 3 sessions you have paid for, please email outdoored@nvca.on.ca to request a different week you would like to attend in one of the other sessions.

For example, if you cannot attend the Team Dynamics on November 11 (Session 1), you have the option of attending Wilderness Winter Survival on on January 20, 2023 (Session 2). 

Is there any food for purchase?

For those staying and eating lunch during our program days, please note that there is no food available for purchase. We also ask participants to be mindful of our litterless lunch policy and deposit any food-related garbage or recycling off-site (donations to our compost, however, are always appreciated!).  Water fountains are available to fill up re-useable water bottles.

Do I need to accompany my (teenaged) children to this event?

Children ages 11 or older can be dropped off for programming. If your child is aged 10 and under and you can assign supervision of your children to another adult who will be participating. We ask that you indicate the name of the individual who has accepted this responsibility in the payment page.

What if I pay extra to drop-off my teenaged children to this event

We do require that all children aged 10 and under to have an adult supervisor on-site and participating in our programs in case of unforeseen incidents (sickness, injury, etc.)​.  

If your child is aged 10 and under and you can assign supervision of your children to another adult who will be participating. We ask that you indicate the name of the individual who has accepted this responsibility in the payment page.

What if it rains or snows?

We do require that all children aged 10 and under to have an adult supervisor on-site and participating in our programs in case of unforeseen incidents (sickness, injury, etc.)​.  

If your child is aged 10 and under and you can assign supervision of your children to another adult who will be participating. We ask that you indicate the name of the individual who has accepted this responsibility in the payment page.

What if it rains or snows?

All of our programs run rain, snow or shine. Please come prepared for outdoor activity and dress appropriately for the weather.

Can I bring my dog to this event?

While leashed dogs are allowed on NVCA trails, we ask that they do not accompany you during programming times.

My friends will also be attending this event. Can we request to be placed in the same group/class?

Due to the number of participants and the nature of our programs, we cannot guarantee placement with other registrants.​

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