MindGarden Learning

October’s Homeschool 100 is coming up! 🌳💛

Join us for 100 minutes of FREE play at Jungle Fun Center, sponsored by LearningRx Chattanooga!

Michelle from LearningRx will be there with brain games to try. Stop by, ask questions, and find out what brain training is all about—then enjoy an afternoon of jungle play with other homeschool families!

📅 Tuesday, October 20
🕝 2:30–4:10 PM
📍 Jungle Fun Center | Hixson

Bring a homeschool friend or come meet some new ones!

🎟️ It’s FREE, but registration is required:
https://mindgardenlearning.com/events/

Space is limited, so please let us know if you register and your plans change. We’d love for another family to have your spot!

Last week at Homeschool 100, families had the chance to explore, build, create and play with hands-on kits from Pieces of Learning - Chattanooga ! 🧩🔭

But if you missed it, you didn’t miss your chance to try one!

Pieces of Learning is a Chattanooga-based library of complete, educator-curated learning kits. You can choose a kit, take it home for two weeks and return it when you’re finished—so your children get something new to explore without another collection of supplies taking over your closets. 🙌

Kits start at just $20 for two weeks, with most available for $25. Browse the collection and reserve one at:

piecesoflearningchatt.com

And be sure to follow Pieces of Learning on social media! In addition to their rental kits, they also offer sensory activity bags for purchase—including the magnetic play and planting bags our children explored at Homeschool 100. 🌱🧲

Thank you, Pieces of Learning, for sponsoring this month’s event and giving our homeschool families so many new things to discover!

Our first Branches Teen Guild gathering is officially in the books! 🌿📷

The teens began personalizing their Idea Books, getting to know one another, and talking about what makes a photograph interesting. Then they headed outside with cameras to experiment with perspective—looking for lines, textures, reflections, light, and unexpected ways of seeing ordinary things.

And these photos? They were taken by the teens themselves during that very first evening.

Over the next several weeks, they’ll continue exploring photography, composition, light, and visual storytelling as they work toward creating their own mini-portfolios. But Branches is about more than learning a skill. It’s a place for teens to spend time together, make something meaningful, share ideas, and belong.

We still have room for a few more teens to join us! Branches Teen Guild is for ages 13–18 and meets Mondays from 5:30–8:30 PM at Jungle Fun Center.

Send me a message if your teen would like to join us. 🌱

Wait... Teen Guild is THREE hours?! What are we doing that whole time? 😂

First of all: yes, you can bring snacks. Please bring snacks. Three hours is a long time when you're a hungry teenager. 😂

But Branches isn't going to be three hours of sitting through a photography lesson.

We'll have time to actually learn and make things with Miss Kim, starting with photography. But we'll also have time to hang out, talk, get to know each other, and follow some of the ideas that come up along the way.

Every teen will get their own hardcover Idea Book for sketching, writing, collecting inspiration, working through ideas—or whatever else they decide belongs in there.

There will be room to take a break when you need one.

And we're meeting inside Jungle Fun Center, so if a bunch of teenagers suddenly get the urge to go play in the Jungle...

I'm certainly not going to stop them. 😂

That's actually part of what I want Branches to be.

Not another class teens have to sit through.

A place to spend time with other teens, learn from interesting adults, get your hands on real things, make stuff, talk, eat a snack, laugh, and see what catches your interest.

We start THIS MONDAY!

🌿 Ages 13–18
🕠 Mondays, 5:30–8:30 PM
📍 Hixson
📸 First project: Photography

https://mindgardenlearning.com/programs/branches/

🌿🎨 HANDICRAFT CLUB IS THIS THURSDAY!

This week Miss Angela is pulling out the air-dry clay and bringing nature to the art table! Kids will create with clay, cookie cutters, leaves, shells, pinecones and other natural treasures to make their own nature-imprinted pieces. 🍃🐚

And this is just the beginning — swipe through September's projects! We'll be painting our clay creations, making 3D nature art, and even creating with bark and other natural materials. 🌳

Handicrafts give kids the chance to work with real materials, real tools, and their own two hands — to slow down, practice a skill, create something beautiful, and experience that wonderful I made this! feeling.

And you do NOT have to attend MindGarden Learning to join us!

🎨 Ages 7–12
📅 This Thursday, September 10
🕘 9–11 AM OR 11 AM–1 PM
💛 $25 per child
🌱 Just 6 kids per group

We need our Thursday registrations in by Wednesday at 3 PM!

If your kid loves making, building, painting, clay, nature, or just getting their hands into a good project — we'd love to have them. 💚

👉 Grab a spot here:
mindgardenlearning.com/event/handicraft-club-ages-7-12-4/