Summer Camp Details
April 24, 2015

summersplash_post This year’s MSLF Summer Camp will feature a different continent each week; the schedule follows below. Along with exposure to each continent’s history, culture and traditions, campers will have opportunities to swim twice a week with Michael Shanahan, the new swim instructor, cook once a week with Julia Lunn, visit the local Farmers’ Markets, and take trips to the Lake Bluff Library and Lake Forest Beach.

The Elementary Camp activities will be nature-based, academic, customized to the campers’ interest levels, student-driven, and will place an emphasis on team-building. Opportunities may include working with tools to learn some basic woodworking skills and gardening; exploring outdoor environments both at MSLF and area forest preserves; bringing back samples from their explorations to study under a microscope; and studying various cultures. Plans include hosting Pioneer Week, where students will learn to cook outdoors using Dutch ovens, play colonial games, and experience an Oregon Trail simulation. An Overnight Camp-Out on the MSLF property may be offered once per session.

Week 1:  Asia

Week 2: Africa

Week 3 & 4: North America

Week 5: Europe

Week 6: South America

Week 7: Australia

Week 8: Antarctica

By Teresa Pavelich June 2, 2025
At MSLF, overnight trips become an important part of Montessori learning beginning in Lower Elementary. Each trip is carefully planned to meet the developmental needs of students in the second and third plane of development , with each overnight trip getting progressively longer to ease children into these independent journeys away from their families. These aren't just trips - they're carefully crafted opportunities for students to discover who they are, what they're capable of, and how they can contribute to their community and the wider world. Beginning in their first year of Lower Elementary, students take their first MSLF overnight trip to Nature’s Classroom in Wisconsin. For many Lower Elementary students, this trip represents their first nights away from home. During their trip they explore the outdoors, work together in groups, use their practical life skills during community meals, and grow! It’s this first overnight trip for MSLF students where parents and staff remark how students come back almost transformed after being able to develop their independence in a supportive environment. Our Upper Elementary classroom has embarked on overnight trips to both Camp Timber-lee in Wisconsin and The Country Experience at Amstutz Family Farm in Elizabeth, IL. Both locations provide students with increasing opportunities to apply their practical life skills, like checking the weather to ensure they have weather-appropriate gear for their trip. Every task empowers them to develop self-reliance and problem-solving skills. These trips are also opportunities for the students to get to know one another and build strong relationships with their peers and with the adults in their classroom. Adolescent Program students at MSLF have opportunities to visit both Springfield, IL and Washington, DC . These overnight trips tie directly into their studies – connecting curriculum learned in the classroom to experiences in the wider community. They often take their learning on the road, for example by watching a legislative session in action in Springfield to see which bills are passed during their trip or presenting their research papers at monuments in Washington, DC. And for these students, the skills they built on their trips in Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary are put to work, as they pack their own bags, learn more about public transportation, and plan their daily itineraries to make the most out of their visit. Experiences like these at MSLF support the child’s independence, laying the groundwork for transitions in later life: the start of high school, going away to college, a first job, and beyond. As they conquer challenges outside their comfort zone, their confidence soars, laying the foundation for the autonomy and independence they will continue to utilize throughout their Montessori experience and beyond. It’s good for parents, too, to see how truly capable our children are!
By Teresa Pavelich March 7, 2025
Forbes Article highlights mental health benefits of Montessori education