Watch now: Montessori students answer the call of the wild

DECATUR — Three busloads of tired Montessori Academy for Peace students and staff arrived to eager hugs from their families on Friday after a five-day stay at Camp Ondessonk on the edge of the Shawnee National Forest.

The school sends fourth, fifth and sixth grade students to the camp once every three years to ensure that all the students in those grades get an opportunity to go at least once.

“For most of these kids, they live in a concrete jungle,” said teaching assistant Ed Lozano Jr., who has been an adult chaperone twice, once for each of his kids. “It was amazing to see the faces of these inner city kids, and all the questions. 'Why is that spider green?' 'What is that snake?'”

Spending five days living rough, sleeping in cabins, taking an all-day hike, exploring woods, canoeing, swimming, archery and sitting around a campfire are all part of the Montessori experience, said teacher Temethia Joyner.

“Outdoor education is part of the Montessori curriculum,” Joyner said. “So we take them away for five days and we explore nature, we do a lot of science and team-building, relationship-building, independence, and so many different things.”

The way Montessori works is students are in the same classroom for three grades, so the fourth, fifth and sixth grades are one class. Students get to know one another and their teacher very well in that time.

“It was really fun,” said Mya Lofland, a fifth-grader. “We played tug of war, which hurt my hands, and we played this one game I liked which was kind of like flashlight tag. I got to spend time with my friends and we had a lot of fun in our cabin, and the food was pretty good.”

Mya was nervous about going, said her mom, Ashley Lofland, and Mya admitted she thought she would be homesick.

“I teach here, so I knew she was in good hands,” Ashley Lofland said. “It was the first time she'd been apart from us with no contact, so that was the hard part.”

A private Facebook page for families included a wealth of photos every day, she said, and that helped the families at home see that their kids were safe and having a good time.

“It was a fun adventure,” said Elliet Steele, a sixth-grader.

Fourth-grader Tenley Fleming said she was nervous at first, like Mya.

“After the first day, the shock kind of wore off,” Tenley said. “It was really pretty. I couldn't tell it was (in) Illinois. Even though there were some problems, we got through them and overall, it was a really great time.”

Kelly Hill went along as nurse, and said her fourth-grade son, Skylar Hill, was excited about going and since Mom was going, too, that helped keep any homesickness at bay.

“It was exciting,” she said. “The kids had fun. They had adventures and new experiences for them. The camp did a fantastic job of having things laid out and it was the sort of experience that every kid needs to have.”