PRIORITY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! PUBLIC REGISTRATION OPENING FRIDAY, MAY 22ND.
R o o t e d i n W o n d e r . G u i d e d b y P u r p o s e .
Bringing learning, nature, animals, and community together in a place where childhood is protected, curiosity
is celebrated, and school feels like family.
Meet the Heart Behind RRA
Founder ,Owner, Director
Hi families! I’m Grace Sanderson - founder of Rambling Roots Academy, mom, Director, and the heart behind this dream. With over 13 years of experience in early childhood education, I’ve always believed childhood should feel meaningful, connected, hands-on, and full of wonder.
After relocating to the Lowcountry from the Chicago suburbs, I felt deeply called to create something different...a place where children could learn through exploration, relationships, nature, animals, creativity, and real-life experiences rather than pressure and expectation. What began as a small vision has grown into a learning community built around curiosity, belonging, and intentional childhood.
At RRA, our goal has never been to simply create a school. We’re building a space that feels warm, inspiring, connected, and deeply rooted in family and community; a place where children are truly known and where learning feels alive.
Alongside my co-teacher and Assistant Director, Ms. Kylie, we’ve worked side by side from the beginning to thoughtfully shape the rhythms, relationships, and experiences that make Rambling Roots Academy so special.
Assistant Director
Ms. Kylie is a passionate early childhood educator who brings warmth, creativity, and genuine connection into every part of the classroom. Born and raised in South Carolina, her love for working with children began early through years of babysitting and caregiving experiences that naturally grew into a career in education.
Over the years, she has worked in both leadership and classroom roles, including serving as Head of Childcare and teaching within a Montessori-inspired preschool environment. Her passion for hands-on, child-centered learning aligns beautifully with the heart of Rambling Roots Academy, where she has been an essential part of helping bring the vision of RRA to life.
Currently pursuing her Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development, Ms. Kylie is deeply committed to continuing her growth as an educator while creating meaningful experiences that help children feel confident, capable, and loved.
Together, Ms. Grace and Ms. Kylie share a vision for preserving childhood through connection, exploration, nature, animals, and joyful learning experiences that feel like home.
At Rambling Roots Academy, our vision is to create something deeply meaningful, a learning community where childhood is protected, curiosity is nurtured, and families feel genuinely connected.
We believe early learning should feel warm, inspiring, and full of purpose. It should not feel rushed, overstimulating, or one-size-fits-all. That is why we are intentionally designing an environment where children can learn through meaningful experiences, strong relationships, nature, animals, creativity, and hands-on exploration.
Every part of RRA is thoughtfully created to feel both engaging and comforting, a place where children feel safe to take risks, build confidence, ask questions, and grow naturally into themselves. From outdoor classrooms and garden spaces to cozy reading corners, sensory experiences, open-ended invitations, and daily interactions with animals, our environment is designed to spark wonder, connection, and joyful learning.
As we continue growing, our vision extends far beyond traditional classroom walls. We are building a space where children can explore gardening, nature studies, practical life skills, outdoor exploration, creative arts, and meaningful real-world experiences that cultivate independence, responsibility, empathy, and confidence.
More than anything, we hope
Rambling Roots Academy becomes a place where families feel known, supported, and connected, a true community rooted in shared experiences, meaningful relationships, and a love for childhood.
We are not simply creating a school. We are creating a place where learning feels alive, relationships feel like family, and children are given the freedom to grow with wonder, purpose, and joy.
Our curriculum is thoughtfully designed to honor the whole child through a blend of hands-on academics, child-led exploration, outdoor learning, and meaningful real-world experiences. Inspired by Montessori and Reggio Emilia philosophies, our approach encourages children to become confident, capable learners while still protecting the wonder and magic of childhood.
At RRA, we believe children learn best when they are actively engaged in meaningful experiences. Rather than relying solely on worksheets or rigid instruction, we create opportunities for children to learn through movement, storytelling, nature, collaboration, creativity, sensory exploration, practical life activities, and open-ended discovery.
Our program combines intentional teacher-guided instruction with opportunities for independence, exploration, and curiosity-led learning. Throughout the day, children participate in small-group learning experiences, outdoor exploration, hands-on centers, collaborative projects, and purposeful play designed to support both academic growth and social-emotional development.
For literacy and math, we use the Wild Learning curriculum, a nature-based, hands-on approach that blends meaningful academics with exploration, movement, storytelling, and real-world connection. Through Wild Reading and Wild Math, children build strong foundations in phonics, reading comprehension, writing, number sense, problem-solving, and critical thinking in ways that feel engaging, purposeful, and connected to the world around them.
Alongside our literacy and math instruction, children participate in literature-based unit studies inspired by Reggio Emilia philosophies and guided by curiosity, creativity, and inquiry. These studies weave together science, creative expression, nature exploration, social studies, collaboration, sensory experiences, and project-based learning in ways that encourage deeper thinking, meaningful connections, and a lifelong love of learning.
Our learning experiences are often inspired by weekly themes, children’s interests, seasonal changes, farm life, animals, gardening, literature, and nature-based inquiry. Whether children are observing insects in the garden, journaling about chicks hatching, building with loose parts outdoors, exploring story retelling, or creating collaborative art projects, learning is woven naturally into daily life.
We also believe deeply in documentation and connection between school and home. Families receive regular updates, photographs, and glimpses into classroom experiences, and children build meaningful portfolios that capture their growth, discoveries, creativity, and learning journey throughout the year.
At Rambling Roots Academy, our goal is not simply to prepare children academically. Our goal is to nurture curious minds, kind hearts, confident voices, capable hands, and a lifelong love of learning.
How Children Learn & Grow at RRA
Montessori & Reggio Emilia Approach
At Rambling Roots Academy, our approach blends Montessori and Reggio Emilia philosophies with nature-based, hands-on learning experiences that honor the whole child. We view children as capable, curious, and deeply creative individuals who learn best through meaningful exploration, strong relationships, and real-world experiences. Montessori-inspired practices are woven throughout our daily rhythm to encourage independence, confidence, focus, and responsibility. Children are given opportunities to make choices, work at their own pace, care for their environment, and engage in purposeful hands-on learning experiences that build both practical life skills and academic foundations. Our Reggio Emilia-inspired approach allows children’s interests, questions, and curiosities to help guide learning experiences and classroom projects. Teachers thoughtfully observe, listen, and create invitations for deeper exploration through literature, nature, creativity, collaboration, sensory experiences, and open-ended discovery. We believe the environment itself plays an important role in learning, which is why our spaces are intentionally designed to feel calm, inviting, inspiring, and connected to the natural world. At RRA, we believe children thrive when they feel safe, nurtured, and genuinely connected. Through meaningful relationships, outdoor exploration, animal experiences, literature-based learning, and thoughtfully prepared environments, we strive to create a place where learning feels joyful, childhood feels protected, and every child feels known and valued.
Wild Learning: ELA & Math
Wild Learning: ELA & Math
For literacy and math, Rambling Roots Academy uses the Wild Learning curriculum, a nature-inspired, hands-on approach that brings meaningful academics to life through movement, storytelling, exploration, and real-world connection.
Wild Math takes learning beyond the traditional classroom by encouraging children to explore math concepts through outdoor experiences, games, natural materials, movement, and hands-on problem solving. Children build foundational math skills through meaningful experiences that make learning active, engaging, and connected to the world around them.
Through Wild Reading, children develop strong literacy foundations using a gentle, story-centered approach that blends phonics instruction, multisensory learning, outdoor exploration, writing, comprehension, vocabulary development, and rich children’s literature. Lessons are thoughtfully designed to feel connected and meaningful, helping children build confidence while fostering a genuine love of reading and storytelling.
Our literacy and math experiences are intentionally woven into our broader literature-based unit studies and Reggio Emilia-inspired learning approach. Through nature studies, creative expression, science exploration, collaborative projects, sensory invitations, and child-led inquiry, children are encouraged to make meaningful connections across subjects while learning through curiosity, wonder, and hands-on discovery.
At RRA, we believe learning should feel alive, purposeful, and deeply connected to childhood. Our goal is not simply academic achievement, but helping children become confident, curious, capable learners who feel inspired by the world around them.
Outdoor Learning
Outdoor learning is woven deeply into the heart of Rambling Roots Academy and is considered an essential part of childhood, not simply a break from the classroom. We believe children learn best when they are given opportunities to move, explore, create, observe, and connect with the natural world around them.
Throughout the day, children spend meaningful time outdoors engaging in hands-on experiences that encourage curiosity, confidence, independence, and wonder. Our outdoor spaces are intentionally designed to feel inviting, inspiring, and full of opportunities for exploration and discovery.
Children may spend time caring for animals, exploring the garden, observing insects and seasonal changes, creating in the mud kitchen, building with loose parts, participating in outdoor lessons, or engaging in open-ended imaginative play alongside their peers. Our outdoor classroom experiences often extend naturally from children’s interests, literature-based studies, nature observations, and real-world discoveries.
Our Wild Learning literacy and math curriculum is also frequently brought outdoors, allowing children to experience reading, writing, storytelling, problem-solving, and mathematical concepts through movement, nature exploration, games, natural materials, and hands-on experiences. We believe meaningful learning becomes even more engaging and memorable when children are actively immersed in the world around them.
At RRA, outdoor learning is not separate from academics, it is an extension of them. Literacy, math, science, creativity, practical life, sensory exploration, and social-emotional growth are naturally woven into daily outdoor experiences in ways that feel joyful, purposeful, and deeply connected to childhood.
Literature-Based Unit Studies
Our literature-based unit studies are inspired by rich children’s literature, meaningful real-world connections, and the belief that stories have the power to spark deep curiosity and learning. Using thoughtfully selected spine books and added living books as the foundation for exploration, each study invites children into hands-on experiences connected to literacy, science, creative expression, nature, sensory exploration, collaboration, and discovery.
Inspired by Reggio Emilia philosophies, each classroom develops its own unique learning web based on children’s questions, interests, observations, and conversations. Teachers thoughtfully document ideas and create opportunities for children to think critically, wonder deeply, and make meaningful connections through open-ended invitations and thought-provoking questions that inspire creativity, problem-solving, and imagination.
Rather than rushing through isolated themes or activities, we believe in slowing down and allowing children to truly engage with ideas, stories, and experiences in meaningful ways. Through this process, learning becomes more connected, purposeful, and memorable, while nurturing curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning.