Our Spring Sessions

  • Number Trail

    Mosey down a nature trail at one of Charles County’s parks as we practice foundational number sense with a group of 1st to 2nd graders. $8 per session. Register here.

  • Phonics Trail

    Making foundational phonemic awareness and phonics rules sticky with this outdoor exploratory learning opportunity. Ideal for Pre K to Kindergarten students. $8 per session. Register here.

  • Gardening Workshop

    Come learn and play with your own container garden. All materials provided for this outdoor workshop. $25 per session and two dates available. Register here.

Classes and Camps, Spring ‘23

We partner with Charles County Recreation and Parks to offer fresh and powerful workshops and classes for all ages.

Join us for two very special offerings for early learners this Spring:

Phonics Trail invites young kids aged 4-6 to explore the building blocks of reading without even noticing they’re learning! We’ll meet at various Charles County parks through April and May to explore, sing songs, and play games designed to build and strengthen phonemic awareness in young learners. Check out some highlights of last year’s sessions here.

Number Trail is our newest offering for kids around the first to second grade level. Kids will explore number sense activities outside in nature. Learning experiences with lasting power..

Finally, join us for all-ages fun in our Gardening Workshops scheduled for Earth Day, April 22 and May 13!

We truly can’t wait to see you! Find more info and previous offerings below…

— Erika Smith, founder of USE LOVE

Services

 

Community Programs

 
 
 
 

Education Services

 

USE LOVE offers workshops, classes, and class series to the community. In 2022, we partnered with Charles County Recreation and Parks Department to serve all ages with memorable experiences including: a Teen Photography course, Grandparent & Me Nature Escape, and the Phonics Trail. In previous years, we have also offered the Writers’ Restaurant, a class series for elementary students to learn the writing process out in nature. Keep up with us here at uselove.org and on Instagram @uselovegarden to stay up to date on our future offerings.

 

USE LOVE supplies learning support for K-12 students. We position ourselves firmly in a S.T.E.A.M. framework, offering private one-to-one and group instruction on traditional academic subjects like reading comprehension, writing mechanics, creative writing, and math skills, along with more specialized learning experiences focused on gardening.

Parents and guardians come to us often for tutoring in language arts and math skills. Our offerings go above and beyond as we develop bespoke learning plans for K-12 learners. Our work is unique in that we ground academic subjects in a “whole child” approach using the arts and nature IQ to create experiential learning sessions with lasting power. We offer sound foundational academic support and create opportunities for children to see themselves as self-directed and well-rounded learners.

Today’s world and tomorrow’s world call for a different approach to learning, to gaining and honing those foundational learning skills. We meet this call by creating more connection to the skills themselves and more purposeful ways of being in connection with all of life around us.

We’d love to work with you to create an individualized learning plan for your child, see you at our community events in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area, and interact with you online.

Learn More

 

Garden Projects

 

Use Love Group LLC was formed by teacher-artist-gardener, Erika Smith. She practices “maximum beneficial” gardening, creating environments tailored to your specific wants and needs. USE LOVE GARDENS center beauty, culinary crops, herbal support, regenerative land practices, and honoring ancestral practices. Gardens hold untold power to heal and realign. Our consultation, design, implementation, and maintenance services provide an avenue to share knowledge and support the health of our community, small and large.

Garden design and consultation services may be rendered to individuals, schools, businesses, and communities at appropriate rates depending on the circumstance.

Taking appointments for consultation and implementation for Spring, Summer, and Fall 2022 gardens.

Learn More

 

**We center the experiences and knowledge ways of Black people, Indigenous people, Queer people, and other “people or culture/color”. We welcome everyone with respect and safety.

Autumn with Use Love

Grandparent & Me Nature Escape

1 Elder + 1 Child, Ages 3-12

@ Waldorf Senior & Recreation Center

September 10 and October 8 from 10-11:30 AM

@ Nanjemoy Community Center

September 26 from 1-2:30 PM

October 19 from 5:30 - 7 PM

phonics trail

Phonics Trail

Ages 4-6 (Guardian welcome)

@ Port Tobacco River Park

October 6, 13, 17, and 24 from 5-6PM

Summer 2022

New Blog Posts

New Blog Posts

Read a little about our summer so far from “Taking Care of Us” with the CBN family, to expanding our HQ garden, to summer camps, to D.C. gardens and more. uselove.org/journey

Better together

It was so nice to be with the community back in April for the Summer Activities and Camps Fair for our first sort of official meeting. Thanks to everyone who came to the tent to look around and learn a bit about what we do.

Summer camps are open for registration! Kids will be developing their gardening IQ and arts vocabulary, gaining more means to express themself and make sense of the interconnected world around them and the natural cycles they are also a part of. They will leave with their own plant and several art works. I do hope you will join us!

Until then…

Big Love, Real Love,

Ms. Erika

April Garden Moments

Learn more and register with Charles County Parks Department by clicking the titles above.

Spring and Summer Youth Programs for Art & Nature

Use Love’s youth offerings are in full effect, and man, do we have something special for the kids!

This spring and summer, we are partnering with Charles County Recreation and Parks to offer fresh and powerful workshops and summer camps.

You will find all our offerings here, but you must register with Charles County Recreation and Parks using the links provided

— Erika Smith, founder/operator

Demonstration Gardens

 

“Grand little Garden” is a space for the youth and elder communities to reconnect and exchange. One part crafting, one part gardening, and one part day party, this initiative aims to set the stage for free exchange of good feelings and useful knowledge between two of our most precious populations.

 
 
 
 
 

Using love changes the whole academic experience into something

REVOLUTIONARY.

Building Strong Foundations

We know that strong foundational knowledge and skills come from repeated academic exposure in engaging experiences. We know that practice makes perfect, but learners are often times most resistant to practice. So, we do our practice awesomely.

We design unique and lasting learning experiences for your individual child and for the community we build in each and every group session.

what we do.

Educational Services & Project-Based Learning

Demonstration Gardens

Art & Language Arts

Sovereignty Seeding