Meet Your Guide
Charlie DeRuiter
Twelve years as an Educator
Georgia Master Naturalist
Deep roots in Georgia ecology
As a certified Master Naturalist and long-time educator, Charlie combines natural history observation with a gentle, child-led pace along the Lake Horton trails.
Artist & Community Founder
Plein Air Painter & Experienced Educator
Charlie is an artist and lifelong believer that children learn best through unhurried exploration of the natural world.
For more than twelve years, she homeschooled her children while creating meaningful learning experiences for families in our community. She helped found and direct a homeschool co-op and I led the forest play school, nature journaling, and scientific illustration for five years. She believes, with Charlotte Mason, that children are born people and should be given beautiful, engaging material to spark their curiosity and drive their growth.
As an oil painter and Director of Southside Sketchers, plein air community, she spends much of her life observing the natural world. Her background in both natural history and the arts shapes everything she teaches.
Fayette Forest Play School was created to give children the freedom to explore, create, and wonder. Through nature, art, and play, my goal is to help children build confidence, curiosity, resilience, and a lifelong love for science and the outdoors.
Meet Your Assistant Guide
Gwen Brown
Artist, Naturalist & Educator
Gwen Brown is an artist, naturalist, herbalist, and former home educator with a deep love for the natural world and the wonder it inspires in children. She holds a degree in Fine Arts and brings her creative eye, knowledge of plants and local ecology, and passion for gardening and birds into everything she teaches.
A mother of four, Gwen understands the joy and curiosity that come naturally to children and believes that time spent exploring the outdoors is one of the best ways to nurture both. She is also a plein air painter and regularly paints alongside Charlie, finding inspiration in the landscapes, plants, wildlife, and changing light of the places they explore.
At Fayette Forest Play School, Gwen loves creating opportunities for children to slow down, notice the world around them, ask questions, and discover the joy of learning through nature, art, and hands-on exploration.
