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ECO began its mission to get more children outdoors to experience nature and learn about their natural world in 2017. The program began in Atlanta, Georgia and launched in Phoenix, Arizona in 2019, after the founder relocated due to health reasons. Since 2017, ECO programs have assisted over 400 children in connecting with the natural world. And ECO has offered over 3,000 hours of outdoor program options.

ECO is a 100% outdoor education, place-based program that is similar to the "forest school" programs prevalent across Europe, minus the forest. Instead we have a wondrous, beautiful, and biologically diverse desert to explore, so we now refer to our program model as a  "desert school."  We are one of the few 100% outdoor desert schools across the world. Our mission is to immerse children in connecting with the natural world. Through ECO, children learn about and explore nature through cross-curricular, hands-on, experiential activities, so that they will develop knowledge about, love for, and dedication to nature's wonders. 

The majority of our programs take place in North Phoenix at this time.

There will only be 1 program option offered in 2025 for our semester/yearly-based desert school programs (you can enroll at anytime and we will prorate the tuition)

• Teen Naturalist program (Conservation Biology) is for children in 8th-12th and offered in-person and online

We will also be offering private programs as we are able. 

In 2022 we launched Gwyn and Rowyn's Cabinet of Curiosities,  a one-of-a-kind nature study subscription box.  This nature swap subscription box was created in memory of founder Kathy Balman's two teenagers Gwyn and Rowyn who passed away on  November 7th, 2022 in a car accident. Gwyn and Rowyn had a love for collecting items they found on their many nature outings. They enjoyed  swapping items with others and purchasing items to expand their collections. And they loved sharing about and showing their collections  to others. So it only seemed fitting to create something in their memory  that will continue encouraging budding naturalists around the country  to get outdoors to learn about and explore the natural world!  

We are hoping to open a desert learning center in memory of Gwyn and Rowyn, because they are the reason founder Kathy Balman found her passion for environmental education. The center will be called the Wynsum Desert Learning Center. Wynsum is a word that means joyful or childlike and has the "wyn" that was in both of Gwyn and Rowyn's names. You can learn more here www.wynsumdesertlearningcenter.org. Right now we are working on getting funding from grants, donors and investors so that we can purchase land. In the meantime we will offer programs at public local nature areas like we always have.