La Tasha Vanzie is a fan of the great outdoors. The Owings Mills mother of three traces her love of hiking and exploring to the outdoor curriculum that was part of her elementary school experience in Massachusetts.

When it came time to educate her children, Vanzie wanted them have the same experience. That meant enrolling her sons, Solace, 9, and Nasir, 7, in Earth Friends, a home-school program run by Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills.

“Nature learning is the most fundamental type of learning,” said Vanzie. “We know that everything on earth sustains us.”

Earth Friends, which the nature center started in 2013, offers nature-based programs for children ages 5-12 who are home-schooled. Classes, which are mostly held outdoors, run for 12 weeks in the spring and fall.

Irvine’s 200 acres provide “a beautiful backdrop” for nature education, said Stephanie Holzman, who works part time for the nature center and has headed Earth Friends since 2016.

“The outdoor setting just lends itself to have children investigate,” she said.

Holzman said a key feature of Earth Friends is that it takes outdoor science learning beyond a one-time opportunity. She said the center offers “multiple ways that home-school families can adapt our resources for learning.”

On a typical day, students can be found foraging for edible plants such as “autumn olives” — a scarlet fruit that tastes something like a cross between a sweet currant and a pie cherry — or learning about the 20 kinds of frogs and toads that are native to Maryland.

Students keep nature journals, and teachers share students’ information with parents through blog entries, which are then sent home to parents with pictures.

Students also put on nature-themed skits and learn about outdoor safety.

Sarah McIver of Catonsville decided to homeschool her daughter Avie, 6, after “struggling with the length of school in kindergarten.” She became interested in Earth Friends after Avie participated in a nature preschool program.

“In kindergarten, children would get only 20 minutes of recess, McIver said. “That was part of what led us to do this, to get her more free unstructured time to just be a kid.”

Since enrolling in the Earth Friends program in 2016, Avie is more relaxed and curious about her surroundings, McIver said.

“She sees a hawk go by and wants to tell us about it. For math class she comes up with how to tailor it to include nature,” she said.

Vanzie said that since her children enrolled in Earth Friends, neighbors whose children go to public school come to her house to learn about nature and to hike with her children. She said doesn’t worry her children will grow up to be couch potatoes. While they love technology, they also love being outdoors, she said.

“They are happy being outdoors,” Vanzie said.