Activities to Stimulate Emotional Growth

Eagle Pines focuses on academic achievement, character development, accountability, maturity, reaching potential, social skills development, building self-esteem, and social awareness.

Our program activities are all designed to contribute to these goals. Recreational activities are educational, rich, emotionally challenging, and fun.

There is an appropriate balance between classes held on campus and excursions planned in the classroom and related to the curriculum, such as a long guided expedition in the woods collecting different kinds of leaves for a science project or trips into Austin or Houston to visit an art gallery or museum.

All activities are part of the learning environment that will produce the inner changes required for a boy to live well in his family and be a good citizen, successful in his academic pursuits, and have a good sense of who he is in the world.

Experiential Education

The curriculum includes experiential education whenever applicable and possible. The school day includes hands-on activities which will be processed in the classroom, moving toward higher order thinking skills.

Ceremonies and rituals will be set up to celebrate successes and achievements. Adventure and educational journeys are planned in the classroom, and the students will participate in publishing a newsletter for the students and families.

Each student will be involved in the planning of all activities. If a group is not able to leave campus, then the group's activities will be more concrete; a planned hike in the woods to study ecosystems, gardening, an on-campus ropes course, cooking a special meal for the community, and doing things that will give them some sense of success and contribute to their skills in community living.

Daily Routines

The small social groups meet at least twice daily, both to set up the day and review it. They meet more often when necessary to solve problems, plan activities, and evaluate progress and successes. The entire community meets daily or more often, depending on the circumstances, to solve problems, learn new material, reinforce community values, share information, and keep the community in good communication.

Daily routines both keep the environment clean and neat and develop training grounds for the skills the students need to learn. Study halls are also held daily except on Saturdays

Outdoor and Other Recreation

We believe that the work of children is play. Eagle Pines is a natural playground for boys of this age. Our facilities include a soccer / rugby field, a 2,400 sq. ft. boat building / woodworking shop, library, computer lab, and outdoor basketball court. Eagle Pines has canoes and other outdoor gear for use in student activities. The nearby parks provide opportunities for backpacking, camping, wildlife viewing, biking, hiking, interpretive programs, swimming, non-motorized boating, fishing, and nature study.

The Lower Colorado River Authority also offers numerous field-based and classroom presentations on aqualogy, human use of the land, archaeology, agriculture conservation, water and boating safety, water resources, energy conservation, and land conservation. They also provide challenge course programs to engage students in educational experiences that foster confidence, team building, and initiative, as well as guided river programs, including canoeing, rafting, and day-break and moonlight float trips.

Field Trips to Austin, Houston and San Antonio

Eagle Pines is just one hour from Austin and two hours from Houston and San Antonio. Depending on the social group's abilities, field trips to these nearby cities may be planned to provide opportunities to experience culture and the arts.

1 Natural and Logical Consequences, a recognized Evidence Based Practice ("EBP"), provides for training of the team in (a) allowing youth to experience the negative consequences of poor decisions or unwanted behaviors, or (b) delivering consequences in a manner that is appropriate for the behavior performed by the youth.

2 Milieu Therapy is a recognized EBP that makes the environment (the outdoors) part of the program. At Eagle Pines, it involves a system of privileges and restrictions.

3 Relationship/Rapport building is a recognized EBP that includes strategies for increasing the quality of the relationship between the boy and the teacher /counselor and academic team - a special characteristic enhanced by our forest setting..