Afternoon Enrichment

Join us for Café and Play―an opportunity for Deerstream students of all ages to eat lunch and socialize together!

Café and Play is offered on both Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:15-1:00 pm.  Come just for lunch or stay for one of our many afternoon classes, featuring active and hands-on enrichment options.

Afternoon enrichment classes are taught by experienced educators and run from 1:00 pm to 2:15 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, following Café and Play sessions. Afternoon classes run in semester-long sessions.  Check out examples of class projects and artwork on our Facebook page.

Learn more about tuition.

*Monday classes meet from September 7-December 9 with no class on November 25.

Meet the Masters Art Class- Donna Bingen (ages 5-9) 12 week class

Join us this semester as we create art inspired by the masters! We will create collages with colorful papers, explore watercolor paints, oil pastels, and clay while learning exploring different art techniques. Famous artists such as Van Gogh, O’Keefe, Monet and Picasso will inspire as we create our own masterpiece!

Donna Bingen has taught at Deerstream for 4 years. In her spare time, she enjoys taking art classes and building her art portfolio.

Beginning-Intermediate Chess, Curtis Stith (all ages) 8 or 12 week class

 Welcome to chess 101! We’ll dive into tactics and strategy at all levels, and work with kids at their current ability. Whether they’ve never heard of the game before, or they’ve been playing for a while and are itching to take their game to the next level, they’ll find they can learn a lot in this class! The session will include plenty of one on one instruction, group lectures, and lots of practice. Homework will include playing games online against real opponents (or against the computer if the parent prefers) and studying patterns and tactics that I’ll send home with the students. Along the way we’ll learn valuable life skills like planning ahead, looking at things from another person’s perspective, and learning from your mistakes.

Curtis Stith has been working with kids of all ages in private music lessons for the past 5 years, and loves to watch children grow in their ability to take charge of their own learning, and set and achieve goals that they are excited about. He’s been playing chess since he was a young child, has competed in USCF tournaments, and loves to study the game and push himself to get better. In his free time you can find him recording and performing music with his wife, long distance running, and hanging out with his cat Dusty. 

Foundations in Art- Coran Kennedy (Ages 10 and up)   (12 week class, runners welcome to register as an 8 week class to begin Oct. 14)

Are you curious how artists use color, compose a work of art, and use line & sketching to make something 3 dimensional? We will explore the techniques and foundations of art to give you the tools to be creative. This is an appropriate class for beginning artists as well as experienced ones; each student will gain new skills and techniques along their artistic journey. Enjoy discovering different media used to create art and what brings you inspiration.

Coran Kennedy has a BFA in Graphic Design, minor in studio art. One of her favorite activities is to take her daughters on painting picnics. She enjoys helping her children and their friends discover the joy in art.

Mock Trial, Sue Gray (Ages 10 and up)  (8 weeks:  Oct 14, 21, 28;  November 4, 11, 18;  Dec 2, 9)

This class in Mock Trial will introduce students to our criminal justice system. Classroom activities will be geared toward helping students learn how a courtroom is designed to ensure equal justice for all. In order to accomplish this goal, students will learn about, prepare for and practice various courtroom roles that will be acted out in a fictional courtroom drama. The benefits of doing so include: developing skills in public speaking, learning to think on one’s feet, learning how to cooperatively work with others, and learning how to write and develop persuasive arguments. Weekly homework will be assigned asking students to read, rehearse, learn, or write about information that was covered in class.

For over a decade, Sue Gray has coached and encouraged students to develop their communication skills through speech and debate classes and competitive leagues, including numerous students who have earned scholarships and awards at the state, regional and national level.   Sue has a Master’s Degree in Education, and she is the founder of SpeakOut NC, a competitive speech and debate club that meets at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, NC.   She has earned a diamond coaching degree with the National Speech and Debate Association. Sue is a “retired” home school mom.

*Wednesday classes meet from September 18-December 11 with no class on November 27.

Field Games, Angela Bonner (Ages 8- 12*) (12 weeks)

Want your child to work on skills like following directions, working with others, good sportsmanship and personal fitness? Then this is the class for you! As you know, habits concerning a healthy lifestyle are formed at an early age and physical activity is an important component to this. This class will focus on the fun in group play, accepting defeat graciously and working on improving skills to achieve a personal best in a friendly, competitive environment. Old school games like Dodge Ball, Kick the Can and Pick-up Basketball with be mixed in with lesser known games like Ready, Aim, Throw, Snakes in the Gutter, and Giants, Wizards, Elves.

*Seven year olds may enroll with permission.

Angela Bonner has been teaching for over 25 years and for most of those years, she has used her training as a Gesell observer of child development to influence the activities she chooses for her classrooms. She enjoys exploring new ways to encourage learning. Gross motor development is just another piece to the development of the whole child. She enjoys watching the students develop and fine tune their movements, learn new strategies, become more gracious winners and losers, and enjoy being a member of a team.

Pioneer Adventures- Donna Bingen and Joy Nichol (ages 5-11)

Have you ever wondered what life was like as a pioneer? Come join us as we travel back to the 1800’s to learn how to make butter, sew and quilt, build covered wagons, play pioneer games, make rag dolls and learn what life was like back on the homestead.

Donna Bingen has taught at Deerstream for 4 years. She has always enjoyed reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books and is passionate about teaching about what life was like in the old days.

Project Based Engineering 1.0- Martha Brown (ages 8-12)

Have a child that likes building, designing, and engineering projects? Then have them join us for an afternoon of thinking outside the BOX! Through project-based learning, students can control the direction and pace of their learning. We will spend the afternoon building thingmabobs, doohickies and other contraptions that promote investigation and critical thinking. This hands-on subject matter will focus on basic principles of physics, structural, and mechanical engineering as well as the 4 Cs: critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity. Projects include recycled cars, slingshot rockets, many towers.

Martha Brown will be in her fifth year teaching morning classes at Deerstream. Each semester she creates an afternoon class that provides opportunities for students to think outside the box, be imaginative, and use their critical and logical thinking skills to design and build projects. She is a North Carolina native with two children and a menagerie of animals at home. She loves the outdoors, sports, and seeing her children and students become the people God intended them to be.

Intro to Choir- Elizabeth Maness (ages 10 and up)  (8 weeks:  October 16, 23, 30;  Nov. 6, 13, 20;  December 4, 11)

This class will function like a beginning group voice class with an emphasis on vocal technique and group songs!  Focus on poise, breathing, basic vocal techniques and musicality while learning to read notes, rhythms, musical directions, and vocabulary.

Elizabeth Maness has been a performer and teacher since middle school with specialties in areas such as Ballroom Dancing, Instrumental Music, Choir, Private Voice Instruction, and Percussion Ensembles.  She loves watching the Tar Heels play basketball, reading any kind of fiction she can find, and researching anything related to vocal pedagogy and music.