Our Story
It started over 20 years ago with a hard-working homeschooling Mom who had a great vision. With four children in elementary grades, she thought there should be more opportunities to meet other homeschooling families in the Sacramento area and have hands-on activities that met state standards. She knew each hands-on activity needed to be designed around the children's interests, it needed to be meaningful
and most importantly, it needed to be enjoyable!
Kid Creative successfully paved the way for small-group classes to be enjoyed by charter school families in Sacramento, CA. Today, Kid creative has reached more than 25,000 students in the past decade alone and has expanded into the greater Sacramento area. We are proud of the foundation that our company was built on; Bringing families together who are looking to make homeschooling education MEANINGFUL, impactful and enjoyable! We are so excited to see the expansion of inspired education as we continue to reach-out to many more students in the future!
Our Mission
Our mission is to bring exceptional learning experiences that uplift and strengthen students in our community. We aspire to consistently provide the highest quality education in every subject we teach for every student in our classrooms. We provide a safe and happy learning environment where excellent teaching inspires a love of learning and a curious mind. Individual strengths and talents are nurtured, encouraged and celebrated.
Our Pillars of Education are:
I Creating learning environments that best serve students
II Developing teacher-student relationships
III Using developmentally- appropriate methods of teaching
IV Gentle teaching practices using Non-Violent Communication
V Striving to cultivate a deep enthusiasm for learning
Our Team
We have a wonderful group of enthusiastic teachers who are passionate about the subjects they teach and experienced in the classroom. Our teachers are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the Homeschooling community in the Sacramento Area. Our lead teachers and teacher's assistants work together as a team to create curated learning experiences and provide students with a supportive environment.
We absolutely LOVE our work and enjoy each step of the process in providing your family with inspired enrichment resources.
Our Wish for our Students
We believe curiosity and learning is a skill that begins developing in the earliest years of a child's life. Our sincerest wish for our students is that they will continue to nurture those skills and endeavor to achieve what they set their mind to do. We wish for our students to feel accomplished in their efforts as learners in all areas that they dabble in or dive into.
We have had the joy over the past 25 years of keeping in touch and seeing our student's graduate college, begin meaningful careers, and share their talents with the world in many ways. We consider it our greatest privilege to have a meaningful and memorable part of a child's education.
We know that a wonderful education shapes a child's heart, perseverance, self-confidence and joy, life-long.
Locations
We offer our classes and programs in Elk Grove, CA. We currently have two primary locations where we hold our class meetings. The Kid Creative Cottage is a private residence and home learning center located near Elk Grove Regional Park and The Elk Grove Regional Park's Sports area and White Pavilion. More information about these locations can be found in the registration portal by clicking on a class's location.
Meet your teachers!
Julia Akers
Teacher, Painter, Chocolate Enthusiast
Julia Akers has been a teacher for over 16 years in the Sacramento area. She grew up being homeschooled in an artistic home where her mother, Jeanette Clamp started Kid Creative and pioneered small group classes in the greater Sacramento area, encouraging students to learn together. This was over 30 years ago when homeschooling resources were sparse and limited.
She began painting commissioned portraits and murals alongside her own artwork in high school and graduated early so she attend college at 16, where her love of learning flourished. Julia began working as a teacher's assistant around this time and loved every minute with the students in the classroom; she knew she wanted to be a teacher. With a few years of college done, Julia began travelling abroad and lived in Italy for two years as a cultural exchange volunteer and continued to travel extensively throughout the world, visiting all the continents but two (South America and Antarctica).
After returning to California, she finished schooling in Early Childhood Education and Education Administration and has since worked in many settings with various educational philosophies and modalities. Over the years, Julia has trained at Rudolph Steiner College, completed certification as a Temperaments Counselor for families and students, and has completed extensive training in NVC (Non-Violent Communication) in educational settings. Julia's other interests are music, languages, gardening, culinary arts, carpentry, painting and writing. Her great passion for learning and teaching has brought many wonderful blessings and opportunities into her life.
Julia now homeschools her own four children (Asher 11, River 8, Angelique 6, and Oliver 4) and enjoys bringing inspiring and joyful learning experiences to the wonderful homeschooling community in our area.
"Learning is such a joyful experience when we nurture our students' gifts and interests along the way! Here's to a wonderful year ahead of us! I hope to see you in class soon!"
A Gallery of Works by Julia Akers
Jeanette Clamp
Teacher, Artist, Book Worm
Jeanette Clamp has taught in the Greater Sacramento area for over 30 years. She has 4 children that she homeschooled, and 8 grandchildren that inspire her. She founded Kid Creative and pioneered educational enrichment programs for homeschooling families in the 90's but has also enjoyed working with public school students in after-school art programs and adult classes.
She has always shared her philosophy that learning is a lifelong skill and is available to anyone who wants it. Jeanette has been called a modern renaissance woman with almost countless valuable skills and gifts that she loves to share with others. She has been a mentor to many families and organizations looking for guidance in how to create successful educational experiences for students of all ages and continues to find ways to serve her community.
In 2019, Jeanette closed the Kid Creative Urban Farm in Sacramento and moved to Washington state where she could enjoy nature and cooler weather! We were lucky enough to have Jennette visit us monthly and offer her unique classes this past year! She lives with her husband, and many fury and feathered animals that she takes care of at her home, The Stellaria Moutain Learning Center in Entiat, WA. The Mountain school is her newest project and aims to bring students closer to nature on the 15-acre forest orchards and gardens, to learn lost wilding skills, gardening, animal husbandry, art and much more.
Jeanette's other interests include world travel, herbalism, garden architecture, authoring and illustrating children's books, reading historical fiction, organic gardening and food preservation, and baking. Her favorite colors are chartreuse, mustard yellow and pink.
Dakota Sioux
Teachers Assistant, Designer, Math Enthusiast
Ms. Dakota is our Teacher's Assistant and has been a cornerstone to Kid Creative ever since joining the team! Ms. Dakota would call herself an introvert but is a bright face to all of our students. When she is not working, she enjoys gardening, drawing, wood working, boardgames and speaking German! She began working with children almost a decade ago in equestrian summer camps at her home in Wilton. During this time, she was finishing school and began attending college with a mindset towards engineering. After a few years of school, Ms. Dakota felt drawn to pause her education and create wholesome resources for children.
She began designing and developing unique wooden toys, using her carpentry knowledge and began selling online and in-stores. These brilliant characters, called The Little Cruisers soon became very popular and Ms. Dakota created The Little Cruisers comic to send to children all over the world. Today, Ms. Dakota runs her monthly comic service to 1,000's of children while working on future animation projects to be released soon! We are so lucky to have her on our team! You can check out her comics at- www.TheLittleCruisers.com.
Kaylee Parkinson
Teacher, Mom, Sports Enthusiast
Hi, I’m Kaylee Parkinson. I’m blessed to be a wife and a mother of four amazing kiddos, ages ranging from 4-12 years old. I absolutely love being a Mom- my family is my world. As an Elk Grove native (my family moved here when I was only six) I’m excited to be raising a family right here in my hometown.
My journey into health and fitness really began after having our first baby. It started with simple walks while pushing a stroller around the Elk Grove Park. After baby number two arrived I found myself running, and -get this- actually enjoying it! Now, 4 kids later, I love CrossFit training, yoga, long distance running, coaching soccer, and teaching PE classes to kids that are just excited to be outside to enjoy some active fun with their peers. I have seen the benefits of an active lifestyle in my own life and am excited to share that with your kids!
If I’m not helping my kids with school work, shuffling them to soccer practice and church activities, or grocery shopping, you can find me working out, baking fresh bread, or trying to scheme what the next home improvement project will be.