Little Surf Co. Institute takes school to the shore in Huntington Beach
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It was an overcast morning in Huntington Beach on Thursday.
High tide also was not ideal for the Little Surf Co. Surf & Science Academy, which had its young groms catching waves just north of Goldenwest Street and Tower 22.
Still, there were moments of wonder.
“Look at these dolphins!” Jason Graney exclaimed, looking into the water not too far off shore. “Dude, there were three dolphins!”
The end of the nearly two-hour surf session turned into a dolphin watch party, as staff and students watched the animals play in the water.
“They’re so active today,” Graney said.
The spot where the kiddos surf is just up the beach from where Jason and his wife Kayla had their first date, 19 years ago.
The water and sand have been a constant in their lives, and that was part of their decision to form the Little Surf Co. Institute in 2019.
“We wanted to create something unique for our family that we could do together, that would resonate with the community at large,” Kayla Graney said.
She was a college professor for nearly a decade before the school was formed, while Jason worked at a gym in south Orange County.
“We created our logo first and we printed it on a coffee mug, put it in our foyer,” Kayla Graney said. “For about two years, we looked at it and were like, ‘One day we’re going to do something with that.’ His mom had a double transplant and almost died, and we had this epiphany during that time that we needed to spend more time as a family. We were just burning the candle at both ends, opposite schedules, we weren’t really seeing each other.”
Now the family, which lives in Fountain Valley and has grown to include two boys in kindergarten and third grade, spends most mornings at the beach along with their students.
Kayla calls Little Surf Co. Institute a boutique comprehensive hybrid homeschooling program. It serves close to 150 kids from TK age through sixth grade and will be expanding into junior high programming next year.
Some of the children surf in the morning with the Graneys and surf instructors. Some do yoga on the beach with Alison Zimmer, a math teacher at the school who also teaches business classes, while other morning enrichment courses include dance, music and Spanish classes.
The school has been contracted with Huntington Beach for six years to use the beach space from Tower 18 north. Little Surf Co. has a shipping container at the beach for storage, and the Huntington Beach Fire Department Marine Safety Division is on speed dial if there are any issues.
“Depending on the swell, the conditions, the time of year, we’re able to move them and chase the sandbar a little bit as well,” said Jason Graney, a Fountain Valley native. “It’s pretty cool.”
When the beach session is done, Jason carpools the students via a large van to the school space itself, which is located on the campus of Community Bible Church in Huntington Beach.
“Literally, sand will be pouring out of their shoes,” Little Surf Co. kindergarten teacher Georgina Gennawey said with a smile. “We have vacuums for that.”
Zimmer, who owns a yoga studio in town, is the homeroom teacher for the older fifth- and sixth-grade students. She also teaches business entrepreneurship and public speaking.
“They come to school in such a good mood,” Zimmer said. “We get three weeks off for Christmas break, and it’s actually sad for them.”
December indeed means that Little Surf Co. is getting into the holiday spirit. Santa and Mrs. Claus joined the students at the beach on Tuesday, and they are preparing for a holiday performance next week.
A monthly assembly was held Thursday. Zimmer’s student of the month was Finn Ramelot, a fifth-grader who also is one of the best surfers at the school.
He participates in the Little Surf Co. morning Surf & Science Academy four days a week, the science portion including ocean education or marine biology topics that are sprinkled in.
Finn and his classmates also have afternoon play time at the park next to the Main Street Library, a short walk from Community Bible Church.
“I’ve always been around homeschool, so [being at school] is a little bit different to me, but it’s fun,” Finn said. “I like being around the kids. It’s great.”
Anita Munson, whose daughter, Maren, is a third-grader at the school, feels the same way. She enjoys the flexibility that Little Surf Co. provides.
Maren surfs five days a week and attends school on Mondays and Fridays, taking extracurricular classes like speech and creative writing. Her core curriculum is done at home on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“It’s really been a dream childhood that we can give her, we think,” Anita Munson said. “We’re from Chicago, so we grew up in the snow. To grow up coming to the beach every day, my husband and I think that’s pretty fantastic.”
As for the school curriculum, Little Surf Co. operations director Emily LeMonnier said that it is all aligned with state standards. The academy, which runs from September through May, partners with 10 different charter schools.
Little Surf Co. offers small class sizes of 15 to 20 students, and students wear uniforms on campus. Some of the surf instructors also help out as teacher’s aides.
“We want to provide them with a unique learning space,” said LeMonnier, who started with the school as a surf instructor five years ago. “They learn with their hands, they learn by doing. A lot of it is project based. Our whole thing is we don’t want them to be sitting in a classroom for eight hours when they don’t need to be, and they can be learning in more hands-on ways.”
Little Surf Co. also has a summer camp with more than 60 kids, Kayla Graney said. In her office on campus is a big board, which has future plans for the school.
It’s definitely a labor of love for the Graneys, who call the academy their “Little House on the Prairie” school. Their motto for the school is “Join the movement, let’s ride the wave.”
Being at the beach every morning isn’t something they take for granted, but they also feel like it really benefits their students.
“Getting them into a classroom at 8 o’clock, there have been so many studies done that they’re just not ready, mentally, to be in that head space yet,” Kayla Graney said. “Getting them out here, getting them grounded, they get all of their wiggles out.”
For more information on the institute, visit littlesurfcoinstitute.com.
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