Farm to Forest

Farm to Forest Homeschool Program

Our Mission:

As we move from Farm to Forest, and back again, we are creating a deep connectivity to the land, to the creatures who share it, to its bountiful greenery, and to ourselves. By encouraging children to immerse themselves in all that nature has to offer, we are fostering a love and respect for our environment, and we are nurturing future protectors of the land. Spending ample time in wild spaces, in turn, protects our children by helping to build within them, resiliency, empathy, confidence and grit.

We are quite simply, saving the world :)

Have questions about Farm to Forest? Please reach out to Michelle, the director!

Email Michelle

Homeschoolers 6-12 may attend 1-4 days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday*.

Learning will be primarily outdoors, experiential, hands-on and multidisciplinary. Our curriculum can be one day projects or multiple weeks as children dive deeply into different experiences.

A minimum of six children and up to 15 will focus on outdoor, nature-based and farm/animal related learning and social experiences. The different age groups will spend most of the time together, however will split up when necessary due to the activity offered.

Occasionally, there will be interaction and collaboration with our full-time Apple Shed students as part of learning, but these homeschooled groups will have a separate curriculum and schedule.

Homeschool students have the opportunity to have lunch and free-play with our full time Apple Shed students for more social experience!

*Fridays is half day only, 9-12pm

What does Farm to Forest look like?

While Farm to Forest is an inclusive, mixed-age social group, we are not a therapeutic program and are not staffed to provide intensive 1:1 support.
Our outdoor farm environment requires children to be able to participate with an age-appropriate level of independence, emotional regulation, and safe body awareness.
Children must be able to:
- Stay with the group in wooded and farm environments
- Follow multi-step directions in an outdoor setting
- Participate safely in wilderness activities and tool usage
- Interact respectfully with farm animals
- Navigate social interactions within a mixed-age group
- Manage transitions with minimal adult intervention
We encourage you to reach out and speak with us in advance to discuss any questions you may have, in order to ensure that your child can feel successful in this program.
Hands-on learning and experience expanding projects such as fruit dissection, cooking using our own grown produce, maple tree-tapping, foraging, animal tracking, solving problems through peer collaboration using the environment for inspiration.
Using found and harvested materials, we will create our own art supplies in addition to using recycled and traditional art materials. Projects will include using wool from the sheep and alpacas on the farm for felting and weaving, sculpting, painting, and so much more.
We’ll also collaborate with the School House students for plays with music and creating the sets - the School House usually has 2 plays per year.
Gardening, caring for the animals we have here on the farm, and of course spending time giving them snuggles!
Animal Chores and Cuddles:
Give all of our animals their food and water for the morning, as well as snuggle! Snuggling/spending time with our animals is part of their care, as it helps us recognize when they might not be feeling well when they display behavior that isn’t normal for them.
Snack
STEM Project:
A STEM project could be something such as doing an Egg Drop Challenge or using found materials to make a working boat!
Lunch
Afternoon Activity:
Goat hike/forage hike or harvest our crops and make salsa to eat with corn chips!