We’re now enrolling for the winter session! Register here.
For ages 7–13.
Fridays, 9:00 am–3:00 pm
Location: Bartholomew’s Cobble, 105 Weatogue Road, Ashley Falls, Sheffield, MA
Fall Session 2024: 12 weeks (September 20–December 13; no program Thanksgiving week)
Winter Session 2025: 4 weeks (January 17–February 7)
Spring Session 2025: 12 weeks (March 7–May 23)
Full-year tuition: $1,860 discounted tuition when you register for the full year, including all three sessions
Tuition by semester: $850 for the fall session; $280 for the winter session; $850 for the spring session
Through storytelling and immersive experiences, we explore curriculum areas such as Naturalist Identification, Survival and Primitive Craft Skills, Wildlife Tracking, Awareness Exercises, Community Building, and much more. Students get the chance to run off into the woods and get an outdoor education in the following:
- Shelter building
- Safe and effective knife, saw and hatchet use
- Fire building
- Outdoor cooking
- Crafting with natural materials
- Naturalist knowledge of local flora and fauna and ethnobotany
- Games and challenging adventures
- Teamwork and life skills.
Our curriculum blends with the seasons. In the Fall, we learn about the trees and use their leaves to build warm shelters, harvest the acorns to make our own flour, and note the changes in animal behavior as they prepare for the winter. The first snows draw us deeper into the forest as we follow animal tracks.
In the depth of Winter, we embrace the deep cold and learn to become comfortable with it. We venture out to track animals and build snow shelters, then return to our cozy camp to brew warm tea, cook delicious food, and recount our stories.
The Spring has us watching the emergence of plants and eating wild edibles, catching salamanders and frogs, noting the new birds as they return from their wintering grounds, and wading into swollen streams after the first warm rains.
This program takes place at Bartholomew’s Cobble, which takes its name from the twin rocky knolls created by geological upheavals when the Taconic and Berkshire ranges were formed. This National Historical Landmark supports 800 species of plants in forest, open fields, and freshwater marshes.
Read about our daily Homeschool Program activities on our In the Woods blog!
Read our cancellation policy.