Farm and Forest School

Sundays or Mondays | March 19-20 through May 14-15 | 10 am – 3 pm

Where Kids can be Kids, Have Fun, and Learn—OUTSIDE!

Program Details

Our passionate, fun-loving, experienced outdoor educators guide students through hands-on activities oriented towards personal and collective growth, self-awareness and self-confidence, interconnectedness and responsibility. 

“Both of my kids have spent five years with Joe in Forest School. Through all weather, all seasons, they are more excited to attend every year. The content is wonderful, but what we have gained the most is a sense of their own ability to be in the world. They have real, tangible challenges and group interactions that are structured and at the same time very organic. They are solving their own problems and building their confidence. Forest School has been priceless!”

Questions? Contact the Program Department at programs@pearlstonecenter.org

Dates and Pricing

Students can join on either Sundays or Monday. Our Spring session dates are:

• 8 Sundays from March 19 – May 14
• 8 Mondays from March 20 – May 15

If we need to cancel two or more weeks of class for any reason, we have make up dates at the end of the season.

The cost for the 8-week session is $400.

Please be in touch with Stephanie Katsampis if you need any financial assistance or need to set up a payment plan.

Program Highlights

 In this course, students gain a tremendous amount of knowledge through experiential learning – encountering and understanding dozens of plants, animals, ecological systems, and primitive skills throughout the year. Drawing on indigenous educational wisdom, Forest School trains students in a plethora of practical skills and scientific knowledge while building essential character traits like compassion, alert awareness, gratitude, and deep listening.

And the kids have so much fun they don’t even realize how much they’re learning!  Collaborative group challenges followed by artfully guided debrief activities build compassionate communication and leadership skills.  Farm projects encompass tending perennial and annual plants, animal care, mushroom cultivation, natural building, cooking, soap-making, herbal medicine and more. Inspiring or thought-provoking articles or short videos may be shared on a wide range of topics from local food systems to innovative compost solutions to global initiatives in eco-social entrepreneurship. Time for lunch and supervised free play are built in to the schedule.

Teachers and Educators

Joe Murray has been teaching nature connection since 1997 and has made it his life’s work to learn from the indigenous peoples of the earth and share the old ways with as many people as possible. During that time, he has mentored thousands of kids and helped design the curriculum for several wilderness schools and is a founding member of the nonprofit Ancestral Knowledge.