WILD FOLk

Wild Folk's year-round youth enrichment program brings together youth ages 5+ years old (no upper age limit!) who are homeschooling or attending another school part-time. Together with caring mentors, support from families, and the amazing resources of our region, we create a truly nourishing community of independent learners. 

 

We offer a variety of educational experiences based on students’ interests and our community’s resources. We are committed to nurturing a deep reverence and meaningful connection to the natural world as well as empowering each learner to develop their own voice, interests, and skills. We come together to study ecology, wilderness survival, folk skills, first aid, herbalism, and mindfulness. We also play, laugh, sing, cook, kayak, tell stories, put on plays, learn about conflict resolution, and go camping together. Our program draws inspiration from Reggio-Emilia and Waldorf pedagogies, democratic free schools, and folk schools. We are also deeply indebted to wisdom gleaned from several different indigenous traditions as well as ancient teachings from yoga and Buddhism.

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Dates and times.

Fall—Winter semester: Sept 3—Dec 18, 2019 

Winter—Spring semester: Jan 21—May 27, 2020 

We take a week off for Thanksgiving & Spring break.

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We meet 3 days / week: Monday—Wednesday, 9am—3pm​.

We provide free transportation from & to Columbia: 8:30am pickup & 3:30pm drop off.

 

Tuition.

We never want finances to keep families from joining, so we do our best to accommodate all financial abilities. Tuition includes supplies, healthy meals, special events, and transportation.

 

Financial aid is available and we encourage families who need financial assistance to apply. You can find the financial aid application here. Feel free to email us if you have questions or concerns.

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1 day/week $170 — $1530/ year

2 day/week $315 (7% discount) — $2835/ year

3 day/week $425 (17% discount) — $3825/ year

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Locations.

Our headquarters is at Jade Green Farm in Harrisburg, Missouri, right next door to Goatsbeard Farm, a working goat dairy and an extension of our school. We provide free transportation to the farm for families based in and around Columbia.

 

Jade Green Farm is situated on a beautiful stretch of 80+ acres of healthy woods, with ponds, a creek, outdoor play and work areas, tools, and a community garden. Our school house offers arts/crafts and music studios, tinkering area, library, and spaces for large gatherings as well as quiet nooks.

 

We also travel to meet and work with local and regional farmers, activists, and artists. We have worked with Access Arts (art & craft center, Columbia), Gadget Works (maker-space, Columbia), Redbuds Farm (permaculture project, Rocheport), Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (food justice organization, Columbia), Possibility Alliance (electricity-free intentional community, Kirksville), Venture Out (ropes course at the University of Missouri), Raptor Rehabilitation Project (Columbia), Ragtag Cinema (Columbia) and more.

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Ready to enroll?
We love to meet with families and get to know our community members; we like to give you a sense of who we are and how our school works, and to be a resource and inspiration for alternative, holistic, liberated learning. Come meet us in a fun, no-strings-attached setting: we host Open Houses at least 3 times a year as well as community work days, community dinners, celebrations, fundraisers, and other public events where anyone can come to learn about us and our program.

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For new families who want to enroll, we meet individually with parents to discuss the nitty gritty and figure out how our program can be a good match. Please email us with questions and to set up a time to meet!

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To enroll, we ask that parents come to an Orientation (these are held at least once each semester, usually a couple of weeks before the semester begins). We also ask that parents fill out enrollment forms:

Parent form (one per each parent/ guardian)

Kid form (one per each parent/ guardian)