Forest Explorers
A part-time forest school option for homeschool students in grades K-5.
Study hands-on history, science, applied arts and real-world skills outdoors!
Applications for Fall 2026 Open in January
Morning Classes
A hands-on interactive history class offered for grades K-5. It meets Mondays and Thursdays from 9AM-12PM. An introduction to stories of people, places, and cultures across time. Lessons are rooted in storytelling, discussion, and experiential activities that help history feel alive and meaningful.
Explore History
A hands-on interactive science class offered for grades K-5. It meets Tuesdays and Fridays from 9AM-12PM. Explore Science invites children to investigate the natural world through observation, experimentation, and inquiry. Learning is hands-on and discussion-based, with an emphasis on curiosity and discovery.
Explore Science
Afternoon Classes
A hands-on interactive art class offered for grades K-5. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12PM-3PM. A guided homeschool art class where students explore creative expression through a variety of materials and techniques, with an emphasis on process, experimentation, and developing artistic skills.
Explore Art
Wild Explorers lays the groundwork for our survival programs by allowing younger children to grow confidence, judgment, and skill through play in the forest. Offered for grades K-2. It meets Mondays and Fridays from 12PM-3PM. A student-led forest school experience where younger children build foundational outdoor skills.
Wild Explorers
The Logistics
Ready for more info? Current tuition, program updates, and calendars can be found here!
Let the forest shape your homeschool day.
Flexible classes and forest school experiences you can build around your family’s needs.
Forest Explorers is our homeschool program designed to support families seeking a rich, experiential alternative to traditional classroom learning. Through hands-on, outdoor education, Forest Explorers offers complementary classes that can take the place of science, history, and art in a homeschool curriculum, while also providing a true forest school experience through Wild Explorers.
Our academic classes in Science and History are guided by state educational benchmarks, ensuring that students are working at developmentally and grade-appropriate levels while engaging in meaningful, hands-on learning. Instruction is experiential and discussion-based, allowing children to explore core concepts through observation, storytelling, movement, and inquiry in a forest setting.
Explorers Art is a guided homeschool class that exposes students to a wide range of artistic media and techniques while honoring individual creative expression. Students work with materials such as drawing and painting tools, mixed media, natural and found materials, and seasonal art forms. Children are encouraged to experiment, take creative risks, and develop their own artistic voice. Projects are process-focused rather than product-driven, giving students the freedom to explore creativity, problem-solve, and express themselves authentically.
Wild Explorers expands this learning by offering a student-led forest school experience that hones outdoor awareness, confidence, and foundational wilderness skills for younger children. Students in grade 3 and up who have aged out of Wild Explorers may transition into our Survival School, Survival Adventures, or Wildways programs, which are offered at similar times after morning academic classes and provide increased challenge, responsibility, and skill mastery.
Students are grouped by grades Kindergarten and 1st Grade, 2nd and 3rd Grades, and 4th and 5th Grades to ensure developmentally appropriate learning while fostering collaboration, mentorship, and leadership.
Forest Explorers is designed to work alongside family-led learning at home. Parents are expected to continue teaching math and literacy, while Forest Explorers provides a flexible framework for experiential learning during the school day.
Families may enroll in any combination of classes or days, from a single class per week to a full schedule. The maximum weekly option includes History and Science in the mornings, paired with Art and Wild Explorers or Survival programs in the afternoons, meeting Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, for up to eight classes per week.
Whether families are looking for one enriching class or a comprehensive weekly rhythm, Forest Explorers offers the freedom to build a homeschool experience that is intentional, flexible, and deeply connected to nature.
Forest Explorers Science
Science classes, held on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 AM to 12 PM, turn the natural world into a vibrant laboratory. Students grouped by grades explore ecosystems, conduct experiments, and engage in wildlife observation, driven by their own questions and curiosity. This hands-on approach helps children develop scientific thinking and a deep connection to the environment.
Core Focus
While child-led learning emphasizes flexibility and student choice, teachers maintain oversight to ensure essential skills and knowledge are covered. Students can enroll in one or both science days. The topic each week or month may be similar, but new information, experiments, and learning activities related to the learning topic will be presented each day.
Forest Explorers History
History classes, offered on Mondays and Thursdays from 9 AM to 12 PM, bring the past to life through storytelling, role-playing, and artifact studies. Students in grade-based groups immerse themselves in history in ways that are both developmentally appropriate and deeply engaging, building cultural awareness and critical thinking skills. Students can enroll in one or both history days. The topic each week or month may be similar, but new information, and activities related to the learning topic will be presented each day.
Core Focus
Forest school leans heavily on social-emotional development which directly impacts academic development. Our main focus is instilling a love for learning in students that will last a lifetime. We believe school should be fun and hands-on, filled with experiential learning and opportunities for children to pursue their interests and advance with confidence.
Forest Explorers Applied Arts
Core Focus
Applied Art classes, held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 12 PM to 3 PM, inspire creativity through a rotating monthly focus on creative writing, poetry, handicrafts, art history, and traditional art like drawing and painting. Students work to explore collaborative and individual projects, drawing inspiration from the natural world.
Applied arts students attending morning classes will have a 15 minute lunch break during afternoon drop-off and pick-up. Students can combine applied arts with Explorers science or history, or just attend art.
Wild Explorers
Wild Explorers, offered on Mondays and Fridays from 12:00 to 3:00 PM, provides a student-led forest school experience where children spend extended time playing, exploring, and building foundational outdoor skills in nature. Students work in developmentally appropriate groups and are given the freedom to follow their interests while educators support learning through observation, guidance, and intentional skill invitations. Children may build shelters, navigate the forest, climb, create with natural materials, and collaborate on long-term projects that develop confidence and independence. Students may enroll in one or both Wild Explorers days, with each day offering new opportunities for exploration and growth.
Core Focus
Wild Explorers introduces essential pre-survival skills through hands-on experiences, including forest navigation, spatial awareness, knot tying, shelter building, and fire safety concepts. Pre-knife skills are practiced using peelers, allowing children to learn proper grip, control, hand positioning, and respect for tools in a developmentally appropriate way. As students demonstrate readiness, they are gradually introduced to basic tool use under close supervision. This program serves as the foundation for our survival pathway, preparing younger students for our Survival School, Survival Adventures, and Wildways programs. Students in 3rd grade and up who are ready for increased challenge and skill mastery are encouraged to explore our Survival programs, which build upon the confidence, judgment, and forest awareness developed in Wild Explorers.
FAQs
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Dress for the weather, we meet outside rain or shine! Each class, your child will be immersed in nature learning science, history and arts and working on child-led projects with their peers in a mixed-age environment. Whether we're studying birds, pioneer life, using real tools, or tapping trees for maple sap, your child will be under the direction and supervision of our trained forest school teachers. This class will help your child build confidence, independence, problem solving skills, critical thinking and collaboration. Many of these skills translate directly into academics and will help students excel in every task and learning subject. Combining multiple grade levels has amazing benefits including leadership skills peer learning, and enhanced collaboration.
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Overall, the curriculum in forest school is designed to support the holistic development of the child, with an emphasis on personal, social, and emotional growth alongside academic skills. As we deep-dive into topics, student-directed projects will commence. Free Haven is a Christian school. We acknowledge God as the creator of all things, read and memorize scripture from the bible, and pray before meals.
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1. Submit an application and fee.
2. Attend an open house date for a tour and orientation. You cannot register before attending a tour or open house. Applicants will be invited to register after their tour. The later in the year you book a tour, the less likely we are to have openings.
3. If there is space on the day(s) you requested, you will start the registration process.
4. If there is not space, you will be added to the waitlist until a spot opens up for you.
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Due to our small class sizes and large demand, new students must submit an application to enroll. There is a non-refundable $25 fee associated with the application. Once an application is submitted, applicants will be invited to tour our facility and attend a mini orientation to make sure forest school is the best fit before committing to the school year. If there is no space, applicants will be placed on a waiting list for the remainder of the school year. Registration will be filled based on the date you attend a tour/orientation.
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At Free Haven, we know that the greatest indicator of student success is parent involvement. Because of this, we have both optional and required parent participation opportunities. Each parent will have an opportunity to join their child’s class for optional special parent days.
Most homeschool programs require parents to volunteer weekly or daily. Our volunteer requirement is much more infrequent.
Our required parent participation is in the form of volunteering for specific tasks that help our school function. These tasks include site maintenance and development, fundraising, special events, and supply organization.
Learn more about our volunteer requirements on page 7 of the parent handbook.
There’s no such thing as bad weather.
Our motto at forest school is: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." Appropriate clothing for Forest School is CRITICAL to the success of the program. Clothing guidelines are available in the parent handbook. Our experienced teachers will be there to guide you every step of the way to ensure the safety of students in all weather situations. During periods of inclement weather, students will be gathered indoors, or class will be cancelled if necessary.
