Explorers ushered in the new year with enthusiasm! We were all so excited for a new month and year to write every day in our journals, to be back in our forest classroom, and most of all, to be back together with Farmstead friends after an extended break! We noticed that we had to prime […]

January is a month of beginnings and intentions. We are so happy to be starting the second half of our year!  Although we have had some of our coldest days and our first “snow day” and two-hour delay related to weather, we are already seeing signs of Spring around the corner thanks to our observation […]

The littlest learners noted that January was full of rain! The pitter-patter of rain became a very familiar sound for us during our lessons and mealtime. With so much rainfall, it left our trails muddy and slippery. Since our classroom is up a hill, the littlest learners had to practice their balance and mindfulness each […]

December is a short month for Explorers at the Farmstead. We started the month with the last full moon of the year, the Cold Moon or Quiet Moon, known locally by the Cherokee as the Snow Moon. The Cold moon symbolizes the end of the year and a time to look back on the year’s […]

In December, we welcomed the quiet moon. The quiet moon reminds us to “be.” Be content with this moment, be thankful, and be still. The moon tells us to find ways to maintain peace and honor the light within us. The littlest learners filled their December days with lots of mud play. It seemed like […]

December is always a quick month at Farmstead with Winter Break. The theme of the month seemed to be rain and mud play. The kids love it when “Mud Mountain” gets good and muddy. They find many ways to play with the mud, whether it’s sliding down the hill, making mud balls, or mud pancakes. […]

November was exciting for the Explorers as Fall officially set in! We really got a first-hand experience of the Fall transition season in our forest classroom, watching more and more leaves fall every day. We enjoyed learning about the lunar eclipse with the full Beaver Moon this year, and the wide weather swings of Fall […]

October was a peaceful month of settling in and group play for the Explorers! October was ushered in with the second full moon of our school year, the Hunter Moon. The Hunter moon is named for the time of the year when our ancestors would hunt and stock up in preparation for the coming winter. […]

Back to school is always an exciting time of the year, and it’s no different at the Farmstead! The Explorers group is also a brand new class for older kids this year, and we have our own new classroom space on campus so everything is interesting and different, even for our returning students who moved […]

The biggest change the littlest learners have noticed this month is the distance we can see from our classroom. Very few leaves are left on the trees, allowing us to see almost the whole campus from our hill. The littlest learners have seen the sprouts playing in the chicken field all the way up to […]