Field Friends Co-OP

Field Friends is a 100% outdoor homeschool cooperative, for kids ages 4 to 8 years old, with both a forest and farm setting. Each year, our curriculum rotates to provide children with a blended experience of both natural observation of wildlife and hands-on farm education. Though our lesson plans change year-to-year, our intentions remain:

• Encourage children and their parent(s) to develop a love and respect for the outdoors, even the muddy, stinky, thorny, stingy parts.

• Inspire young learners to pursue their curiosities through research and observation... Ask the questions!

• Teach food and environmental literacy including the importance of partnering with the land to nurture soil, animals, and humans.

• What is a homeschool co-op? A homeschool co-op is a group of homeschooling families that work together and meet regularly to provide children with peer interaction and help bridge education gaps.
• When do we meet? Field Friends meet Friday mornings, twice monthly, September through May. Specific times will be set each year to allow flexibility for co-op families. 
• How involved are parents? Mom OR Dad is welcome to participate with their child(ren). Throughout the year, parents will assist with co-op by reading books to the group, supervising craft/project stations, and other various no- or low-prep tasks. For our ENWC curriculum this year, parents will play an important role in their child/family's open-ended nature walks (discussed in more detail at the start of the year). The biggest part parents play is encouraging their child to engage!
• Is Field Friends a religious program? We are not associated with any specific faith practice; however, we know that each family comes in with their own set of "-ologies", some holding those more salient than others may. Families are encouraged to weave in their own spirituality in times such as the parent-child nature walks and nature journaling, while respecting others' during large-group activities.