No, we are not a co-op per say, as parents are not required to work any job, but we always welcome volunteers in the classroom and collaborators to the business. And we operate with a co-op mindset, that is we listen to the parents and we make decisions together as a community whenever possible. Parents have a lot of input into our curriculum and operations. We work together like a village.

Wilding Education is not a state-approved private school. Washington state law requires that children eight and older be enrolled in public school, a state-approved private school, or receive home-based instruction (with the parents filing a declaration of intent to home school). Parents of children eight and older should familiarize themselves with these requirements. 

Students of the class range from 4 to 12 years old. We are discovering that in mixed age cohorts, teachings are more intuitive and integrated into each activity. Students are given tasks which are appropriate to their skill level. This mixed-age approach also allows the older students to develop leadership skills as they help the younger students.

Children explore nature in small pods grouped by age or interest. Such mixed-age interactions mimic how children learn and grow in our hunter-gatherer ancestors' time and are the norm for child development during our evolutionary past for millions of years.

Through play, we learn how our bodies work, practice empathy, perspective-taking, negotiation and cooperation. Some psychologists suggest play is the foundation of morality because through play we learn and develop a sense of fairness, reciprocity and impulse control, which are the foundations of morality. 

We play all sorts of games. Big group, high movement games, slow games with blindfolds to enhance sensory and body awareness, elimination games to excite competition, and infinite games which don’t end until “peak fun” is reached.  Our days also include many opportunities to create our own games, which tend to be very fun.

Our Forest School Program finds time during the school days to integrate intermittent math, reading, and writing activities. We do our utmost to keep things fun and engaging for the students, not forcing them to do anything they are not interested in, but encouraging them to join in our creative process of finding ways to enjoy math and literacy.  We tell stories, too, to help inspire a love for the outdoors while cultivating not just primitive survival skills, but modern ones, too.

Our forest school pedagogy is guided by “Coyote Mentoring” or the “8-shields mentoring model,” which relies on stories, tools, and resources help shape and are mirrored in our outdoor education each and every day.  These mentoring modalities orbit around a core set of routines such as wildlife tracking, survival skills, storytelling, singing songs,  the art of questioning, but also more fundamental components of natural cycles and practices, like meditation, gratitude, and the skill of observation.  

No, we do not. When such things come up at school, our mentors will always approach such topics at the age appropriate level with age appropriate language from a place of empathy, open-mindedness, and respect.  Mentors do not introduce or invite group discussion on current political, cultural or social topics.  Our main focus is on the natural world, our group culture, and the social networks we can easily relate with developmentally. Wilding Education leaves it to each family to decide how, when and if they discuss controversial topics or politics at home.