Registration is now open for the 2025 – 2026 Wild Discovery Semester Program
Summer Sessions still have some spaces open
Sign in to Amilia for registration options.
We are grateful for many accomplishments this year! The introduction of daily snack and food projects as a core component of our programming has been a major success. Every day participants receive 2-3 servings of fruits and vegetables, and often help in preparing food projects on the fire, with locally sourced, nutritious foods. We’re also celebrating the incorporation of ASL into our programming every day. Beginning last fall, all semester program mentors enrolled in ASL classes with Carrie Pierce, a certified ASL instructor. Carrie started Bridging Hands and offers classes for adults and children in Belfast and the surrounding areas. We are looking forward to continuing our studies and practicing ASL together in the years to come!
Another area of focus in the semester program this year has been weather. Each morning and afternoon we spend some time observing and reflecting on weather patterns. Carter has been enjoying leading seasonal weather projects and experiments each semester. This spring we are focusing on literacy with Dirt in our morning circles with skill building on letter recognition, phonics, and vocabulary. We’ve also been appreciating our visiting arts mentor, Alexa Mitchelle who has been offering special art projects a few times each month. Alexa is also the artist who draws our t shirt designs, and we have a new illustration that she designed with semester program participants that will be available for purchase this spring!
White Ash has started the process of being recognized by the Department of Education as a private school. The Wild Discovery Semester Program will maintain our existing values and pedagogy and in the future, families that are enrolled full time (5 days/week at least 180 days/year) will not be required to register as providing home instruction. We are also pursuing NEASC accreditation, a multi year process that alternative schools such as Waldorf have completed. We’ll continue to share updates via newsletters about the progress of these initiatives.
During the 25-26 cycle of the semester program single day enrollment will be available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for ages 5-15 and is open now. Sign into Amilia for single day enrollment options or to add yourself to the waitlist for the full time enrollment option mentioned above. We have an enrollment minimum of 12 for the full time option and this may not be met until 2026. There is no fee to sign up for the waitlist.
The Winter Session will be extended to 5 weeks in the upcoming cycle of the Wild Discovery Semester Program. Our program schedule is similar to the public school calendar – specific dates are listed on the White Ash Learning Calendar. In the 25-26 cycle November and April have a one week vacation, and December and February each have a two week vacation.
We have also begun the process of becoming a licensed preschool which will allow families receiving the childcare subsidy (CCAP) to apply these funds towards tuition. Wandering Roots, a forest preschool program, will begin enrolling soon for ages 2-5 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with the possibility of half day options. Interested families can join the waitlist to be notified when registration opens.
This is a time of transition for White Ash Learning. Our first program took place at Reeds Brooks Trails in Hampden in January of 2021. This first session of Winter Camp was such a success that we ran a subsequent session in Monroe that winter at Steadhaven. This site eventually became home to the Wild Discover Semester Program, and for a short time, summer programming was held by the pond at Bear Camp – a much loved location during all seasons! Our lease with Steadhaven is ending in June, and the Wild Discovery Semester Program will be transitioning to Swanville for the next few years. We are so grateful to Steadhaven for hosting these past few years, and we are also looking forward to expanding programming in Swanville. White Ash has been running programming at this site since the land was purchased in 2022. We’ve hosted tracking workshops, overnight adult programming, and most recently the Friday Explorers.
On Saturday, April 26th you’re invited to help us prepare for this transition! From 9am – 3pm we’re hosting a work party, an opportunity to see the land if you haven’t previously attended an event there before. Please RSVP at the link below if you plan to attend the work party and you’ll receive additional details via email. This is a family friendly event and there will be lightly facilitated activities for kids.
There has never been a more important time to support White Ash programming! Construction of a 24′ octagon that will become the White Ash Learning Library recently began. We have fundraised over $16,000 towards the cost of constructing the new library and we need to fundraise an additional $9,000 before the end of May to cover the remaining cost of this project. The library provides a quiet, restful, space for participants to relax, read, or nap during the program and we are excited to have the opportunity to design this unique structure to meet the needs of our programming. There are multiple building projects happening this spring in Swanville including an outdoor kitchen, storage spaces, and additional outhouses. If you are an experienced builder and would like to get involved please reach out!
We have begun a new fundraising initiative and for as little as $5 per month you can become a supporting member of White Ash Learning programs. That’s less than one breakfast at Dunkin! Our goal is to reach 100 memberships of any amount – will you help us by signing up or spreading the word and sharing how White Ash programming has impacted your family? These donations add up to a reliable source of funding at a time when traditional sources of federal and grant funding for our organization have become unreliable. Members will receive an annual report detailing how these funds were used to support and enhance programs.
We are grateful to be moving into the next phase of development of White Ash programming. We could not have made it this far without the support of our community. Each enrollment, every hour of work that you have contributed, the grants and donations we have received, and all of the hard work that employees have put in have made it possible for White Ash to make it through the difficult ups and downs of founding an organization. We look forward to building an even more resilient future for the organization with your help!
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My 10 yr old LOVES these camps. Only organized program that he has ever unequivocally LOVED and thrived in like this.
My sons have been enjoying the program immensely. I hope you continue to offer it!
The Friday program has been great for our older children, giving them a greater sense of confidence and independence, and allowing them to experience things that they wouldn’t otherwise.
I really can’t even measure how meaningful Clover’s experience has been with White Ash Learning! It’s super awesome. Keep being your wonderful selves. Clover is so happy.
Winter camp really helped us break out of a rut and open our eyes again to possibility.
Our children have experienced interactions with other children of all ages that would not have been possible for us outside of White Ash. They have learned healthy boundaries and the importance of communicating with their peers.
Our grandson was able to make some really good friends and learn how to be social without having us around to cue him as to what to do.
I couldn’t be happier with Clover’s experience with White Ash Learning, the value it adds to her life to just be a free kid in nature supported by loving individuals is invaluable. If you’ve been considering sending your little one, I highly reccomend you do!!!
The project based learning activities are amazing there is no traditional school that will teach him how to tan a deer hide or build a fire with just a flint and steel. He is not restricted to sitting at a desk and is allowed to explore his environment with guidance from his mentors.
My daughter LOVES “Forest school” it’s her favorite thing and my favorite thing for her. She gets more benefits than I can name but most noticeably she’s happier calmer and more grounded, it gives her confidence and such a strong sense of self and connected to her natural world. I’m beyond grateful for this incredible resource, it’s all I ever wanted for her.
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