Coyote Village School Day Programs

Join our village and step into wild adventures in nature!

Our weekly, school day programs are our most powerful programs, thanks to our families’ commitment to long-term nature mentoring for their children. With age groups from 5-18, kids don’t just take one of our programs – they grow up in them. Led by our skilled mentors through challenges and reflection in nature, they develop a deep understanding of who they are, what they value, and what their gifts are. Our students come from homeschool, public school, and private school backgrounds, and our program is designed to complement your child’s educational experience no matter what the setting may be. Contact maggie@twocoyotes.org if you need support as you navigate getting approval from your child’s school to participate in this program.

Coyote Village is a nature-based mentoring program that helps raise healthy and connected children in a community setting. We provide students with a dynamic environment to push their own edges, engage their natural curiosity, and cultivate an intrinsic love of learning that they carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Our age groups include Wild Seeds (5-7), Black Foxes (8-12), and Fire Keepers (13-18). Check out our Coyote Pups caregiver & child programs (age 0-5) and get your little one ready for Wild Seeds!

2024/25 School Year Highlights

* Overnights are offered in the fall for our seasonal classes and in the spring for our full-year programs. Fire Keepers & Black Foxes camp with their mentors for the night in tarp or debris shelters that they’ve set up themselves. Wild Seeds & Pups camp together with their families in a tent village. You’ll notice there may be a day off mid-session to accommodate mentors who are working an overnight at a different location the night before. Tuition for drop-off programs (Wild Seeds, Black Foxes and Fire Keepers) includes the cost of overnights. Pups have the option to add the overnight, though if you have a Wild Seed sibling you don’t need to because the cost for your family is already built into theirs.

* There is one guaranteed make up day per season built in for weather cancellations.

* Dates for our community events & potlucks are shared below as well as in CampBrain when you register. We’ll look for parent volunteers to help us coordinate.

* Sign up now for fall, winter & spring! Save 5% when you register for 2 seasons upfront; save 10% when you register for all 3. Full-year programs have a 10% discount built in to the price.

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Once a week, students spend a full day immersed in nature. Each day starts with nature games and a gratitude circle. Mornings focus on learning survival and naturalist skills, which deepen over the arc of the year as students observe, ask questions, and apply their skills to hands-on wilderness projects. Activities may include: 

– Starting a fire without matches
– Identifying wild edibles and medicinal plants and using them to make salves or cook a feast
– Building shelters and forts and learning about the history of primitive shelters
– Sitting quietly in reflection and observing the environment; journaling
– Learning animals’ patterns by sneaking invisibly through the forest; learning bird language
– Making handmade tools and crafts from natural materials

After lunch, our afternoons are filled with storytelling, playing in the river, and games that apply the skills learned in the morning. Woven throughout are lessons in peacemaking and nonviolent communication, challenge activities, and teamwork. We close each day in circle sharing stories of the day and a group song that ties together elements of their day.

Over the course of our program, students develop qualities such as leadership, team building, emotional intelligence, resilience, confidence, expression, service, integrity and other foundational aspects of good character.

Students have the choice of enrolling by season (fall – 10 weeks, winter – 8 weeks, spring – 10 weeks) or for the entire school year (32 weeks). All programs occur outside, except in hazardous conditions. Our typical student to mentor ratio is 6:1.

Programs include an overnight in the fall or spring, as well as other community events & celebrations throughout the year. See below for a list of important dates to note. You can also find the full schedule on CampBrain when you register. Enrolled families will be notified via email of any changes to the schedule.

If a program is full, please join the waitlist. In addition, our Full-Year Programs may have spots available for mid-year enrollment. Join the waitlist for those classes and you’ll hear from alicia@twocoyotes.org within 3 business days with information about next steps in the enrollment process.

Key Dates for 24/25 School Year

• Monday classes (Granby)
  • FALL (Sept 9 – Nov 11): Overnight Oct 7, Ancestor Feast/Gear Swap Oct 28, Honoring Ceremony Nov 11, Make up class Nov 18
  • SPRING (Mar 10 – May 19): Forest Fair Apr 21, No class Apr 28, Honoring Ceremony May 19, Make up class June 2
• Tuesday classes (Killingworth)
  • FALL (Sept 10 – Nov 19): Overnight Oct 1, No class Oct 8, Ancestor Feast/Gear Swap Nov 5, Honoring Ceremony Nov 19, Make up class Nov 26
  • WINTER (Jan 7 – Feb 25): Make up class Mar 4
  • SPRING (Mar 18 – May 20): Forest Fair Apr 29, Honoring Ceremony May 20, Make up class May 27
• Wednesday classes (Granby)
  • FULL-YEAR PROGRAM (Sept 11 – May 21): No class Oct 2, Dec 23, Dec 30; Ancestor Feast/Gear Swap Nov 13, Make up classes (no class if not used) Nov 27, Mar 12, May 28; Overnight Apr 16, Forest Fair May 7, Honoring Ceremony May 21
• Thursday classes (Newtown)
  • FALL (Sept 12 – Nov 14): Overnight Oct 17, Ancestor Feast/Gear Swap Oct 31, Honoring Ceremony Nov 14, Make up class Nov 21
  • WINTER (Jan 2 – Feb 20): Make up class Feb 27
  • SPRING (Mar 13 – May 29): No class Apr 17, May 22; Forest Fair May 1; Honoring Ceremony May 29; Make up class June 5
• Friday classes (Newtown)
  • FULL-YEAR PROGRAM (Sept 13 – May 16): No class Oct 18, Nov 29, May 23; Ancestor Feast/Gear Swap Nov 8, Make up classes (no class if not used) Dec 27, Mar 14, May 30; Overnight Apr 25, Forest Fair May 9, Honoring Ceremony May 16

• Coyote Pups Caregiver and Child Program

  Be a part of a village!

• Scholarships & Financial Aid

  Nature is for all of us

• Do You Have Land to Share?

  We are always on the lookout for awesome locations.