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 5-17, 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 (13-17). Check out our Coyote Pups caregiver & child programs (age 0-5) and get your little one ready for Wild Seeds!

2022/23 School Year Highlights

* Overnights are back!! We’ve built in one for fall & spring for all age groups. 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 our staff 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.

* We are building in a guaranteed make up day for weather cancellations, though we also plan to use indoor space more this year (where available) instead of cancelling.

* We continue to bring back community events & potlucks fully in person and are sharing those dates with you from the beginning. We’ll look for parent volunteers to help us coordinate. See details in CampBrain when you register.

* 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 (33 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 and 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 as we open additional classes when possible. 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 22/23 School Year

• Monday classes (Granby)
  • FALL (Sept 12 – Nov 14): Overnight Oct 3, Ancestor Feast Oct 31, Make up class Nov 21
  • WINTER (Jan 2-Feb 20): Make-up class Feb 27
  • SPRING (March 13- May 15): Overnight April 17, Forest Fair May 1, Make up class May 22
• Tuesday classes (Killingworth)
  • FALL (Sept 13 – Nov 22): No class Oct 4; Overnight Oct 11, Ancestor Feast Nov 1, Make up class Nov 29
  • WINTER (Jan 3 – Feb 21): Make up class Feb 28
  • SPRING (Mar 14 – May 23): No class Apr 18; Overnight Apr 11; Forest Fair May 9; Make up class May 30
• Wednesday classes (Granby)
  • FULL-YEAR PROGRAM (Sept 14 – May 31): No class Oct 12, Nov 23, Dec 28 (unless used as a make up day) and Apr 12; Overnights Oct 19th and Apr 26; Ancestor Feast Nov 16th; Make up days Dec 28 and March 8; Forest Fair May 17
• Wednesday classes (Newtown)
  • FALL (Sept 14 – Nov 30): No class Oct 12, Nov 23; Overnight Oct 19, Ancestor Feast Nov 2, Make up class Dec 7
  • WINTER (Jan 4 – Feb 22): Make up class March 1
  • SPRING (Mar 15 – May 24): No class Apr 12; Overnight Apr 26; Forest Fair May 10; Make up class May 31
• Thursday classes (Newtown)
  • FALL (Sept 15 – Dec 1): No class Oct 20 or Nov 24; Overnight Oct 6; Ancestor Feast Nov 3; Make up class Dec 8.
  • WINTER (Jan 5 – Feb 23): Make up class March 2
  • SPRING (Mar 9 – May 18): No class Apr 27; Overnight Apr 6; Forest Fair May 4; Make up class June 1
• Friday classes (Newtown)
  • FULL-YEAR PROGRAM (Sept 16 – June 2): No class Oct 7, Nov 25, Apr 7, May 26; Overnights Oct 14 & May 5; Ancestor Feast Nov 18; Forest Fair May 19; Make up class Dec 30.

• Coyote Pups Caregiver and Child Program

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