Homeschool Nature Program for Kids Youth School

Annual tuition $2340. Non-Refundable Enrollment Fee: $585, due upon registration. Remainder payable in three payments due September 1, Dec. 15, and March 15.

Scholarships If you require tuition assistance, we invite you to submit a Scholarship Application along with your application for Youth School (download a Scholarship Application in PDF format, complete it and mail it in).

The non-refundable enrollment fee is required to hold the place of all registrants, regardless of scholarship status. If, within two weeks of scholarship notification, scholarship applicants decide not to commit to the course, we will refund your fee in full. (This is the only situation where the enrollment fee is refundable.)

Tuition Assitance:
Your homeschooled child can receive valuable tuition assistance that can be applied toward costs at Youth School! More details

At the core of our approach to educating young people is our concept of "Passion-based learning." This is the idea that every one of us has special gifts to bring to the world, things that spark our passions in life.

Our school's fundamental goal is to awaken this spirit in our students, and to help them identify and pursue their gifts. We believe that the most effective learning happens when young people are pursuing what they love, and so truly desire to learn.

Equally important is our philosophy that the most effective learning happens when students figure things out "on their own."

In their efforts to do this, they are individually guided by mentors who strive to create experiences and opportunities for students to discover their own answers.

We call this method Coyote Mentoring, a technique that encourages creative thinking rather than providing answers, and results in much deeper learning. It also stimulates the growth of problem-solving skills, and stretches the students into greater self-sufficiency in their living and learning.

Laura Gunion is the Coordinator of Youth School, as well as a Coordinator and a lead instructor at Community School. She began her work for Wilderness Awareness School after completing our Residential Program, and came to that course with a wealth of experience working with people in the outdoors--as an instructor at Teton Science School, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, among other courses. Laura received her B.A. in Child Studies from Tufts University in 1995, completed the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Semester in the Rockies in 1996, and finished a year-long Professional Residency in Environmental Education through Utah State University and Teton Science School in 2001. In her spare time you may find Laura splashing in the stream at her house, doing yoga, painting, dancing, learning how to make local plant medicines, or making cookies.

Sol Marie Doran is a Lead Instructor at Youth School. She is also a Lead instructor and Coordinator at Roots and Wings. She came to Wilderness Awareness School from southern California, where she worked with Wilderness Youth Project, ran an early childhood outdoor program, and earned a B.S. in Ecology. She currently studies naturalist skills with Kamana and herbalist skills at Ravencroft. Her other passions include beekeeping, ethnic dance, and gardening.

Johnny Miller is an instructor at Youth School, Monthly Programs and with Special Programs and Expeditions. He hails from the North Cascades, where he has worked for 11 years for the Forest Service as a Wilderness Ranger, trail builder, and a forest fire fighter. He has also trained with and worked for the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Utah, taking adults on expeditions from mountains to desert with minimal gear. Johnny has a bachelor's degree from the Evergreen State College in Ethnobotany, and an A.A.S degree in Forestry from Green River Community College. Some of his passions are: rowing his boat amidst the beautiful islands of the Pacific northwest, walking in the wild areas of the world, and growing and gathering food from nature's bounty.

Laura Hersh is an instructor with Youth School and Roots and Wings. She is a lover of all things nature, and grew up by the Salt Marsh on Long Island where she spent many days in the woods fishing, catching frogs and just daydreaming. Laura has been an outdoor educator since 2001 with Nassau Boces Outdoor Education, Ferry Beach Ecology School, Touch of Nature Education Center, The Cache River Wedlands Center in southern Illinois, the SCA in Alaska - where she created a Junior Ranger program - and Nature Vision in Redmond, Washington. She is a 2007 graduate of Wilderness Awareness School's Residential Program. Laura loves mentoring children and learns daily through their wonder.

Lindsay Huettman loves her roles as Youth School Instructor and Outreach Coordinator for Youth Programs. Her primary passion is connecting humans to wilderness through the use of native plants. This inspired her to complete a degree at WWU in Ethnobotany Stewardship Education. This can include anything from eating Hemlock cambium and discussing its nutritional benefits, to making baskets out of Cedar roots and dying them with lichens! Other passions include leading wilderness survival, whitewater rafting and kayaking expeditions; writing and playing music, and creating dynamic environmental education curriculum for K-12. She has a background in organic farming, landscaping, horse packing & training, homeschool support and is an avid plant dork when it come to biochemistry. Most of all she loves to sit in the woods and watch the leaves uncurl each spring.

Andy Farrell is an instructor with the Youth School Foxes and the Monthly Programs. He grew up in Ohio, where he spent his summer weekends at his grandparent's cabin by the lake.  He caught frogs and turtles with his brother and sisters and went fishing with his grandpa.  Later, he worked at a state park in Ohio for a couple of years as the Park Naturalist, where he was able to share his passion for nature with visitors and explore the park day and night.  In 2004, Andy moved to Washington to attend Wilderness Awareness School's Anake Outdoor School.  Since then he has completed his Bachelor's degree at the Evergreen State College with a project of exploring history and researching his ancestors.  Contact Andy

Dave Scott instructs youth school and monthly programs and coordinates contract programs. As a child growing up in Austin Texas, Dave found a great love for the outdoors and immersed himself in the natural world through exploration and the close observation of wildlife. In his early 20's, Dave began to more formally study the natural world at nature and wilderness skills schools across the country, with a focus on ecology, tracking and wildlife behavior. Dave has studied under many great naturalists and trackers completing intensive study residential programs at Wilderness Awareness School, and Past Skills Wilderness School, in Bozeman, Montana. He is the co-author of Bird Feathers -A Guide to North American Species which is now available for pre-sale from our web store! In 2006 Dave began working with troubled teens in Texas at a wilderness residential treatment center using his skills as a naturalist, survivalist and wildlife tracker to design new programs for the center. Through Dave's programs, which emphasized the interpretation of bird behavior and wildlife tracking as an avenue to promote the growth of internal and external awareness, many of his students succeeded in altering their behavior and changing the course of their lives. Contact Dave