Curriculum & Approach

Our Mentoring Approach

Nature education and recreation are a big part of what happens in the forest with us. But we specifically call this work nature “connection” because we know that when we invite  our hearts to join our minds and bodies in an experience, a deeper, more holistic kind of learning and belonging occurs.

Our mentoring approach is anchored in our value of building trust with our students instead of demanding it. We embrace playfulness, joy and connection as we share new skills and experiences with our students. We rarely call it teaching, it rarely looks like teaching, and yet so much multi-dimensional learning occurs - a kind of learning that lives in our bodies, our senses and our memories for years to come.

Core Curriculum

  • Wilderness Skills

    • Forest shelter building, friction fire, and natural cordage

    • Traditional cooking and food preservation

    • Animal processing, respectful trapping, archery and hide tanning

    • Natural crafting: weaving, pottery, jewelry.

  • Edible + Medicinal Plants; Stewardship

    • Identification and sustainable harvest of wild foods and medicines

    • Utilitarian and cultural uses of plants

    • Observation and communication with plants

    • Land stewardship and caretaking

  • Wildlife Tracking

    • Identification of animal tracks and sign

    • Locating wildlife based on track and sign

    • Deciphering the stories that wildlife have left behind

    • Deepening connection to animals that are otherwise hard to see

  • Naturalist Training

    • Identification of the various flora and fauna that make up our ecosystem

    • Nature journaling and direct observation

  • Natural Awareness, Bird Language + Deep Nature Connection

    • Natural intuition and awareness training

    • Identifying bird calls and understanding what they mean

    • Fostering an ongoing relationship with place

    • Experiencing nature as a friend and teacher

  • Earth Based Mentoring + Holistic Leadership

    • Developing resilience, personal growth, and self knowledge

    • Communication skills, deep listening and learning to speak from the heart

    • Tools for positively working through challenges

    • Interpersonal skills for working as a group

  • Community Building + Cultural Regeneration

    • Strengthening community and culture through music, storytelling, and council

    • Fostering a practice of gratitude

    • Celebrating each other and each of our unique gifts

    • Respecting First Nations culture, traditions, and history and exploring our role in decolonization and reconciliation

  • Inner Tracking, Empowered Personal Development

    • Learning to honor experiences as an opportunities for growth

    • Feeling supported and safe in being yourself

    • Expanding your comfort zone and saying yes to challenging experiences

    • Participating in culturally appropriate Rites of Competence and Rites of Passage

Thriving Roots Wilderness School is not a ministry funded educational institution or “school”. We are a registered small business that specializes in extra-curricular farm and nature connection programming.

Note: as is mentioned on our Full-Time Village Program pages, we partner with a public online school district. This partnership enables us to support students in their academic journey while enrolled in our full-time blended learning programs.