It is beautiful to witness the ease, joy and wonder the children exhibit when they are held in natural surroundings all day. Conflict mediations between the children are brief! Nature holds their attention and gives them an ease and flow to their imaginative play and explorations- it is truly a blessing to witness.

A Mixed-Age Curriculum

We use nature as our curriculum, adapting the fascinating aspects of the natural world and its processes to engage ages 2.8-5.5 years . Each day we visit the park, we create a unique campsite with hammocks and slacklines.

Health & Safety Overview

Covid Update:

All staff are vaccinated. All teachers and students will wear masks all day (required).
*More explanation around hygiene is included in the ‘COVID-19 Shared Commitments & Commitments’ doc. Upon enrolling you will be required to sign this document.

Holding school during the ever present COVID-19 pandemic was largely a success due to an amazing group of intrepid families. It was imperative to create a safe yet wonder-filled experience for young children. Except for the winter months, when we were closed, we were almost solely in the Nethermead except for a few inclement weather days when we spent the day at Honeytree Homebase or at our own homes.

For this next school year we are building upon our past experiences with an amended modality that will still take into consideration and be necessarily responsive to the presence of COVID, but will also allow us to be open during the winter months to better support the natural school rhythm our families are used to.

We will keep our Honeytree Homebase well ventilated.

Our Daily Rhythm

8:45am-9am
Drop off at a park OR at our Honeytree home in Bed-Stuy

When we arrive at Prospect Park, the children have agency in setting up the campsite and hanging their hammocks, as well as setting the play-boundaries.

9am-10am
Free play/age appropriate nature activities such as exploring, finding sticks to make fishing poles and feeding the turtles, age appropriate art crafting 

10am
Snack

10:30am
Bathroom clean up

10:30am-11am
Story time or circle time/games

11am-12/noon
Free play, explorations, art crafting 

12/noon-1pm
Lunch, bathroom, campsite clean up
*Each child will bring their own snack(s) and lunch

1pm-2pm
Nap/rest in hammock

2pm-3pm
Snack, bathroom, story time and  free-play

3pm (sharp)
Dismissal

What To Pack Each Day

It is critical that your child(ren) be well dressed and fully equipped for a full day outdoors in all weather conditions.

Daily Essentials:

• Hammock (required)

• Back pack

• Lunch (box or lunch tins) & Snack (you will be notified in a timely manner of any allergies in our group)

• Water Bottle (filled)

• Packet of underwear/change of clothes

Outdoor Gear:

• Long underwear/cotton or wool tights

• thick tights (for boys & girls)

• comfortable fitting pants

• thick & thin long socks

• Rain coat/parka with hood, or separate hat

• Rain pants or all in one suit (mandatory/all seasons)

• Rain boots (mandatory/all seasons)

• Vest

• Mittens or gloves/thick & thin (that fit properly/mandatory)

• Balaclava 

• Scarf/thick & thin

• Winter jacket/coat/parka/winter snow suit

• Winter boots

• Snow pants/snow suit

• Fleece/extra sweater/or jacket

• Hat that covers ears

• Change of clothes/seasonal

• Include several pairs of underwear

Some retail suggestions:

• Polarn O Pyret They offer a 20% discount on outdoor clothing to families in forest school programs, tell them our name: Honeytree Forest/in/Bed-Stuy Brooklyn

• Lana Care - for high quality wool linens

• Cotton Organics

• Land’s End