The Owl's Nest Holistic Alternative School

06/03/2025

🌲 Grades 4–8 at The Owl’s Nest: Real Learning for the Real World 🌲

Let’s be honest: how many times did you sit in school wondering,
“When am I ever going to use this?”

Chances are, it wasn’t because you couldn’t learn. It’s because you couldn’t see the real-life connection.
At The Owl’s Nest, we’ve created a program for Grades 4–8 that does make it real because for growing preteens and tweens, application is everything.

✨ Bigger bodies need movement
🧠 Growing brains need relevance
❤️‍🔥 Emerging identities need safe, trusted guidance

In our 2-day/week Forest School program for Grades 4–8, learning is active, hands-on, meaningful, and deeply connected to what students care about:
• 🌿 Nature-based explorations that integrate science, social studies, and critical thinking
• 🧰 Real-world applications that make learning relevant and engaging
• 💬 Deep social-emotional learning tied to the physical and emotional changes of adolescence
• 👥 Small class sizes and trusted mentors who guide with compassion, clarity, and consistency
• 🔥 75+ acres of space to roam, reflect, build, inquire, and connect (with no desks in sight)

We’re not just preparing students for tests. We’re preparing them for life; with the self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking skills they need to enter their teenage years with confidence, curiosity, and a strong sense of self.

📅 Fall 2025 enrollment is open and you can pair our Forest School with homeschool or public school education.

📍Nature-rooted in Harriston.

❤️Mentor-guided. Emotionally supportive. Academically rich.

📧 [email protected] | 🌐 TheOwlsNestSchool.com

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06/03/2025

🌱 Kindergarten to Grade 1 at The Owl’s Nest: Learning That Moves With Them 🌱

So many families choose play-based programs in the early years, and rightly so. But what happens when “play-based” still means just one 90-minute outdoor session a week, or 3 20 minute recesses surrounded by pavement, fences, and 28–34 other students per class?

At The Owl’s Nest, we believe children deserve more because their bodies, brains, and spirits thrive with more.

Here, our K–Grade 1 learners spend up to 6.5 hours a day outside (yes, you read that right). Nature is our classroom, and movement is how we learn. With changing seasons comes changing rhythms but the core of what we do stays the same:

🌿 Hands-on, play-based learning
🧠 Real curriculum met through natural experiences
🪵 No desks—just space to move, explore, and grow
👩‍🏫 Small class sizes with certified, passionate educators
🌈 A welcoming village for all, especially for homeschool families (which make up about half our community!)

We’re not just checking boxes. We’re creating a place where children are seen, supported, and free to learn the way they’re designed to learn. Just today, a student turned to us and asked, “Don’t you ever get desks!” And we smiled.

Because no, we never will.

📅 Enrollment for Fall 2025 is open now!
Pair us with public school, homeschool, or use us as your primary program.

📍Based in nature in Harriston. Rooted in relationship. Growing joyfully.

📧 [email protected] | 🌐 TheOwlsNestSchool.com

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06/03/2025

🌲 Forest School for Grades 2–4: Where Curiosity, Connection & Confidence Grow 🌲

At The Owl’s Nest, we’ve noticed something heartbreaking but all too common: many children around Grades 2–4 begin to lose their love for learning. The early years of play-based discovery have faded, replaced by more desk time, less movement, and fewer chances to be kids.

But children at this age need playmates, fresh air, and meaningful hands-on learning more than ever. Their growing bodies and expanding brains crave movement, connection, and wonder. That’s where our Forest School program comes in.

🪵 Two rich, immersive days each week designed specifically for Grades 2–4 (and all grades offered) offer your child an education that’s alive with possibility:

🔬 Integrated Science & Social Studies come to life through experiential, project-based learning
🌿 75+ acres of wild space to explore: forests, a yurt, a creek, fire-making, shelter-building and more
👩‍🏫 Small groups and nurturing educators mean every child is known, supported, and challenged
🧠 Built-in opportunities to move, collaborate, question, observe, and grow just as nature intended

Whether your child attends public school, homeschools, or is in transition, Forest School is the perfect complement; holding on to or reigniting joy, curiosity, and confidence in learning.

📅 Enrollment is now open for Fall 2025. Let your child rediscover what it means to learn with freedom, friendship, and joy.

📍Located in Harriston, with a thriving learning community and nature as our co-teacher.
📧 Learn more or apply today at TheOwlsNestSchool.com | [email protected]
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05/27/2025

05/26/2025

Some amazing items you’ll find Saturday May 31 at the rural romp kids market: homemade essential oil insect repellent, fresh sourdough bread, sourdough starter, canvas totes, essential oil bath Epsom salts, homemade soap, homemade healing salves, and homemade suet style bird feeders. Thank you to those local businesses that helped us

05/26/2025

A few samples of some of the silent auction items we’ll have at the Rural Romp Event this Saturday May 31st! So grateful for these contributions.