Programs

Ages two through eight. Twenty-eight places, total.

We open Tuesday, September 2, 2026, the day after Labor Day.

Daily rhythm

The same shape, every day, on a child's own time.

The day starts with arrival on a child's own time, between roughly eight and nine. Boots and coats stay near the door in a long row of hooks. The first two hours are outside, every morning, in whatever the river is doing that day. Friluftsliv is the Danish word for free air life. It is the daily practice, not the special occasion.

A slow return inside mid-morning for a sit-down meal at the long wooden table. The same table is where the painting and the building and the reading happen later. Rest in the early afternoon for the younger children, quiet work for the older ones. Afternoon outside again until parents come. Pickup is between three and five.

The rhythm is the same every day, which is the point. A child who knows the shape of the day can be fully inside it.

Trimester structure

Three trimesters of roughly sixteen weeks.

Trimesters let families commit a season at a time. They also let us hold the calendar to the actual rhythms of the North Country, which does not run on a corporate quarter.

Fall
September through mid-December
Winter
Early January through mid-April
Summer
Late April through August, with a built-in pause in late summer
Three ways to enrol

Different commitments. Different costs. Same school.

Tuition is published on request. We keep the numbers off the public website on purpose. Email us and we will send you the current rate sheet.

Most families start here

Semester enrolment

A child is enrolled for the full sixteen-week trimester, full week, every week. The best value per day, the deepest experience for the child, and the most stability for the founding teachers. The same coat hook every morning, the same place at the table, the same rhythm with the same companions.

Flexible week

Five-day flex pass

A pack of five days, used as you go across the trimester. Bookings open on a calendar. A forty-eight-hour cancellation window applies. Costs more per day than semester enrolment, but lets a family try the school without committing to a full season, or fold us into a part-time week.

Occasional

Drop-in day

A single day, booked when there is space. The most expensive per day of the three tiers. For families who need occasional care, for grandparents visiting, for the day a parent has a meeting that cannot move. Not a substitute for enrolment, and capped so the children who are here every day still get their rhythm.

What is included

In the daily price.

  • Breakfast snack, hot lunch, and an afternoon snack. Local where possible. Cooked in the small kitchen on site.
  • Outdoor time, twice a day, in all weather. We supply rain layers and warm gloves for children who arrive without them.
  • All art and project materials. Sheepskins, wool blankets, beeswax, real wood, real clay. No plastic where wood will do.
  • Books. A library that grows with the children using it.
  • The animals and the garden, as they come online through the first year.
What to bring

From home.

  • A change of clothes that lives in the cubby.
  • Boots that can be wrecked. Rain pants if you have them; if not, we have spares.
  • A water bottle.
  • A thermos of something warm in the cold months.
  • A small soft thing for rest, if your child wants one.

We do not need a backpack of supplies. The school provides the materials.

Days off

When we close.

  • Labor Day, September 1, 2026. We open the day after.
  • Thanksgiving week, end of November.
  • Winter break, the last week of December and the first week of January.
  • A spring rest week in mid-April between winter and summer trimesters.
  • Federal holidays that fall mid-week.
  • A two-week pause in late summer for staff rest before the fall trimester begins.

A full year calendar is sent to families at enrolment.

Capacity and deposits

Twenty-eight places maximum. Ten to twelve to open the fall trimester.

A five-hundred-dollar refundable deposit holds a place. Deposits are refundable in full until August 15, 2026, after which they apply toward the fall trimester balance. If we do not reach the minimum number to open the trimester, deposits are refunded in full.

Inquire about enrolment