Welcome to Gather: A Forest School Community

The vision for Gather is to be an inter-generational learning community, where our classroom is outdoors. Through forest school education, we aim to guide our students in their lifelong relationships with the natural world.  We hope that while students learn and play, they will also begin a journey of environmental stewardship.  As teacher guides, we intend to learn, uplift, and amplify our students and the world community's experiences, histories, and cultures.

Ashley (@afrocentric.montessori) + Shelby (@shalompolepole) 

Gather is a forest school. This means that we spend 75-100% of our days outside. There are three guiding principles to Gather's curriculum development & classroom culture.

• Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism: We uproot and acknowledge racist, sexist, ableist, and discriminatory thinking through exposure and conversation.
• Forest Education:  Most of our classes are conducted in urban gardens and wide-open natural spaces to help foster a relationship between the child and the natural world. 
• Gentle Parenting/Honoring the Child: We include gentle parenting into our classroom culture to help children understand boundaries, process emotions, and develop expressive language.

In-Person: 

Applications for our program are due June 23. Starting August 9, 2021, we operate from 8:30-12:30 Monday- Friday, and two Saturdays a month. We offer drop-off for full-time & part-time school. Additionally, we provide parent-toddler time (Tuesday, Friday, & Saturday). 

Virtually:

When you join our virtual community, you can chat directly with Gather founders, Ashley & Shelby. You are able to post questions, read more about forest school & sustainability.  Also posted are our tuition rates, school calendar, handbook, and application. 

Gather's virtual community is able to offer a free year membership for 2021 due to a grant provided by the CMM Institute. The intention of this platform is to create space for parents, educators, family members, and children to enjoy, share, grow, and learn with one another. We look forward to meeting you all in person in the fall. 

Ready? 

We can't wait to meet you all!

All our best,

Ashley (@afrocentric.montessori) + Shelby (@shalompolepole)