Who will be teaching?
Meet Niki
Niki is the founder, owner, and primary teacher of both the Forest School program and Friday parent and child classes. She is an outdoor educator with more than 9 years of experience who simply cannot keep herself indoors. Her passion in life is to foster the educational, emotional, social, and physical wellbeing of all students by teaching them in the best possible place, nature. She truly believes in being your authentic self and the joy of child-led learning. She earned her Master’s in Experiential Education from Clemson University and finally feels she has found her calling in what she’s doing. When she is not teaching, she is taking care of her two children; or can be found hiking, cooking, and stopping to ID every bird she hears.
Meet Jesi
Jesi is a substitute/volunteer for the Squirrel Scout Forest School. Before her sons was born, she was an English teacher and worked at several outdoor camps. Now she is a stay-at-home parent homeschooling and running a small children’s clothing shop. She loves the outdoors, watching children learn, and sewing. She loves making authentic connections with the students and seeing them for who they are.
Meet Krissy
Krissy is the co-teacher at Squirrel Scout's Forest School program. She is a wonderful asset to our team, and even better, knows the land firsthand as one of the owners of Hartland Farm. Krissy has a degree in elementary teaching in traditional and Montessori classrooms. However, she currently spends most of her time managing Hartland Farm's pumpkin patch. She loves being outside, spending time with her daughters, and leading her Girl Scout troop.
Meet Simone
Simone is a volunteer and substitute at the Forest School program. Her passion lies in hiking, foraging for wild food, and practicing herbalism. Embracing her love for the outdoors, she shares this passion with her two young children. Simone has adopted child-led education as a cornerstone of her homeschooling journey. She gets immense joy from witnessing children’s growth and fostering close connections among peers through pay and exploration in the natural world.