Featured Events, Resources, & Opportunities

Learn at Morse Hill is an outdoor elementary homeschool program on 85 acres in Shutesbury, MA. As this fully outdoor program plans for its third year of creating hands-on learning experiences under the beautiful hemlocks of Morse Hill, tours of the campus are now available and filling up quickly! Families may choose a full-time academic year program or select up to three homeschool days per week. Students enjoy a cozy yurt for warming in the colder months and build resiliency through Morse Hill adventure experiences, including canoeing, hiking, climbing, and a ropes course. To learn more, visit www.learnatmorsehill.com or reach out to Jess Evans, Leadership Team and Enrollment Coordinator, at enroll@schoolatmorsehill.org. 

Hartsbrook Farm Camp. Hadley, MA. Spend the summer safely and joyfully outside! For almost two decades, children have loved Farm Camp: the animals, the crafts, and the feeling of being part of something meaningful. Children feel grounded and inspired while exploring the natural world. In these times, children need nature more than ever. This summer, Hartsbrook Farm Camp invites your child to tend the goats, feed the chickens, work with wool, play under the trees and enjoy unhurried time outside in 55 acres of fields, farm, and forest. The caring camp staff makes all children feel welcome. This year, spend some time on the farm! (For everyone’s safety, COVID protocols will be in place.) Dates: June 27 – July 29, 2022; Age Range: 4-15yo. Contact: 413-586-1908; farmcamp@hartsbrook.org; www.hartsbrook.org.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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Self-Directed Learning: Winter Tracking

Many wild creatures are tucked away in their winter homes during the dark winter months, but several remain active in the cold, camouflaged to blend with bark, leaf litter, or snow. You can learn about their behavior and activity by tracking them. Budding naturalists can learn to look for and identify signs, like tracks, scat, dens, and nests. Tracking is a fun and educational way to learn about wildlife habits near you. Learning basics tracking skills help young naturalist read their environment and open up the winter landscape to curiosity and discovery. Read more in our post, Western Mass Winter Brings Tracking Opportunities.

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Self-Directed Learning: Chocolate

Chocolate (the seed of the plant, Theobroma cacao) takes a long journey before you buy it wrapped up at a store in heart-shaped boxes of Valentine candy. This delicious seed is rich in learning opportunities, supporting various interests, including food science, biochemistry, geography, chocolate history, economics, and social justice. Discover how chocolate is manufactured for Valentine’s Day by comparing and contrasting how artisanal chocolate is made in New York and Guatemala. Read more about seeds in our post, Mindful Engagement through the Seasons: Seeds, and check out a real-life Theobroma cacao at the Smith College’s Lyman Conservatory.

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Self-Directed Learning: Soup

A warm bowl of soup on a cold New England winter’s eve can not only nourish your body, but it can also be a catalyst for learning! Soup recipes from across the world and across time are great for learning about history, agriculture, and culinary arts. Mediterranean White Bean Soup, French Onion Soup, and Mushroom Barley Soup are examples of soups with which New Englanders might be familiar. Still, there are soups from all over the world and across the country that can satiate curiosity about nutritional anthropology, world history, and food studies. Let soup be your lens for learning and nourishing your body, and your mind!

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Self-Directed Learning: National Kite Day

For National Kite Day, let’s learn through the lens of kites! Kites lend themselves to lessons in geometry, physics, measurement, design, history, culture, literature, and more – and such lessons can be exciting and informative for kids of all ages. The best way to learn is by building and flying your very own kite! Kite Plan Base offers a database of over 1,500 kite plans. Their designs often require a basic understanding of geometry, measurement, and perhaps a little bit of physics to understand how the kite will fly. Carrying out one of their plans is an excellent way for older students to practice these concepts and expand their understanding. Families can also make a simple construction paper kite using sticks found outside. Other DIY ideas include taking leftover wax or tissue paper to create a  colorful flying creature, stapling together printer paper for a  binoculars-shaped flying object, or turning paper shopping bags into uniquely decorated kites. These projects present an opportunity to practice cooperating, reading and following directions, motor-related skills like tracing and cutting, and using measurement tools, and allow plenty of space for kiddos to exercise their imagination and creativity!

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Self-Directed Learning: Letter Writing

While it seems easy to explore a multitude of activities in the summertime, the wintertime provides the space for quieter activities, new hobbies, or creative outlets that encourage reflection. The intense winter storms and their impact on travel keep us inside to discover new activities or pastimes. Winter days feel quiet and reflective as our time indoors beckons us to think more about spending our time intentionally. Let’s look at the art of letter writing and how Epistolary Novels can help us connect our interest in correspondence with literature. Read more in our post, The Art of Letter Writing.

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Self-Directed Learning: Ice Fishing

As part of our local heritage, ice fishing has a long history linked to food and survival. In the mid-winter, opportunities to learn about and participate in ice fishing occur in the region. Sporting clubs, environmental organizations, and civic groups often host ice fishing derbies and clinics. Get curious about the techniques of hardwater fishing, why fish don’t freeze in frozen lakes, what’s life like under ice in other regions, how to prep and cook fish, and what to do if you fall through the ice. (And how to stay safe, to begin with!) Learning through the lens of ice fishing, supporting your interests in angling, biology, culinary arts, and naturalist & survivalist skills.

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Self-Directed Learning: Owls

Mid to late winter, many conservation and environmental organizations host Owl Prowls, an opportunity to go on a guided hike at night with a local naturalist, listening for and learning about owls! Check with Mass Audubon, The Trustees of Reservations, DCR, and local nature centers for upcoming events, and learn a bit about owls before participating. Get curious about the calls of different owl species, why they are active in the winter, how they fly so silently, what is an owl pellet (and what’s inside!), and how you can support owl populations as a citizen scientist. — Be sure to check out our literary guide for Owls in the Family too. This story is much more than just an animal story. The book also challenges readers to think about their connection to the natural world surrounding them and question the relationship humans have with wild animals.

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Weekly eNewsletter

Online and in-person events and resources shared above are done so as a courtesy and not as an endorsement. While we do our best to share accurate and up-to-date information, please take the time to confirm information, age appropriateness, registration requirements, safety protocols, and associated costs.

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Hilltown Families’ list of Suggested Events is supported in part by grants from the Agawam, Amherst, Becket, Bernardston, Buckland, Chicopee, Colrain, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Heath, Huntington, Montgomery, Northern Berkshire, Orange, Palmer, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Tolland, Tyringham, Windsor, and Worthington Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.