Featured Events, Resources, & Opportunities

Inspired academics, gifted teachers, music and art in everyday learning, active land stewardship, and a culture of compassion: this is the Hartsbrook School. Whether exploring the nearby fields and stream or delving into deep inquiry, Hartsbrook students develop foundational learning skills that last a lifetime. Discover how meaningful a school experience can be, and enjoy a vibrant, active parent community. Now accepting applications for 2023-24, pre-K thru high school! For more information, call 413-586-1908 x116 to begin your exploration. Visit the school online at www.hartsbrook.org. Hartsbrook School is located at 193 Bay Road in Hadley, MA. 

InfinityEd is an instructional organization devoted to providing students with what they need to succeed by providing an education that goes beyond the limits of the public school system. By fostering an environment that encourages discussion-based learning over lectures, InfinityEd nourishes a student’s love of learning and promotes a deeper understanding of content. Click here to schedule a free trial/consultation and intro lesson for the program of your choice. They offer programs via multiple formats: remote, in-office (Amherst, MA), and in-center (Hampden, MA). Prospective students also have the choice of individualized, one-on-one instruction or working within a small group of similar-minded students. Remember: education makes life better! Learn more at infinityed.us.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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Self-Directed Learning: Harvest Season

During the autumnal months, communities celebrate the change of season with activities that bridge agricultural and cultural traditions. Teaching our children the value of connection with seasonal traditions through self-directed learning can help them learn and grow in endless ways. Children who understand and connect with their local landscape are much more likely to value environmental conservation as adults while building awareness of various cultures represented within a community and across time. Connecting to where we live through the seasons can help children appreciate and understand the places(s) they call home. In addition to participating in seasonal patterns of community engagement, learning about harvest seasons in other parts of the world is a point of entry for self-directed learning that can help us to better understand culture through the harvest lens, including cinnamon, pecans, seaweed, cork, and kalo.

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Self-Directed Learning: History/Ruins

Western Massachusetts isn’t threatened to sink into the ocean any time soon; however, plenty of local ruins serve as reminders of the past. The region’s ruins speak volumes about its history, from cellar holes to quarries. Families can safely explore old hotels, drowned towns, abandoned quarries, and old mill sites to learn about life in the past and explore how nature can reclaim spaces. Discover more in our post, Exploring Ruins Reveals Local History and Culture. 

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Self-Directed Learning: Wheat & Corn Harvest Season

The word “harvest” is originally derived from the Old English “Haerfest,” meaning “autumn.” In ancient Britain and other European communities, the fall harvest marked the reaping and gathering of wheat. Victorian folklorist James George Frazer recounts several northern European’ corn dolly’ customs, corn being an ancient term for any grain: “In the neighbourhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman and is brought home on the last waggon. In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in women’s clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on the last waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm.” All over the world, harvest time is an occasion to thank the earth for providing us with food. Looking through the lens of the grain harvest, today’s self-directed learning module supports interests in European culture, Native American customs, and colonial food history through the lens of corn & wheat.

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Self-Directed Learning: Weather Folklore

Can Woolley Bears (Pyrrharctia isabella) indicate the severity of the coming winter? Common North American folklore says that a broad brown band calls for a mild winter, and a narrow one calls for a severe winter. While there is no scientific evidence for this prediction, looking for these little guys and examining them closely with your kids opens up channels for learning while connecting to the seasons. For today’s self-directed learning module, learn more about caterpillars and let your curiosity about Woolley Bears and other weather-based folklore lead the way!

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Self-Directed Learning: Science & Math Songs

For many young learners, rhythm and repetition can be an effective way of learning new words and remembering the names of things. Children quickly learn commonly sung songs with lyrics of all kinds, and we use their ability to memorize verses to share information. Take the ABC’s for example – it’s a fun and easy song that we use to teach the English alphabet. Matching the names of letters to different parts of the rhythm helps children remember the order they go in. But songs don’t have to be used to convey basic ideas to the youngest learners, though – there are educational songs for kids of all ages and about all kinds of things! The University of Washington’s Sing About Science and Math Project offers an online database of over 7,000 songs that cover various topics in technology, biology, environmental science, physics, chemistry, math, engineering, and medicine. Educators and parents supporting self-directed learners can find lesson plans inspired by some of the songs in the database.

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Self-Directed Learning: Scarecrows

Scarecrows are known around the world as mommets, hodmedods, spaventapasseri, vogelscheuche, fugleskremsel, and kakashi, and have been used to protect crops for over 3,000 years! Studies of this traditional autumn icon can reveal not only the international roots of the straw-stuffed beings. Still, they can lead to creative-free play, intergenerational creative collaboration, and exploration of folk farming techniques used locally and worldwide. Read more in our post, “Scarecrow Studies Illuminate Cultural History and Creative-Free Play.”

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Self-Directed Learning: Mushroom Season

October 15 is National Mushroom Day! The kingdom of mushrooms is truly magical. The fleshy, spore-covered protuberance we see growing above the ground is only a portion of the whole organism. One ancient and massive fungal organism can be found in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon, which is more than 2,400 years old and extends over 2,200 acres! The largest above-ground mushroom, or “fruiting body,” was recently discovered in China. This mammoth mushroom was thirty-six feet tall and weighed more than a thousand pounds. Because the vast majority of its body is underground, mushrooms can often appear and disappear rapidly, with some species that literally appear overnight and then retract by the afternoon of the next day. Mushrooms are mysterious, but we know they play a crucial role in forest ecosystems. Autumn is an excellent time of year to support an interest in ecology, biology, natural history, and culinary arts through the lens of mushrooms.

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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, Chester, Chicopee, Colrain, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Heath, Hinsdale/Peru, Huntington, Leyden, Montgomery, Mount Washington, Northern Berkshire, Orange, Otis, Palmer, Pelham, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Tolland, Tyringham, Westhampton, Windsor, and Worthington Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.