A blueprint for those ready to create what doesn’t yet exist.

This isn’t a how-to guide.
This is a reclamation.

A permission slip for those of you who feel the quiet pull, or the loud one, to build something different for children, families, and communities. Not a step-by-step model, but an invitation into a way of thinking that honours relationship over rules, rhythm over rigidity, and humanity over hierarchy.

If you’re standing at the edge of “there has to be another way,” this is for you.

The Truth Beneath My Story

I didn’t attend high school.

By 15, I had already seen the machinery of the system, how it controlled, sorted, filtered, and standardized. I knew early that what was happening inside those walls didn’t match what children needed.

But at 19, I went back. Not because I believed in the system, but because I was determined to change it. I earned my GED, went to university, became a teacher, and worked inside public schools and Montessori classrooms.

And yet, something deeper was always calling.

Despite all the strategies, materials, and “best practices,” I kept witnessing the same thing:
children losing their spark;
teachers burning out;
families surviving instead of thriving.

By 2018, after years of pushing against systems that were never designed for thriving, I left. Exhausted. Disillusioned. Not done with education, but done with that version of it.

Still, I believed something else was possible if we removed the fear and control at the centre of schooling.

I just didn’t yet know what it would look like.

How Together In Nature Was Born

In 2020, I met a circle of women and families (shoutout to SchoolHouse Society) who were asking the same questions I had been asking for years. We sat together under trees, around fires, in living rooms, and on Zoom calls.

Every conversation pointed to the same truth:

We didn’t want to build a school.
We wanted to build a culture.

A place where children could grow without being measured.
A place where adults could lead without performing.
A place where nature wasn’t an “added feature,” but the environment itself.
A place where connection, presence, and co-regulation weren’t strategies, they were the foundation.

So we began with what we had:

• willing hearts

• a forest

• a shared dream

• and a belief that community can create what systems cannot

We wrote value statements on scrap paper.
We hosted family circles.
We listened. Really listened, to the children.
We let the rhythms of nature guide us instead of rigid schedules.

We blended Montessori materials, emergent curriculum, Waldorf rhythms, and developmentally grounded science, but the soul of our work was simple:

Trust the child.
Trust the process.
Trust the community.

What we created eventually became In The Forest Learning: a mixed-age, nature-rooted learning ecosystem that honors childhood, relationship, and the natural maturation of the human brain.

The Challenges We Faced (And How We Navigated Them)

Building something outside the system requires grit and devotion but also humility. Here are the challenges we met head-on, and the practices that carried us through.

1. Finding the Right People

Not every educator can meet children in freedom.
Not everyone has the nervous system capacity for presence over control.
At In The Forest Learning, we use a hiring process centered in alignment rather than credentials. We look for adults who can co-regulate, self-reflect, repair, and stay relational.

This continues to be the foundation of how we build our team.

2. Money

We don’t have a large grant or a wealthy funder behind us.
We operate with honesty, transparency, and sustainability — always.

We keep communication clear.
We work with a community-first mindset around resources.
We make decisions rooted in what is possible and what is ethical.

It’s not always easy, but it’s always honest.

3. Family Expectations

De-schooling the adults remains just as essential as supporting the children.

We provide parent education.
We write detailed FAQs.
We host Q&A calls.
We teach developmental philosophy in language that makes sense to everyday families.

Families in our community aren’t “clients.”
They are partners and co-creators of our culture.

4. Power Dynamics

We intentionally reject the top-down model we came from.

Our structure is a living ecosystem, not a hierarchy:

• mentors, not teachers

• guides, not authorities

• collaboration over compliance

Our team practices rupture repair, emotional literacy, and the intimacy skills real community requires. This isn’t a one-time training, it is ongoing practice.

5. Burnout

We are committed to not replicating the patterns we left.

We slow down.
We rotate roles.
We create space.
We tend to each other as humans.
We check in constantly.

We continue to build a culture where rest isn’t earned - it’s normal.

What Makes Us Different

People often ask, “What curriculum do you use?”
But logistics have never been the point.

Here’s what actually makes In The Forest Learning different:

We don’t just teach children. We support whole family systems.

Parents grow alongside their children. We witness households soften, reconnect, and re-pattern.

We don’t 'do school' in the woods.

We model emotional maturity, co-regulation, and secure leadership, the things children actually need to thrive.

We don’t pretend to have all the answers.

We create a living culture of curiosity, reflection, and repair.
We let ourselves evolve.

We focus on the root, not the surface.

Most guides talk about curriculum, ratios, supplies, and logistics.
But logistics don’t build culture.

Culture is built through:

• trust

• how you speak

• how you repair

• how you lead

• how you follow

• how you show up

• how you rest

• how you hold conflict

This is where many alternative schools struggle. Not because of their philosophy, but because their culture can’t hold the weight of real human relationships.

We choose depth over speed.
Presence over productivity.
Connection over control.

That’s what makes In The Forest Learning what it is today.

Why I’m Sharing This

Because In The Forest Learning has never been “just a school.”
It is a living experiment in what becomes possible when a community chooses relationship over rules, every single day.

And now, the same vision expands through Together With Nature, a larger ecosystem for parents, educators, and leaders who want to build more rooted, human, connected ways of living and learning.

This story isn’t told for nostalgia.
It is a torch being handed forward.

To you - the parent wondering if you could build something different.
To you - the educator exhausted from holding up a system that no longer fits.
To you - the leader imagining a community that feels human, grounded, relational, and sane.
To you - the one feeling the pull to create something more aligned, more possible, more true.

This isn’t a prescription.
It’s a possibility.

A reminder that culture is created by the brave few willing to trust themselves.

A Final Permission Slip

If you feel called to build an alternative path - a school, a learning pod, a community offering, a home rhythm - let this be your reminder:

You don’t need permission.
You don’t need perfection.
You don’t need a polished plan.

Start with who you are.
Start with what you know.
Start with your values.
Start with your people.

Start with the forest.
Or the kitchen table.
Or the backyard.
Or the community centre.

Start with one conversation.
One rhythm.
One brave choice.

Another way is possible.
You’re not imagining it.
And you don’t have to walk it alone.

Together With Nature