Job: Nature Program Leader, Mountain View, CA

[Liz Snyder]

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Wild Child Freeschool is hiring a nature program leader!

 

Who we are...

Wild Child Freeschool is a homeschool charter in Mountain View, CA. We are an “unschool” family that is dedicated to living life fully and spending as much time as possible immersed in the outdoors, art, sustainable living, music, and self-directed joyful learning. 

 

So far, Wild Child has just been for our family. This fall, we’re looking to change that by starting a full day nature awareness program specifically for homeschool families with kids ages 5-11.

 

Starting one day a week (and hopefully expanding from there), we will have a group of (up to 10) families joining us at different outdoor locations each week. Once there we’ll spend a full day (10am-4pm) in the great outdoors – it might be the redwoods, the beach, an open space preserve, or even an urban farm.

 

The seeds of a program…

We want our nature program leader to bring a strong sense of environmental and social justice to the program.  The program design is flexible – based on both your and our kids’ interests and passions. A few elements we’re considering:

• Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program – where kids spend 12 weeks brainstorming and then implementing their own solutions to the world’s problems. They do one thing for animals, one thing for the planet, and one thing for their community  (what those “one things” are is totally up to them)
• Modeling a program like Trackers or Reikes Nature Awareness, incorporating real survival and homesteading skills into outdoor adventures
• A strong emphasis on cultivating joy – helping kids learn to be a positive influence in the world without taking life (or themselves) too seriously.

Who we’re looking for…

It’s not so much about your skill set as it is about your outlook. We’re looking for a natural leader and proven kid-magnet, with the ability to inspire young people with their own passion for life. The basic qualifications include:

• Proven experience inspiring kids and leading groups of 4 or more kids in an outdoor setting (kids as your references = big bonus)
• Super-honed sense of responsibility with kids’ health and safety (while letting them take managed risks when they are ready)
• Deep commitment to environmental sustainability and connecting kids to the earth
• CPR/First Aid certified, with strong outdoor roughing-it skills
• In love with the idea of spending the day outdoors with a group of brilliant, curious, and wild children

Things that will make you stand out…  

• The ability to inspire a sense of wonder about the natural world
• Passion for the “unschooling” philosophy. Maybe you were a homeschooler yourself, or maybe you’ve spent years unlearning your schooling. Either way, you want to help kids discover their own passions and don’t buy into educational dogma
• Looking beyond the carefully staged routines and games typical of outdoor education and a desire to create program as unique as the kids it serves
• One or more special passions that kids could get jazzed about. It could be anything, but here are a smattering of things to get you thinking: homesteading, gardening, wild edibles, wilderness survival, fishing, knitting, carpentry, woodworking, theatre, storytelling, showtunes, tribal dance, campfire cooking, kayaking, comedy, composting, bugs, wildlife… the list goes on and on.  
• You’re an unabashed geek. Whether you can’t wait for Maker Faire, or you can recite every episode of Firefly from heart, or you can’t stop talking about your chickens at parties (and at the parties you go to, that’s totally normal) – you know what it means to live and breathe outside the cultural mainstream.  

All the details…

• Pay will be $250 per day. That translates to a rate of approximately $25/hr: 6 hours of teaching time and estimated 4 hours of prep 
• 1 day per week to start, but we’d love to find someone who could eventually do 2-3 days a week 
• Maximum of 6 kids by yourself, 12 if we grow enough for you to have an assistant
• Plans to schedule 12-week sessions Sept-Nov, March-May
• May explore the possibility of weeklong camps in June as well

 

To apply…

Before you apply, realize we’re going to require really, really, REALLY good working-with-kids references (and a Livescan fingerprint check). Kids should love you, parents should trust you.

 

Sound like you? Send an email to [e-mail] with a relevant resume and a letter detailing your interest, experience, philosophy, and mad skills. Let me know how YOU would make this program sing.