Located on ᏣᎳᎩ (Tsalagi, Cherokee) land
(828) 278-8239
Member of the
photo by Kaelee Denise Photography - kaeleedenise.com
At Ripple Forest School, we provide child-led, emergent, and play-based education focused on nature-connection, social-emotional learning, social-environmental justice, and healthy risk-taking that takes place entirely outdoors at the Cradle of Care in Pisgah Forest, NC. We like to...
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See photos on our social media:
Our class sizes are kept small (8-12 students with 2 teachers) so that we can model healthy attachment and develop secure relationships with our students and their families, as well as foster community among our students and their families. We want each of our students to feel seen and known and to feel a deep sense of belonging both in nature and in our school community.
Our teaching style emphasizes experiential learning and involves asking questions and telling stories. Our approach to education comes from an understanding of child development & learning, attachment & trauma, social-environmental justice, and Indigenous perspectives. Our two teachers, Rivers & Alex, use their training & certification in wilderness medicine to keep us safe.
Ripple Forest School is a small, locally-owned, and family-operated program deeply rooted in our connection to the land and community. Our program is proudly woman-led, neurodivergent-led, LGBTQ+-led, and disabled-led, reflecting our commitment to inclusivity and diverse perspectives.
The Cradle of Care, where we’re located, is an emerging cooperative land project on the ancestral homelands of the Cherokee with a vision to become a multicultural, cooperatively-owned center for spiritual and cultural learning, care, and community support. The Cradle of Care prioritizes the land-based visions of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, aiming to address unmet needs and foster holistic thriving across all life stages.
We offer Equity Scholarships for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ families as an act of reparations and redistribution.
We also provide sliding scale and work trade for families who need it—because cost shouldn’t be a barrier to kids learning and growing in nature.
Please reach out or schedule a visit to learn more.
We also provide sliding scale and work trade for families who need it—because cost shouldn’t be a barrier to kids learning and growing in nature.
Please reach out or schedule a visit to learn more.
Equity scholarships are not an assumption of financial need but rather a gesture towards reparations to begin to work towards mending centuries of white supremacy, settler-colonialism, racism, and more. There are no requirements or documentation needed; we are simply giving back what was taken.
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School Year 2024-2025
(Sept 2024 - June 2025)
(Sept 2024 - June 2025)
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Trout Lilies (ages 3-5)
Preschool drop-off class Mondays 1 - 4:30 pm $235/month |
Mayapples (ages 6-10)
Homeschool drop-off class Thursdays 10 am - 2 pm $165/month |
We are located at the Cradle of Care in Pisgah Forest, NC
on Lyday Creek Rd off Highway 64 near Holly View Farm
14 minutes from Brevard; 27 min. from Hendersonville; 21 min. from Mills River; 29 min. from Fletcher; 26 min. from Rosman
To protect the privacy of the residents, we will share the address after you register.
on Lyday Creek Rd off Highway 64 near Holly View Farm
14 minutes from Brevard; 27 min. from Hendersonville; 21 min. from Mills River; 29 min. from Fletcher; 26 min. from Rosman
To protect the privacy of the residents, we will share the address after you register.
Read our Family Guide for all of the details, logistics, and policies.
Alex is an incredible educator!
She spent two years as a lead teacher with Firefly Forest School in Michigan and was a beloved part of our team. She is caring, kind, patient, and was always looking out for the safety and happiness of our students. We are so excited to see Ripple Forest School come into being."
--Bailey Lininger, Director & Owner, Firefly Forest School
Alex is the best! She is a fun, thoughtful, and dedicated teacher.
She and I taught together at Wild Nature Project and I was always impressed with her! I’m so excited for her to be sharing her knowledge with more kids."
--Kelsey Campbell, Director & Owner, Cedar Valley Farm & Forest School
Alex and Rivers are especially gifted in how they are able to connect with small children. They demonstrate their high ideals for how the future generation should be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.
My four-year-old son engaged in some playgroup activities with Alex and was immediately put at ease in her presence. I have been so delighted to learn about the Ripple Forest School and wish I had a similar program in my town for my four-year-old!
I would definitely encourage parents to consider how this program would certainly provide a very positive and wholesome environment for their kiddo at this very critical and impressionable time in their life!"
-- Edana Gentry, parent
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Interested but not ready to enroll? Join our email list here:
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“Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do.
Show them the daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen… Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of a world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.
Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
- Mary Oliver
Show them the daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen… Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of a world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.
Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
- Mary Oliver
photo by Kaelee Denise Photography - kaeleedenise.com
Values for our Learning Community
(these are values that we practice, and we make many mistakes as we continue to learn!)
(these are values that we practice, and we make many mistakes as we continue to learn!)
- curiosity / inquiry / experiential learning / healthy risk-taking
- collaboration / cooperation / interdependence / reciprocity
- kindness / care
- awe & reverence for nature
- consent / autonomy
- equity / justice / truth
- inclusion / diversity / appreciation of individuals' unique gifts
- nonviolence / generative conflict
- self-responsibility / self-sufficiency
- awareness / sensitivity / mindfulness
- emergence & spaciousness
- "expedition behavior" (from NOLS)
Interested in joining our team as a teacher, substitute teacher, admin/business support, or other role?
Email Alex at [email protected] with a resume and share a little about yourself, your values, what you're looking for, and why you want to be a part of Ripple.
Email Alex at [email protected] with a resume and share a little about yourself, your values, what you're looking for, and why you want to be a part of Ripple.
To learn more about forest school and our philosophy, check out some of our favorite books:
Free to Learn, and Last Child in the Woods.
Our curriculum and pedagogy is largely based on Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature and Natural Curiosity 2nd Ed.: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children's Environmental Inquiry.
Free to Learn, and Last Child in the Woods.
Our curriculum and pedagogy is largely based on Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature and Natural Curiosity 2nd Ed.: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children's Environmental Inquiry.
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