Chicken Coop School
The Farm School has established a new, full-time Middle School for local children organized as a homeschool cooperative and guided by the core principles of learning to use one's mind well, competence and confidence in the physical world, depth over coverage, mastery, and kindness. Mornings are spent in academic concentration, afternoons honing a just-learned skill or effecting a lesson out on the farm. English, History, Mathematics, Science, Geography and Art are at the heart of what we do. The curriculum is designed to fit within the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Costs are shared by the parent body.
Overview
The seventh and eighth grades are often viewed as a holding pattern, an awkward period between grade school and high school that we all must suffer through. What a waste! These are students that can be especially effective in the world, young adults that need a school setting that gives them practice at being adults and engages them immediately in a world of ideas and actions.
We are creating a community at the Chicken Coop that revels in this age and all its potential. We aim to school children in the processes that will allow them to explore anything from the history of the middle east to how a sentence or a machine works. We look to mentor them in developing their own ability as creators of everything from meaningful stories to a well tended garden or beautifully built, and much needed, bridge.
The core community of the school consists of one experienced teacher and up to twelve students. We are lucky enough to have Theresa Heary, who holds a degree in Early Adolescent Education from The Bank Street College Graduate School of Education, as the lead teacher. Theresa is joined by a number of other experienced teachers throughout the week, including Wendy Davenport (Literature), Paul Wanta (Tracking/Aikido), Hope Gardnier (Garden, Science, Technology), Kerry Stone (drawing), Erik Reimanis (Guitar) and Reid Bryant (Woodworking). One of the most exciting aspects of the school is that it is taking place in the middle of a new Farm School initiative, the Apprentice Program at Maggie's Farm which trains new farmers. The resources of this program and its participants are constantly available to the Chicken Coop.
Curriculum
The Chicken Coop is actively enacting and refining a vital curriculum for middle school students guided by the core principles of:
- Learning to use one's mind well
- Competence and confidence in the physical world
- Depth over coverage
- Mastery
- Kindness
Mornings are spent in academic concentration, afternoons honing a just learned skill or effecting a lesson out on the farm. A curriculum outline that meshes with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks is available. First semester subjects included: Social Studies - U.S. government, current events; Math - Connected Math curriculum; Writing - process approach; Reading - literature study group; Science - simple and complex machines, physics, animal and plant sciences; Art - drawing; Physical Sciences - gardening, general construction, boat building, Aikido.
A Sample Day at the Chicken Coop
Time |
Subject |
Sample Content |
| 8:30-8:50 | Games and Meeting, or animal chores | The students draw a cooperative game from a hat, and play it, then meet to discuss the day and current events. One day a week, they feed and water the farm's animals. |
| 8:50-9:35 | Literature with Wendy Davenport | The children study literature with Wendy Davenport. Wendy has 20 years experience teaching. She has taught at the Shady Hill School in Boston, and at the Village School in Royalston. |
| 9:35-10:15 | Writing | The children are actively composing their own memoirs and non-fiction pieces. During a writing period, they may study an author's use of craft, conference with their peers, or work independently. |
| 10:15-10:45 | Recess | The students share a snack, then they may play games or play in the yard |
| 10:45-11:15 | Social Studies Government | We are studying current events and the Civil War era this year. We will be studying current events and more recent history next year. On a particular day, the children might be practicing a dramatic reading of Sojourner Truth or Abraham Lincoln, reading the President's State of the Union address, or they might be making posters that depict how a bill becomes a law. |
| 11:15-12:00 | Math | The Chicken Coop uses a very hand's-on math curriculum. For example, one day the children would be conducting an experiment to determine how the height from which you drop a ball affects its bounce. Then they would chart that information, examine the relationship, and do the calculations necessary to name the line algebraically. |
| 12:00-12:40 | Lunch | The children share their lunch with Apprentice farmers, staff, and each other. We often eat a home cooked family style meal. |
| 12:40-1:10 | Independent reading | The children read any book that is interesting to them. The teacher confers with them about their reading and their selection of books. |
| 1:10-3:00 | Science, Art, Construction, Gardening, or Chores | Every afternoon is a little bit different. Some days they do a science experiment in the garden. Recently they did an investigation of the simple machine while disassembling a tractor engine. They designed and constructed their own tables and desks. |
| 3:00-3:30 | Clean up, pack up, meeting, and goodbye! |
Costs
We aim to cover the teacher's modest salary and any expenses for in-school supplies with contributions from the community of parents. Current tuition is $3,500/year, paid in monthly installments. However, tuition can be reduced to match the particular capacities of individual families.
Logistics and Application
We convene during typical school hours with activities based at the Chicken Coop at Maggie's Farm (thus the name), which is right down the road from The Farm School. We are organized in the form of a home school cooperative: we provide parents with the curriculum which we teach and they submit it to their school district for approval for their child.
If you are interested in exploring the Chicken Coop for your child, please give Ben Holmes a call at the Farm School to arrange a visit. If you'd like to apply after seeing it in action, we have a simple application process, the core of which is a written assessment completed by a teacher your child has had in the past two years that details your child as a learner and community member. Let's work together to figure out if this is a good match and that, indeed, we can serve you and your child well!
Download the Chicken Coop Admissions Application form here (pdf format).
The Farm School does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in any of its school administered policies or programs.
Contact
Chicken Coop Farm School
488 Moore Hill Road,
Athol, MA 01331
978.249.9944