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Visual Calendar of Courses. Adult & Family Training Camp Weeks (for adults, teens with prereqs) Fall-Spring Class Series (for adults and teens) Summer Weekend Stayovers (for youth and families) ----------- Summer Residential Intensives: Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship Permaculture Pioneer Facilitators Program Recreational Administration Internship Fall-Spring Residential Intensives: Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey Permaculture Pioneer Case Study Future Scout Tracking Intensive Wild Healers Herbal Exploration Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation leading to the Stone Age Living Experience Cool Stuff • Music & Stories Nourishment • Our Book Series Camp Locator Map & Driving Directions CONFIDENTIALITY: Wolf Camp was voted 1 of 2 Best Camps in the Northwest Family News Reader's Poll of 2001, the only year they ran a poll, and we were also chosen as one of the five "best camps ever" by YM Magazine in its March 2003 issue. |
Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship 2009Scroll Down or Click for Specifics: Program Dates: June 13 - August 16, 2009, with optional extention as late as November 7th. Registration Deadlines: Apply by March 31st and the price will be $3,000. We have availability for 6 individuals in this program for 2009, so reserve your spot by applying right away. Prerequisites: None, but it is open to adults only. This program is designed for those who wish to become excellent instructors in the field of earth skills. You will have greater success if you have experience with as many of the following activities as possible: • Teaching Experience (especially understanding the needs of various ages) The summertime Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship was our very first Cooperative Residential Intensive, piloted in 2000. More than half our staff came on board through this program, while others enrolled to receive training in order to found their own schools. The program is open to adults only, includes 3 initial training weeks, and involves assistance at 7 youth camp weeks which have historically been the greatest of learning experiences for apprentices. Beyond your initial tuition and health insurance, you need not incur any other expense during the summer. Wolf Camp founder Chris Chisholm will be your mentor through this experience, with guidance from Carol, Nikki and other instructors who will be teaching while you are here. Past apprentices agree that they learned the greatest earth skills and teaching skills of their lives while assisting the incredible instructors at Wolf Camp as they guided youth through the summer. In exchange for the volunteer work you do over the summer, you may complimentarily attend any of the courses we offer in the fall and spring for as long as your relationship to the Wolf Camp community remains healthy and happy. Of course whenever living on campus between fall and spring, we all contribute at least 10 hrs/wk work trade, and we cover our own travel and some food expenses, required health insurance, and fees for participation in external courses. And finally, graduates become eligible to receive some of the highest teaching salaries available anywhere in the outdoor educational field as a Wolf Camp instructor, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills. Goals of the Training The Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship is an environmental education internship designed to train you to become an instructor for Wolf Camp or another earth skills institute, and if desired, to train you to start our own earth skills program independently or in conjunction with an existing camp or school elsewhere. All our graduates have been offered a good amount of employment here in the year following their apprenticeship, and some have started their own programs or gone on to integrate earth skills into environmental education programs elsewhere. Not only is it our goal that all graduates of the apprenticeship program are gainfully employed using their earth skills in the summer following graduation, but we work to ensure that the individual goals of every program graduate become reality. Future employment here depends on enrollment, your ongoing education, your relationship with us and where you need to direct your career energies based on your own vision in life. During the apprenticeship period, the goals shift from participants developing their own personal earth skills during training weeks, to learning the best methods of teaching earth skills to youth over the course of the summer. The opportunity to assist lead instructors and take on instructional leadership yourself during the summer is a great way to fully embody your own earth skills, because sometimes you can learn best only that which you teach. You will be given teaching opportunities during the summer according to your desire and readiness. It is paramount to remember that although during the training portion of the program your educational needs are the focus, during the summer camp season, the goal is for you to learn to be an excellent teacher, and the needs of the children at camp will be the focus. If you just want to focus on learning earth skills, and not on teaching, then simply apply to attend our intensive training camps only. Thanks! The teaching apprenticeship is a great educational and financial investment – one that has a good chance of paying off financially in less than a year if you come back and teach for us. Participants marvel that our residential programs are so affordable, and yes, much of that is due to the abundant work trade options we have available. We earn our keep through summer camps, and we want our apprenticeships to be a residential laboratory for you to develop earth skills, and successful life skills, for yourself and for the community. No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your health will be the priority. The goal is to always develop ourselves into better and better earth skills educators. Specialty Skills Learned Experiential Skills Introduced Earth Skills Educational Skills See our Calendar of courses for a visual perspective, take a look at Training Camp Weeks for descriptions of initial courses. International Students: The INS just added some extra hurdles, so please inquire as to the latest status on obtaining a visa for study with us. Your tuition includes participation in all programs at Wolf Camp throughout the length of your training period. There are discounts given for previous relevant trainings you may have taken, and when additional family members register. You can also lower the price of your tuition by arriving at camp as early as May 12th to do work trade, with your minimum financial contribution bottoming out at $1,500. Remember, however, that 10 hrs/wk work trade is also required to live on campus in exchange for camping, rustic facilities, and shared meals. Your Tuition: Apply by March 31st and the price will be $3,000. • Administrative Mentoring fee of $1,500 is included in your tuition. Optional Schedule Add-Ons: • August 17-23 You can complimentarily attend and assist with the following overnight youth camp: The GeoTRIP Apprenticeship History and where graduates are now: Nikki was the first Wolf Camp apprentice in 2000 after starting our adult classes in 1999. She became our most advanced student ever, and a lead instructor by 2001. She grew to develop many of the new programs we now offer, and is no doubt the most inspirational teacher most students have experienced. She was the pilot student for most of the residential programs we now have, and last year she went on sabbatical to test her primitive living and survival skills for a couple years. Would you like a sample of past apprentice achievements? Click here for a Written Message from Nikki that will blow your mind. Click Here if you would like to listed to an Audo Recorded Greeting from Nikki for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system, and there is also an Audio Recorded Camp Greeting from Chris for you to listen to if you like as well. Kate Hedges was the only graduating apprentice in 2001. She lived the program fully, including staying up every night to journal everything we did each day. She integrated the skills she learned here into her original job serving youth, and also started her own Blue Skies earth skills program back home for which she recently purchased 20 acres of land. She also continues to use the Wolf Journey Handbook for Students & Teachers and her notes from here summer here in most lessons, which is a testament to the power of journaling. Otherwise in 2001, one apprentice dropped out because she realized she required better accommodations despite being cautioned a number of times about camping, though we have since improved our facilities considerably. The other dropped out because she didn't understand our teaching style, which prefers the art of questioning and experiential education over spoon-feeding answers to students. In 2002, we had four apprentices who received excellent earth skills education, but none of them finished the summer due to their unwillingness to follow camp rules, which taught us a lot about setting appropriate Teaching Apprenticeship expectations, such as emphasizing that the youth at camp are the focus during the summer. Krista Rome graduated from her apprenticeship in 2003 and was lead instructor for Mystery of the Drum, Wild Chefs & Healers, and Games of the Forest Dweller during the summer of 2004. She is currently working as an environmental consultant, specializing in wetland surveys. Ryan Tarbell graduated from his apprenticeship in 2003 and was lead instructor for Future Survivors Fun, Wildlife Tracking & Birding, and Games of the Forest Dweller during the summer of 2004, and returned to teach all summer in 2005. In 2006, he graduated from Warren-Wilson College and started his own sustainable forestry program. Two other 2003 graduates of our apprenticeship have gone on to become very successful in the earth skills field, including Micah Fay who completed a 2 year Primitive Living Experience with Nikki (see above link), and Rebecca Bruhn who went on to teach at other earth skills schools around the country. Bill "Griz" Chambers is our first former-camper-turned-instructor. He first came to camp in 2001, completed an entire summer in our Youth Mentoring CIT program in 2003, and then the apprenticeship program in 2004. Bill taught a variety camps for us in 2005 and assisted with the apprenticeship program in 2006. He is currently studying emergency rescue and laying the foundations to start his own programs back home. Rachel Rothman graduated from the apprenticeship in 2004 and then spent the next full year studying at Oregon State University to receive a Masters in Education. She also continues to be an integral part of Aprovecho Research Center with her husband Jeremy Roth, while now working as her school district's special education teacher. Lorien MacAuley and Scott Fanello were our first married couple who graduated from the apprenticeship program. They both practiced their earth skills at other venues before completing the apprenticeship in 2004. They stayed at camp during the off-season to participate in the Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey and they have provided incredible support during our transition to the new camp property. Lorien specializes in birds and other tracking skills, while Scott is also excellent with plants and various survival skills. They each managed to lead day camps for us toward the end of their apprenticeship period, and they both taught several camps for us in 2005 and 2006 before returning home to start their own earth skills programs. Chris "Huck" Anderson served as our camp nurse and graduated from the Teaching Apprenticeship in 2005, when he also co-taught our Rock Climbing course and assisted with several day and overnight camps as well. In 2006 he ran the GeoTRIP, and he taught a variety of camps for us in 2007. He comes to us with a plethora of previous experience, including as an ambulance driver EMT in his home of Phoenix, AZ. He is a gifted musician, and is multi-talented enough to be our summer camp director. Huck founded Lost & Found Adventures after returning home from his apprenticeship, and you can contact him through us or visit his website directly at www.lostandfoundadventures.com or telephone 602-228-0211 to find out about attending one of his great courses or to arrange a custom-designed program. Jason Patterson came to us with a lot of previous experience and although he went through the Teaching Apprentiship in 2005, we can't take credit for improving his already-excellent earth skills. He continues to teach for us each summer. Glen MacKay first came to camp in 2002, and he returned at age 16 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, then completed his Teachign Apprenticship during the summer in 2006. He graduated from high school this year, and for his senior project, he did a solo survival trek and is completed a senior thesis about it. You can read a summary by clicking on Survival Trek Log. He is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio on a full-ride scholarship! Megan Damofle and Laura Donohue successfully completed the Teaching Apprenticeship in 2006 but took leave of the ongoing educational requirements and written work required for graduation in favor of moving on to study at a variety of other educational venues during their college years. Some of their endeavors included Megan helping pilot our new Wild Healers Herbal Exploration last year, while Laura visited Kate at Blue Skies in Scotland during the summer. Andrew Twele was the only one to complete the Earth Skill Teaching Apprenticeship in 2007 although he shed the required written work in favor of focusing on a Primitive Living Experience he is embarking on here at Wolf Camp. He has been here since March 2007, and as you can see on our Staff Bios page, he already came to us with good experience teaching hide tanning and other earth skills. Three others who studied with us during the off-season between March-June of 2007 departed as camp began in order to focus on their own earth skills, despite originally planning to enroll in the Teaching Apprenticeship. That experience caused us to return the apprenticeship to its original, successful schedule of starting adult students in June rather than in early spring. During the spring, this group acheived incredible earth skills accomplishments through the excellent programs we designed for them, but we learned that it's best to send prospective instructors through the summer apprenticeship sooner than later in order to help them determine asap whether they are really interested in focusing on the needs of kids at camp or just their personal desires. In the end, you never know about people until you experience them for at least a whole season, and no matter how wonderful a program is, it may or may not be what you need. It is also important to remember that there a balance between "going with the flow" which is something we can do a lot when we have few responsibilities, and "pushing through the pain" which is something we need to do in order to learn the value and rewards of honoring commitment. Knowing which to choose in any situation is a key to success. Whatever your choice - whether or not to commit to this program and/or complete the summer with us - we will respect your decisions as long as they are in the best interest of your higher self and of the world community. Here's a few selections from some of the many classic notes we received from Kate after her first year of training at Wolf Camp. She sure followed through on her intention to return home and start her own earth skills school after receiving training here..... Hope yous are well. I'm doing good, and am trying to immerse miself in the world of schoolwork as I remember that I'm still a student and not a natralist for a few more painful weeks. so, i'm doing intensive 'environmental education workshops' which is my research method- visiting groups of young peeps. went to the lake district (n.w. england) to do a first aid course last w/e. had mad adventures as I scrambled over heathery hillsides in the dusky evenings. saw loads of wildlife- buzzards, kestrals, a perigrine falcon or merlin, deer, fox, oh, an' went to sleep every night to the sounds of owls hooting. found some bone and harvested some birch bark fae a very dead tree which will be good for holding tinder, some hazel for fire kits and lots of slate. it's great mi room and whole house for that matter is constantly filled with wood chips and bits of stick. i'm making lime 'bast' at the moment which is cordage fae the inner bark of short-leaved lime trees- apparently the strongest natural fibre........ i had a pretty life changing week. i saw mi classes in print in the programme with folk booking onta courses and everything. is sooo good, but also a little scary. but then i met a teacher. yep this REALLY old guy who lives just a few miles away is a primitive fire making expert. he became an archaeologist and is involved in reconstruction work. he's been studying fire for over 20 years. i finally got to meet him and got fire with flint and steel, using a torch as a magnifying glass, iron pyrites (fools gold), egyptian bow drill and bow drill. i even got fire with a reconstruction of tooten karmen's fire kit that was buried with him to take to the next world. and used hazel (spindle) and pine (fire board), a limpet shell as a handhold and mi Bucke farm bow to get fire. that night i lit mi first proper fire in scotland up at tentsmuir where i sent you some photos of using bow drill. lots of tips...pretty exciting....... Spent the long weekend up at tentsmuir on the pretense of writing mi literature review, but had some pretty magical nature experiences. stalking deer, hanging out with seals, watching herons build a nest in the trees, watching red squirrels play, listening to owls calling at night, experimenting with funguses as tinder and tracking rabbits. wowwee. seriously blissed out after that........ But guess wot? i do have a question. mi one omission in mi rediculously thorough journaling was the sweat lodge. i'm thinking of doing one with mi survival residential group just before their survival trek, and maybe another one with the beltane group before that. I will obviously have to go with the feel of the group and wot they are up for, but i would be greatful if you could refresh mi memory on the rounds of prayer. (wowee.. "i would be greatful..." is such a british-ism!) This cooperative intensive program requires a lengthy application process to ensure that this is the right choice for you, and that you are the right choice for us. To apply, first call Chris Chisholm at 360-799-1997 or email us with questions. Your application should contain: • Completed and signed registration form. Word to the Wise: All those who have kept their applications concise and focused have been accepted without exception. We generally don't get applications from people not eligible because the very detailed description of the program on this page has turned out to be an excellent filter. In other words, you decide if this program is what you most need in your life next year. Those who wrote rambling essays or thought we weren't completely serious about our drug policy, for instance, weren't successful. Suggestions for your biography include any previous training, skills or experience in teaching (including age groups and a description of knowledge of their needs), a list of any nature awareness and survival skills you know and your level of study with them, and a description of your method of continuing education in these skills. Potential for future work as a lead instructor will depend on enrollment in camps, the number and size of school contracts that become available, your progress on improving your earth skills, the number of camps for which you assisted in the past, your previous education and work experience, and our assessment of your teaching skills. Remember, this is a teaching apprenticeship designed for people who really want to share these skills with others in the near future. Beyond the training period, you will be learning the skills vicariously while on the job, and ultimately, it is up to you to practice on your own during the off-season to become accomplished in these earth skills, although you may enroll in any of our fall-spring Cooperative Intensives as well. During the summer, the needs of our youth campers will be our focus. If you simply want to learn the skills instead of spending time assisting children this summer and teaching (here or elsewhere) in the future, we encourage you to consider another program. Responsibilities at Camp The most important behavioral expectations while enrolled in the apprenticeship programs include: pouring your greatest effort into learning these earth skills and teaching skills; maintaining professional hygiene (including appearance and smell of body, hair and clothes) and behavior (including the very same agreements which youth campers must uphold during camps and contracts guaranteeing the physical and emotional safety of all participants - see youth camp pages to read these agreements - obvious exceptions include provisions for married persons, for example) throughout the summer youth camp season; remaining free of drugs (including alcohol, tobacco, and illicits) during the youth camp season; never harboring any illegal items, people or behavior on or in the vicinity of Wolf Camp; never having participated in child abuse or workplace sexual misconduct, nor having any impulse to do so; not unfairly discriminating against anyone based on color, ethnicity, origin, sex, sexual orientation, religious preference, or handicap; and performing in a professional, safe manner to help make Wolf Camp the most excellent outdoor educational program possible. Living on campus also means sharing responsibility for maintenance of all common facilities as well as your own shelter space (usually tent under tarp in the summer, or in a yurt or cabin in the fall-spring) just like if you were renting a house elsewhere and needing to spend time cleaning, etc. However, it is much more efficient to live in a community like this where you are taking turns cooking, cleaning, recycling, shopping, organizing supplies, caretaking farm animals, etc., etc., rather than having to do all that on your own, and thereby leaving more time for your studies. Blog entries, making foods from scratch, maintenance checks and first aid drills can also take up some time, and they are important aspects of your learning program. However, many community living projects are counted toward work-trade depending on your prior skill level, such as gardening, mechanical repairs, seasonal grounds maintenance, building improvements, etc., as prioritized by your program facilitator. I’m looking forward to receiving your application, and helping us celebrate our wonderful camp location on Woods Lake. It’s gorgeous, full of trout, surrounded by lush forests, and backed up against state land and vast wilderness. We’re just 30 minutes from Puget Sound in one direction, and the Cascade Mountains in the other. We’re also just 90 minutes from sagebrush country. How could it get any better? With you joining us! There is so much to gain and to give with this program - I'm looking forward to sharing a wonderful time together. Until then! - Chris Chisholm |
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Employment: We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills, including Permaculture, Tracking, Primitive Artisanry, Advanced Herbalism, or Wilderness EMT training with real outdoor survival practice. If you would like experience as a teacher and learn skills of the Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Scout, Hunter, Artisan, or Permaculture Pioneer, apply to become an instructor through our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship. SITE MAP This site is updated often, so be sure to tell us if you find a missing link, erroneous information or other problem. Thanks! |
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www.wolfcamp.com • email us
Wolf Camp • 7933 287th Ave. SE, Monroe WA 98272
360-799-1997 at camp in Snohomish County
425-248-0253 cell phone in King County.