Our mission is to create an environment which fosters a lifelong love for learning and connection with the natural world for our community of learners ages 0-12 through Montessori inspired and hands-on learning experiences that the farm and forest richly provides.
Available Programs
Located at Black Ridge Farms in Palouse WA
Honeybees
Ages 0 - 3 & Caregiver
Fridays (biweekly) 9:30 -11:30
Wildflowers
Ages 3 - 7 Drop off program
Thursdays 9am - 1pm
Summer Farm Camp
Ages 4- 12 Drop off program
Session 1 - June 10-14, Session 2 - June 24-27, Session 3 - July 8-11
Monday - Thursday 9am - 1pm
Jr. Homesteaders
Ages 7- 12 Drop off program
September 5 - Nov 21
Thursdays 9am -1pm
What we are about…
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Farm School
Farm schooling provides hands-on agricultural and environmental learning experiences! Black Ridge Farms offers our students the opportunity to be immersed in regenerative farming practices both through our farm animals and gardens. Children get to plant, harvest and care for animals in all different seasons. This fosters a deeper understanding of food production, sustainably, ecological processes, empathy growing and more!
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Nature & Forest Exploration
Our 5 acres of forest area offers ample opportunities for forest exploration! Children get to enjoy unstructured free play in the forest and in some seasons we explore the Palouse river. Children learn survival skills, plant identification, campfire cooking, foraging including medicinal plants and learning their purposes, risky play and more!
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Montessori
The Montessori method integrates into all we do here at Little Farm Nature School. Our owner, Mrs. Calli has been a Certified Montessori guide for over a decade. We focus on child led and self directed learning. Our teachers are viewed as guides who aim to observe, support when needed, meet children where they’re at and treat all children with respect and dignity. Our learning environment IS the curriculum and we believe it’s the child’s greatest teacher. The environment is carefully prepared both outdoors and in our tent (in spring and fall seasons) with different Montessori activities such as practical life, sensorial development, natural sciences, language, mathematics, and art!
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Mixed Age Learning
A wide range of ages and children in different planes of development creates a diverse learning community that fosters positive peer interactions,collaboration, empathy, student lead leadership skills, exchange of knowledge and experiences among children of different age groups.
“Free mingling of children who differ broadly in age is a key element to children’s ability to educate themselves successfully on their own initiatives.” Peter Grey: Free to Learn
“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.”
-Thomas Berry
Meet the teacher
Calli Stipe
Owner of LFNS
Early Childhood Development Educator, Certified Montessori Guide & Mama of two.
I am a Palouse native born and raised on a farm and now a farmer's wife, flower and herbal garden lover, nature lover, and a mom to two busy boys usually running feral around our little funny farm in Potlatch about 10 minutes from LFNS. The things I could talk about all day are; Montessori, homeschooling, preserving childhood through nature play, getting children involved in agriculture processes and back to learning important life skills our fast Modern day world has disconnected us from.
I found my passion for working with young children early in life. I studied Early Childhood Development at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. During college is when I discovered the beauty of the Montessori method and when my passion and career in Montessori education began. My husband and I moved to Boise Idaho where I received my Montessori Teaching Certification through Caspari Montessori Institute. I then opened my own Montessori Preschool, called Little Farm Montessori in our home with a backyard farm. I loved seeing my little students blossom from a Montessori farm based program of just a few chickens and a small garden. I loved every second of it but after several years of teaching in the classroom, I had to step away when life brought us other opportunities back on the Palouse in 2020.
In 2023, Black Ridge Farms opened up the possibility of starting a program on their farm and that’s when the possibility to create my dream program began! Little Farm Nature School offers children the best of all three worlds and my greatest passions - Montessori, farm schooling, and nature/forest school! I love seeing children from our community fully benefiting from our classes alongside my own children and THAT makes my heart truly soar!
The community we’ve created at LFNS has been such a privilege and I’m excited to see it continue and grow!
Contact us.
littlefarmmontessori@gmail.com