Dr. Dirt's School of Natural Wisdom
Soil, seeds, chickens, microbes and muddy hands. Six weeks outdoors on the land, with a microscope slide every single day.
June 7 – July 15, 2027
Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
On the land
18-1994 Wao Nani, Mountain View, Hawaiʻi 96771
8 to 12 children
With Dr. Dirt and his wife, Chérie, who brings 20 years in education.
Four or six weeks
Everyone starts on Day 1. Registration closes May 21, 2027.
Every day, real work and real wonder
- Build a real chicken coop and raise chicks.
- Plant and tend a vegetable and fruit garden.
- Make compost, bokashi and compost tea, and grow living cultures for the soil.
- Look at everything under the microscope, before and after.
- Cook from the garden and set the table together.
- Hear stories and learn to read creatively.
- Make healing salves and plant extracts with Chérie.
- Earn wooden badges they brand themselves over the fire.
- Climb, play, get dirty and learn with the whole body.
Four weeks or six
Four weeks: Build & Begin
A complete story from bare ground to a finished coop: plant cover crops and a garden, start compost and cultures, build the coop, move the chicks in, and lead the family harvest day.
Take home: field journal, handmade salve and badge log.
Six weeks: Tend & Lead
Weeks 5 and 6 are when the work pays off: the compost from Day 2 feeds the garden, children become the chicken keepers, build the run and investigate a question of their own.
Take home: journal, salve, extract, seeds, class book and badge log.
What your child takes home
In the six-week course, kids leave with things they personally made.
A branded badge
A badge they branded themselves with their own achievements.
Their own soil food
A small bag of the compost, amendment mix or bokashi they made.
A salve and a bath mix
A custom salve and bath mix, made with Ms. Chérie.
A signed book
A paperback book signed by Dr. Dirt. Ask to upgrade to a hardback for $20.
A game to play at home
A set of memory cards, Go Fish cards (Dig Deeper) or the Guess Who-style game (Guess the Microbe), or an upgrade to Dr. Dirt's board game, Living Soil.
A lab coat in the lab
In the lab, your child wears one of Dr. Dirt's extra kid-size blank lab coats.
The Citizen Scientist ceremony
In week four, the children become citizen scientists and begin wearing lab coats branded Citizen Scientist.
Upgrade: at that ceremony, your child can receive their own custom Citizen Scientist lab coat, branded with their name directly over the words “Citizen Scientist,” just like Dr. Dirt’s lab coat. You tell us what you want it to say. Ask Dr. Dirt about the upgrade cost.
One soil truth each week
Every week has a soil truth, lived in the garden, talked about in circle and heard in a Dr. Dirt story: Roots Before Fruit, Feed the Soil, Breaking Down to Build Up, Leaving the Brooder, Many Lives, One Soil, and Harvest and Seed.
What happens to the soil, the plants and the chicks becomes a way to talk about growing up: starting strong, struggle, patience, change, teamwork and giving back.
Tuition
$3,300 a week, shared by the group, so a full class costs the least. Your weekly price is set at registration and never goes up. Food is not included.
- 12 children: $275/week
- 10 children: $330/week
- 8 children: $412.50/week
A 50% deposit holds a spot. Scholarships, grants, financial aid and barter are possible: talk it over with Dr. Dirt.