"Our mission is to help children develop a respect for the importance of farming in the rural community, while experiencing self-growth in knowledge, friendship and spirit."
Our educational program introduces children to learning in a unique farm environment. Our students spend each day outside exploring nature, caring for animals, tending gardens and so much more. We pride ourselves on building learning communities with children of mixed ages. Our children learn through hands-on activities and are immersed in meaningful experiences that can be applied to real-life. At Ballentine Farm Education Center, we nurture the natural curiosity in every child to foster a love of learning to lasts a lifetime. Our students engage in meaningful learning in a variety of classrooms, including gardens, barns, ponds, orchards, berry patches, animal pens, and of course our education centers. Together, our students develop a community of diverse thinkers, who use a variety of learning strategies to navigate their world. Our program is centered on the belief that every child is an important and contributing member to our learning community. Attending school in a farm environment allows our students the to learn directly from nature. In the spring, we visit our pond to study about the life cycle of frogs. The students search for frog eggs, catch tadpoles, and later seek out frogs. In the fall, we visit our turkeys and pumpkin patches. When the weather does not permit us to be outside, we often take on STEM challenges indoors.
