Real Lessons, Real Nature, Real Community

For Farmin Stidwell Elementary School 5th grade teacher Mac Hollan, outdoor education isn’t just a program. It’s a passion. Mac has taught at Farmin for 13 years, and is as excited to teach there now as he was on his first day.

Several years ago, Mac noticed Dave, the then-education director at KLT, teaching kids at PSW. "Who is this guy?” Mac thought. “He’s like the Pied Piper of nature education. He can get 60 kids to follow him with a crow call and sit quietly to listen. He makes his own shoes and teaches the kids how to do it too." 

"I practically live at Pine Street Woods," he laughs, explaining that he mountain bikes there four times a week and hikes often. But Mac realized about half his students had never even heard of Pine Street Woods (PSW), a community forest and trail system located just minutes from downtown. "It’s pretty amazing that this tiny town has this incredible resource and these wild trails so close to town."

Inspired, Mac teamed up with Dave to start bringing his students to PSW twice a year, at the beginning and end of the school year with the spring visit culminating in a volunteer work day and barbecue supported by the PTA. "Rather than try to corral that end of the school year energy into the classroom, we put it to work with saws and hammers." The kids learned useful skills, spent time in nature, and experienced the thrill of community service.

Unbeknownst to Mac, fellow Farmin teacher, Kristen Buckmiller had been taking her students outside with KLT staff for nearly a decade, starting when she was teaching the multi-age program with students in 1st through 6th grades. Hearing that KLT was expanding its mission to include outdoor education, she quickly jumped on the opportunity to invite Conservation Director Regan Plumb to teach an outdoor science lesson. Soon thereafter, KLT hired Dave and he began to organize Farmin’s Fall Festival,  a 6-week outdoor school at the University of Idaho’s Boyer facility teaching students about native plants and animals, telling stories of trappers and explorers, and helping them to discover their surroundings. 

“He showed them how to make acorn flour and even made pancakes!” she exclaimed. 

Fall Festival moved to Pine Street Woods when KLT acquired it in 2019 and continued there for another 5 years, becoming a solid part of Kristen’s curriculum. At that time, Bri Larson joined KLT as Assistant Educator for the final year before Kristen’s role changed and she decided to pause the program. 

“I tried to keep the spirit going even without Dave and Bri,” she explained. "One thing they did that I couldn't quite master was the 'Sit Spot,' where each student would choose a place to sit at a distance from each other and listen to nature, no talking, for 3-5 minutes."

Later, when she became more settled into her role as a 5th grade teacher, she wanted to reintroduce the program and approached Mac with the idea of combining his volunteer days with the outdoor school. Mac immediately saw the connection and they decided to revive the program together.

Today, Farmin’s 5th grade outdoor school at Pine Street Woods takes place one day a week for 3 consecutive weeks in the fall and concludes with Farmin Gives in the spring, a community service workday and end of year barbecue. This year, Christian Crossingham, a new 5th grade teacher, will join the team with Bri and Shaun Deller, KLT’s education staff leading the way. 

Both Mac and Kristen are convinced that outdoor education positively augments classroom learning in a number of ways. 

Mac observed that when students learn through hands-on experiences, they retain the information. “When they can see it, touch it, and have to figure it out, the information sticks,” he notes. “Then when they are doing book work, they have something to relate it to. It’s real to them.”

He has also found that incorporating 5th grade standards into outdoor school programming speeds up learning. “In 2 or 3 days at Pine Street Woods, they learn all they need to know.”

Kristen appreciates seeing subtle benefits of outdoor learning in her students. “While they learn about native plants and animals, it instills a stewardship ethic. They learn respect:  to leave it as good or better than they found it.”

In addition, the fall program gives students an opportunity to get to know each other in an informal setting, where they are moving and engaging with one another. “It helps them to bond and sets the stage for the entire year.”

Both teachers appreciate the long term value of this program, whether it’s measured in academic success, community impact, or just giving all kids equal opportunity to discover nature and outdoor recreation activities.  

“A huge aspect of this was teaching kids about community service and citizenship,” Mac highlighted. “We always explain to the kids how much KLT gives to our community, and our desire to give a little back.” 

“Beyond the curriculum, we want every student to find out that it’s fun to go out in the woods and find things,” he said. “You never know which kid is going to be the next Dave or Bri, making their own shoes.”