Family Instruction
The skills taught at “A Week in the Woods,” it turns out, are skills that come easily to children. Not only do they get good at these skills, they pursue them with a curiosity and slant altogether different from adults.
Family Instruction is an opportunity for adults and children to work side by side, inventing and producing cool and beautiful things from scratch.
Instruction is designed around the mentorship model. WITW staff work with parents and children introducing skills and guiding their development. Students--parents and children alike--learn how to use instructors as experts, learn how to mine them for solutions to the needs of projects.
Parents then are able to work with children as classmates-- innovating, admiring, and sharing ideas. Parents also provide the coaching and guidance necessary for children to focus and complete their ideas.
Parents participate equally with children in receiving instruction. However, parents are ultimately responsible for the progress of their child’s activities. WITW Instructors are skilled craftsmen and encouraging teachers, but they do not provide the discipline and persuasion often necessary to help children carry out their plans.