For parents

What it costs, and what you get for it

Everything you need to decide, in the order you want it: what it is and when, what it costs, what an afternoon actually looks like, and the answers to the things people ask us on the phone.

Two ways in

Which one fits

Starting in October, for ages 10 to 18. Families do not buy a service; they join and enroll. Everyone works to a plan of their own.

A program

WILD + BOLD

Teens and gifted youth

Monday to Thursday, from two until seven, with earlier arrival if you need it.

Starts Monday, October 5

One teacher indoors and one out, and most of what happens is one-to-one or a group of three, because that is what actually works. You come in when your school day ends, you get the schoolwork done with somebody who can help, and then you go out and build, grow or make something. Tutoring happens at the same table as the rest of it, because somebody who needs help with algebra should not have to sign up for a different program to get it.

  • Four afternoons a week$384 a month$27 a day · 9 payments across the year, or $2,938 for the whole term up front (15% off) · name anything from $250 to $500
  • Three afternoons$320 a month$30 a day · 9 payments across the year, or $2,448 for the whole term up front (15% off) · name anything from $210 to $415
  • Two afternoons$242 a month$34 a day · 9 payments across the year, or $1,850 for the whole term up front (15% off) · name anything from $155 to $315
  • One afternoon$139 a month$39 a day · 9 payments across the year, or $1,061 for the whole term up front (15% off) · name anything from $90 to $180

Name what works for your family. These are what a place costs us to hold; the families who can pay more are how the ones who cannot still come.

  • Novice memberIncludedThe whole program, for your own young person. Nothing is behind a higher tier; the ones above add, they never unlock.
  • Venture member+$234 a monthHalf a scholarship for another young person, on top of your own place. Name who it goes to, give it to a family you know, or leave the choice to us.
  • Founding member+$468 a monthA full scholarship for another young person: their whole place, paid. Name who it goes to, give it to a family you know, or leave the choice to us. And a voice at the table where the curriculum is decided.
  • Growing
  • Outdoor skills
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Life skills
  • Academic help

two groups Ages 10 to 15 · Ages 16 to 18

The first two weeks are a trial The first two weeks of the program are a trial. You pay one month at whichever tier you choose, and it becomes your first month if you stay. The young person has a say in the decision at the end of them.

How to join

A program

Firestarters

Teens and gifted youth

One Saturday a month, through the school year.

Starts The second Saturday of October

Fire, shelter, navigation, weather, cooking on what you brought and moving through country safely. Each day assumes the one before it, so it goes somewhere rather than being a nice day out you could have had anywhere.

$45 per Saturday

  • Growing
  • Outdoor skills
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Life skills
  • Academic help

two groups Ages 10 to 15 · Ages 16 to 18

Each Saturday builds on the last, and the year ends with an overnight that the earlier days are preparation for.

How to join

Everything here runs on membership of the guild. Families join the association first, and a place is arranged with a person after that.

Both start this fall together. Which we carry forward, and how far, is decided by who actually shows up for them.

What we can honestly promise

By eighteen your kid will have a work history, a reference from an adult who is not you, hands that know what tools do, and the memory of having been trusted with something that mattered.

What we cannot promise

A career. A college place. A personality transplant. Anyone who promises you those is selling something we are not.

The school year at a glance

Who
Teens and gifted youth, ages 10 to 18
Groups
Ages 10 to 15 · Ages 16 to 18
Where
Duvall, Western Washington
When
Monday to Thursday, 2:00 to 7:00, Wednesdays to 6:00
Term
Through the school year
Starts
Monday, October 5
Membership
from $90 a month, sliding; priced by how many afternoons

Before the money

What people ask first

Who is with my child?
We aim to staff five students per mentor, but reality varies day-to-day.
What if they hate it?
They try a day before you pay for a term.

Questions

The rest of it

Is this school?
No. Nobody is graded and nothing is compulsory. We do help with the schoolwork you already have, at the same table as everything else, so asking for help is not a separate errand.
Is it religious?
We are not a church program and we will not pretend to be one. Families of every faith and none are welcome here, and nobody's is taught against.
What happens when it rains?
We go out anyway, and there is a warm room and a big table for the parts of the afternoon that are better done indoors. We run October to June on purpose; the wet half is the half that teaches.
My kid does not know anybody.
Nobody does on their first day. You are met at the gate, you get one lap of the place, and you take one quest you can finish that afternoon. You do not have to talk to anybody else until you want to.
Is five hours a long time?
It is one afternoon, and the day has a shape: something physical, then cooking, then everybody eats together, then whoever wants to takes the floor, and then the long open block that most people come back for.
What about their grades?
Homework happens here, early, with somebody who can actually help. We are not a tutoring service and we do not report to anyone; it is your homework and not our curriculum.
We homeschool.
Then this is built for you. Everything here produces a record, the top plates are paid work with real hours and a real reference, and if you ask us for a course description we will write one you can drop straight into a learning plan.

Trying it

What a trial is

WILD + BOLD
The first two weeks of the program are a trial. You pay one month at whichever tier you choose, and it becomes your first month if you stay. The young person has a say in the decision at the end of them.

What a trial actually is

  1. An interview A conversation with the young person, not only with the parent.
  2. A tour of the land The whole property, so they know what they would be walking into.
  3. A staged activity in their own interest A real piece of work in whatever they are drawn to, prepared for them rather than picked off a shelf.

Practical

Practical answers

Signal
There is cell signal throughout the property.
Drinking water
Drinking water is well water, sourced on the property, and we can refill bottles.
Bathrooms
There are multiple bathrooms on the property, near the activity areas.
Parking
There is a parking lot at the top of the property, and two turnarounds.
Food
Food is included. Everyone eats together in the middle of the afternoon, cooked here by whoever is on the kitchen that week.
Fire
We follow standard fire safety rules, and a designated mentor firekeeper is with the fire at all times.
Water
Mentors are extra watchful any time activities take us near water.
Weather
We operate by inclement weather warnings.
Bring
Layers for the weather and shoes that are allowed to get muddy. Food is here.

Hidden Creek Guild

About us

Two lead mentors run this, both with years of experience in outdoor education and youth work. One of our mentors is a graduate of a year-long, full-time immersion program in wilderness skills and nature-based mentoring for adults.

Hidden Creek is a microschool: a small school, on real land, where everyone is known by name and the adults are not strangers.

Practical skills, real academic support, and good company. A place a young person actually wants to be, where staying safe, having a good time and building something that lasts are not in competition.

Somewhere to be, that is not a screen.

We keep good boundaries around topics. We do not stray into political or contemporary cultural debates, because this is not the place for that. We do not teach ideologies. We teach schoolwork, skills and the outdoors, and we try to be good company while we do it.

For Parents

How you join

Two ways in, and they meet in the same place: a person, on this land, before anyone is placed.

A form is not an enrollment. Joining is something you do, and placing someone is something we do together, in person.

In person

Come and stand on it

Walk the land, meet the mentors, and bring your questions. However you begin, nobody is placed without coming out here first.

Appointments are made by phone. We answer the phone on purpose.

425 470 0685

  1. 1You tell us which program, and we call you back.
  2. 2You come out: the interview, the tour, and a real piece of work set up for them.
  3. 3You join the association. Membership and the forms are handled by alighten.
  4. 4You pay the first month, by Zelle or by card if you would rather it was automatic.
  5. 5The trial runs, and at the end of it you both decide.

Which one are you asking about?

Tell us which program and how you would like to start, and we will call you. Nothing here places anyone or takes a payment.

How you would like to start

Not an enrollment and not a booking. We call you, and a person sorts the rest out with you.

425 470 0685 or steward@hiddencreekguild.org