About Us
Greenwood Tree Educational Cooperative is a community of homeschool parents that work together in a cooperative model to provide education that honors the whole child, promoting growth of the heart, body and mind. We offer several different participation options to support your homeschooling.
Children may attend Greenwood Tree programs anywhere from one day a week to five days a week. Please keep in mind that every child learns in different ways and at different paces, and every family has their own learning goals. While five days a week of programming may be all one child needs, others will still require additional support at home to reach the learning goals of your family.
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Being a cooperative, parent volunteer time is required, which gives us the ability to offer programs at a reduced financial cost.
To learn more about our programs click here.
What We Do
Our aim is to assist in the development of free-thinking, socially and environmentally responsible, high integrity individuals who can navigate any field they come across and still maintain the outlook that the world is an interesting and good place to live in. The goal of our education is to enable students as fully as possible to choose and, in freedom, to realize their individual path through life as adults.
Our Philosophy
Greenwood Tree provides a dynamic, rhythmic, and holistic learning environment in which children and adults are guided in their exploration by the framework of gentle daily rhythms, and the awareness of the inherent cycles of nature. The arts, humanities, and sciences are interwoven with one another to inspire a passion for life-long learning, and to encourage the discovery of joy in and through all of the senses. We respect and encourage physical, mental and spiritual balance by bringing together kinesthetic, academic, and artistic activities. The children are surrounded by the moral qualities of truth, beauty and goodness, in the way the classroom and school is built and cared for, in the actions of the adults around them, and in the content of the lessons.
How We Started
Greenwood Tree began as a group of mothers meeting around the kitchen table, looking for an alternative education option for their children. Informal gatherings of children and parents took place in the home of a founding member in 2009 and the first official classes started in the Autumn of 2010 at the Unitarian Fellowship in Mount Vernon. GWT has grown from about 22 children in two classes in its first year, to nearly 70 students in five different classes in 2014-2015. GWT officially became a federally recognized 501(c)(3) in the summer of 2012. Since then we have grown to offer a full ECE Program and programs for Grades 1-6 and stand as a leader in education in Skagit Valley.
Greenwood Tree welcomes individuals of all races, religions, and national origins in its admissions and education programs without regard to race, ethnicity, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability, and/or status as a veteran.