Almost ready for winter!
The main lodge at Explorations is heated by wood. And if you know wood heat, you know there’s nothing better.! It’s cozier. And it represents one of the ways life at Explorations is more deliberate.
Instead of a thermostat to heat our home, we rely on the concept of each contributing for the good of the whole. A full@woodshed is like a robust savings account.
This year, all the wood was harvested off our property. Professional loggers cut down the trees and our resident forester, Jim Kibler, sawed all the trees into logs.
From there, students, staff and residents (including Grandma Carol!), all help prepare, stack and store firewood. A paid student job at Explorations is keeping the wood and kindling stocked indoors to ensure it’s always warm.
Here’s to a fantastic crew of students and staff who helped us all prepare for the winter months ahead!
#explo #explorationsmt #explostudentstwicewarmed #firewood #woodshed
🔥⭐️Explo Students Shine this Fall ⭐️🔥
We are 9 weeks into the school year and here’s a sample of what Explo students, families and staff have been doing…..
✅ Homecoming
✅ Team Participation
✅ College Acceptance Letters
✅ Community volunteerism
✅ Firewood!
✅ Parent Visits
✅ Dachshund Love
✅ Lots of Miles 🏃♀️
✅ 🏐
✅ Voter Registration 🇺🇸
✅ School Awards
So much to do and our students are right in the middle of it! Congrats to our students and staff on a GREAT first quarter!
#explo #explorationsmt #explostudentsareawesome #explostudentsgetitdone #explostudentsvolunteer #explostudentsachieve #explostudentsinourcommunity
One of the perks of living in such a wild and beautiful place is the appearance of the northern lights! These shots were caught last night by one of our staff on his commute home!
#explo #explorationsmt #northernlights #northernlightsidaho #northernlightsmontana
Always fun and games at Explo!
#explo #explorationsmt #explostudentslovebob #explostudentsplay
Farm fresh eggs from our hand-raised hens!
At Explorations, we raise our own laying hens to provide eggs year round. The responsibility of caring for the birds begins when they are chicks under a heat lamp! Students assist in all
aspects of their care including feeding, collecting eggs, cleaning the coop and closing up their home every night to keep them safe and warm.
Once the eggs are collected, inspected, and thoroughly cleaned, the next step may be a lesson in making breakfast!
The photo of our Director and her ‘Emotional Support Chicken’ is just clickbait…….or should we say ‘chickbait’?
#explo #explorationsMT #explohensgetitdone #emotionalsupportchicken
⭐️🔷⭐️ Homecoming 2024 ⭐️🔷⭐️
What a great week our students enjoyed for Homecoming! There were so many great activities such as the annual elementary school fun run, Bluehawk Olympics, volleyball, football, cross country events and the parade!
One of the key components to a student’s stay at Explorations is to become an active member of the school student body and the community at large. Explo students become part of the fabric of our community and contribute their skills and talents in so many ways.
Many thanks to @thompsonfallsschools for putting together such a special week for your students!
#explo #explorations #explostudentsareawesome #explostudentshavefun #explostudentsrun #explostudentshomecoming #homecoming2024 #hoco2024
📸 credit: @snaegeli18
Explorations is deliberately situated in a place where our students are surrounded by beauty and nature. Research indicates that being outdoors can reduce anxiety, stress and anger. Studies have also shown that being around nature relaxes our minds and bodies, thus helping our thinking and ability to focus.
Explorations students interface with nature on a daily basis because nature is literally right outside our back door. In urban environments, many experience sensory overload and subsequent tension and mental fatigue. Living at Explorations, students experience a lifestyle that is intentional and closely linked to the world around us.
We know our locale is a silent partner in the healing that occurs for our students and their families. We watch our students grow their own self esteem by partaking in outdoor recreational pursuits. We see our students contribute to home life by feeding the chickens that lay their breakfast or growing food in our own garden. Parents and family members who visit, fall in love with Montana because they too can slow down and reap the benefits our neck of the woods provides.
Sometimes it is, ‘location, location, location’.
#explorationsmt #explorations #explo
#explostudentsliveandlearn #natureheals
Here’s to another year of sports! Go TFalls!
#explorations #explo #explostudentsareawesome
📸 Sarah Naegeli @snaegeli18
Throw Back Thursday!
We are already counting the days between our summer adventures and snow season!
#explo #explorationsmt #explostudentsoutside #explostudentsski #tbt
Just another Montana morning!
Students capped off their summer with an amazing trip cruising the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast!
Blue skies, amazing sunsets, crab catching….it was an amazing end to Explorations’ 33rd Summer Adventure Experience! Again, we extend our thanks to co-founder Lorne Riddell for coming out of retirement to offer this experience to yet another group of teens!
#explo #explorationsmt #explostudentsoutside #explostudentslearnbydoing #explostudentsonthewater
