Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on the recent semester course, I’ve been thinking about what we’ve accomplished with the semester program over the years and have been focusing on how to make the experience better. The result of this is the creation of our new yearlong bushcraft and Earth skills education immersion program, beginning in 2007. It consists of ten-week semesters in the spring and fall, a three-week winter course and traditionally outfitted snowshoe trip, a remote summer canoe trip of 2-4 weeks, and optional fall hunting and spring fishing camps. During the periods between the intensives, students will be responsible for numerous reading, writing, and research assignments.

We’ll be adding several large projects to the curriculum such as making crooked knives, making traditional snowshoes and building a 20′ wood canvas canoe.

This program is the next step in the evolution of our programs. We’ll continue to offer students the option of coming for an individual semester or portion of a semester, but our main focus will be on the seasonal cycles of the yearlong program.

We’ll continue our policy offering course graduates the option of returning as teaching assistants, where they participate in the course again at no cost in return for helping facilitate, and we’ll also be offering the option of paid employment after a successful experience as a teaching assistant.

I’ll be putting the details of the new program on the web in the near future, but for now the dates for 2007 are:

Winter Course and Traditional Snowshoe Trip: 1/8-1/27

Spring Semester: 4/2-6/8

Summer Course and Remote Canoe Trip: 8/6-8/17

Fall Semester: 8/27-11/2

Hunting Camp: 11/14-11/18

More information on our new yearlong program is on our website at jackmtn.com/esyear.html.