Description:

Our Woods Wise Camps will be an experience your kids will never forget. Advancing through the different levels of our camps In a safe learning environment, with experienced instructors, our campers will learn ancient & practical skills, become more aware, and more comfortable in the forests.

Participants are guided through experiences that nurture their connection to the earth and allow them to feel at home in a natural environment.

Woods Wise I Come explore our natural surroundings, becoming more comfortable in the wilderness. As we wander and explore our local forests, this nature program provides an exciting week of discovery, adventure and games. The participants will learn; how to blend and flow within nature, build a proper camp fire, make natural cordage, track animals, basic wilderness survival techniques and lost proofing. The campers will work together in small groups honing their awareness and connecting with the natural world.

Woods Wise II - This nature based program is the next step in becoming closer to the earth. Our campers will learn more advanced wilderness skills like Fire by friction, natural basketry, primitive pottery, natural camouflage, atlatl, and animal tracking! (must be 9 years or older and taken Woods Wise I)

Woods Wise III - This our most advanced day camp! This camp focuses on the skills that were the most important for sustainable wilderness living and survival. Our ancestors had the skills to live anywhere in the world. This camp focuses on the skills of the ancient Hunter/Gatherer. We will explore several advanced skills that include; archery, open fire cooking, wild edible plants, advanced camouflage, hunting, trapping, stone tools, advanced fire making, and the art of invisibility.  (Must be 10 years old and attended Woods Wise I & II)

Ages: 7 - 14 (we place kids in age and skill appropriate groups)
Price: $299
When: 9am-4pm (aftercare is available)
Location: Greenbelt MD
*Aftercare is available: Once you add the camp to your cart use Back Arrow and add aftercare to your cart.

• We have several discounts available (Only one coupon code can be used at a time. Discounts will not apply if you register without codes, we can't make adjustments or issue refunds for registrations submitted without codes)
  • 10% Family Discount* With two or more siblings attending the same camp, use Coupon Code; family
    
  • 10% Multiple Camps Discount* When you register for two or more camps use the code: multi
  • 5% Returning Camper Discount* When you have previously attended our camps use the code: return

To maximize you discounts please add all camps, aftercare, and transportation reservations to your cart before submitting registration form or payment. Discounts will apply only at the time of registration.

• Meet the Staff

  Ben Kamm - Lead Instructor

  

  Raised in the DMV, Ben spent his summers camping and hiking all over the east coast, even to Canada. He developed skills in plant ID and tracking, on these trips, and continued to draw inspiration from his childhood experiences as he was mentored by Ancestral Knowledge Staff. During this mentor-ship, Ben honed his skills around fire making and carving, with a strong focus on friction fire (Bow Drill method).

  Ben is passionate about History and the way that ancient people lived, he strives to share the ways that our ancestors used to thrive and survive. As a home schooler and one of seven, Ben has experience with mentoring younger children and working in a group!

  Always an active person, Ben enjoys weight lifting and exploring his local landscape.

  Mike Escol - Field Instructor

  Mike grew up camping, hiking and backpacking in the mid-atlantic region with his family and friends. As a child, he remembers sneaking through the undergrowth of the forest after dark with a fern crown, hiding and trying to blend in with the forest around him to surprise his friends.

  He has spent most of his life in the Baltimore region where he calls home. He has been inspired in recent years by the knowledge that nature can be found anywhere. Mike's journey to a deeper connection with nature began in 2012 at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, where he learned a few of the survival and awareness skills that we teach at Ancestral Knowledge. The experiences and inspiration gained from the people there stoked his curiosity and propelled his desire to learn more. He continued this journey by completing an intensive adult class at the Living Earth School in Charlottesville , VA in 2018.

  He believes firmly in cultivating a relationship with the surrounding environment in which we live, and learning about the connections between various living beings and ourselves. By learning respect, gratitude, and consent with all living beings we can bring ourselves back to a reciprocal relationship with the Earth and each other.

  Mike has a passion for wild edible plants, gardening, herbal medicine, nature-based navigation, carving, survival, cross country skiing, and fire making. He looks forward to providing opportunities to share his knowledge with people from all sorts of background in a variety of circumstances

  Eden Cornelius - Lead Instructor

  Growing up homeschooled, Eden first found the primitive skills community in upstate NY through enrollment in a program called Primitive Pursuits at age seven. From that time until her teen years, she participated in Ancestral Knowledges Homeschool program for many years and attended primitive skills gatherings. In her teens, her time was spent hiking, camping, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and filling her journal with detailed sketches and facts about the wildlife around her.

  All of her free time was spent outdoors, building debris huts, making cordage, and adventuring in the forest. Schooled by her fiber artist and aspiring naturalist mother, her love of the natural world was fueled by a rich curriculum with a focus on hands-on learning and her intense interest in insects and plants.

  Now, Eden is a multimedia artist and painter who continues to share and learn skills, with a particular passion for pottery, wet felting techniques, needle felting, and natural pigments. With a background in youth leadership, she enjoys working with groups and fostering a creative connection with the earth.

  Keith Grenoble - Lead Instructor

  Keith Grenoble has been a product of the Back to the Land movement and developed close ties to Native communities from an early age. Keith started his journey by making stone tools represented in the rich archaeological record of Tidewater, Virginia and has been teaching earth skills since 1987. Over time, Keith has become skilled in a variety of earth skills.  He is very passionate about making simulations of prehistoric cookpots, and enjoys working with people of all experience levels and interests. He can often be seen catching a knap here and there.

  Bill Kaczor - Co-Founder/ CEO 2007-Present

  

  Bill is the CEO and co-founder of Ancestral Knowledge. Bill has worked and studied intensively with the masters in the fields of; youth mentoring, naturalist studies, primitive technology and tracking. He has been teaching children and adults in these subjects since 1998 — Bill was a lead instructor at Children of the Earth Foundations- Coyote Tracks summer camps for 5 years, and two years as the assistant director. He has instructed students at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Rivercane & Falling Leaves Rendezvous, Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Gathering (MAPS Meet), Bill can often be found instructing at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School teaching primitive traps, bow making, flint knapping, pottery and hide tanning. In 1999 after 11 years, Bill chose to leave his skateboard/snowboard business and dedicate his life to helping people connect with the Earth through ancient skills. Shortly afterwards, Bill designed and was granted an after school and summer program for the 21st Century Learning Community in Public School District 150 of Peoria, Illinois. This program was successful in that it led the children to a respect for nature, respect for themselves and others, self-discipline and adventure. Bill is a specialist in bow making, stone tool technologies, hide tanning, fire by friction and hunting and experienced in many more skills.

  A letter from Tom Brown Jr