Primerly field report
a private school in West Linn
PK–8 · Private · Progressive · Outdoor
Mary S. Young Park, 19900 Willamette Dr, West Linn · Heidi Mckay
Down to Earth Forest School is a year-round, fully outdoor PK-5th program hosted on the 128 acres of Mary S. Young Park in West Linn. The program blends structured academic instruction in literacy and math (using a Science of Reading-based curriculum and Singapore Math) with extensive unstructured outdoor play, nature-based learning, and ancestral skills like fire-building, carving, foraging, and wildcrafting.
Students are grouped by skill level rather than grade for academics, then mixed across ages for "Forest Families" and democratic free-play time where children choose their own activities across the park's trails and natural features. Drawing from Cedarsong-style forest school pedagogy, permaculture principles, and Positive Discipline practices, the school emphasizes emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and place-based inquiry over rigid pacing or standardized benchmarks. For families seeking an alternative education where children develop resilience, ecological literacy, and self-directed learning alongside foundational academics, Down to Earth offers a nature-immersion model that prioritizes the whole child.
Starting Fall 2026, Down to Earth is also launching a Self-Directed Middle School for grades 6-8, a sister program that operates independently from the outdoor K-5 model. Rather than an extension of forest school, it's an indoor, building-based program drawing on Sudbury, Agile Learning, and Acton Academy-style self-directed education, with portfolio-based assessment instead of grades. Middle schoolers and the K-5 students come together for seasonal celebrations and occasional cross-age mentoring, but day to day, the two programs run on separate models.
Tuition: $7,150-$13,000 (2026-2027)
Address: Mary S. Young Park, 19900 Willamette Dr, West Linn OR 97068. Phone: Not published. Website: downtoearthforestschool.com.
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Seats here aren’t first-come; they’re drawn by lottery. Each circle below is a tenth of the families who applied over the last two springs and stayed in the running (didn’t take a higher-ranked school). Filled circles got a yes.
Official PPS lottery results, 2025-26 & 2026-27 combined: offers made ÷ families still in the running (offered + waitlisted); applications cancelled for a higher-ranked school excluded. pps.net › prior transfer data. Slots reset every year.