dragonfly teen naturalists

Dragonfly Teen Naturalists: a 9-month wilderness skills, nature connection, and rites of passage program for teens

Registration is now open for the 2026-27 school year!

Dragonfly Teen Naturalists supports our youth, age 13-17, as they navigate the journey from childhood to adulthood, and provides space for them to envision where they are going during this time of transition. Through nature connection, they are able to cultivate a sense of resilience, confidence, and passion for this phase in their lives.

We meet twice monthly on Saturday afternoons from 2 – 7 PM, from September through May (see exact dates below). The program will culminate in an overnight camping trip. Tuition for the year is $1200.

naturalist and earth living skills
nature connection routines
mindfulness practices
nature journaling with prompts

team-building
small-group sharing circles
music
games

hiking & exploring
animal tracking
and more…

Praise for Dragonfly Teen Naturalists:

We are so deeply grateful for the DFS teen program. For the first time, our son has a true sense of community and he feels so invested in this organization. He loves the mentors and has learned so much from them. It’s opened his world and eyes to independence in nature and he’s had the opportunity to connect with like-minded peers who share similar interests. Our family is so grateful for this program! Thank you, thank you!

- DTN Parent

Cancelations & Refunds

The initial deposit of $100 is non-refundable.

If you have paid in full for the year and decide to cancel, you will receive a refund, minus your deposit, until 8/11/26. After 8/11/26, we require 30 days’ notice for cancelations, meaning that you will be responsible for payment of tuition for 30 days following the date you give us notice of your plan to cancel.

If you are on a payment plan, you will be billed monthly on the 1st of the month, beginning in September 2026 and continuing monthly through May 2027. Should you choose to cancel before 8/11/26, all payments will be stopped. After 8/11/26, we require 30 days’ notice for cancelations, meaning that you will be responsible for payment of tuition for 30 days following the date you give us notice of your plan to cancel. Monthly payments that have already gone through will not be refundable, but further payments will be stopped or prorated based on the tuition for 30 days following the date of your cancelation notice.

If you are using homeschool charter funds, you will still need to pay a $100 non-refundable deposit out of pocket. If you decide to cancel by 8/11/26, any purchase orders submitted by that point will be canceled and the funds returned to your account. After 8/11/26, we require 30 days’ notice for cancelations, meaning that we will still invoice your charter for 30 days following the date you give us notice of your plan to cancel.

All cancelations incur a $25 cancelation fee, in addition to any other amount as explained above.

Use of homeschool charter funds for DTN

Unfortunately, some homeschool charters have refused to cover DTN tuition in the past, for two reasons: some will not cover activities that happen on weekends, and some will not cover activities that involve overnights (and DTN culminates with a camping trip).

You are welcome to check in with your homeschool charter if you would like to see if they will cover it, and please reach out to us if you find out that they will (we have not checked with ALL charters about this, and there is a lot of discrepency from charter to charter). We are happy to invoice charters for DTN if you get confirmation in advance that they will cover it.

Reparations & Tuition Assistance

We have a few opportunities to offer tuition assistance for families with financial need (please contact us in advance to apply and receive the coupon code).

We offer a discounted reparations rate of 40% off standard tuition to families identifying as Black and/or Indigenous to North America, regardless of financial need. To make use of this, put in coupon code “REPARATIONS” when checking out.