branchingrootsmn@gmail.com

612-987-7426

About Us
Bio

About Me

My Name is Jessie Carpenter and I am the founder of Branching Roots Hiking Club and Nature School. I am married to my incredibly patient husband and we have four beautiful children together.

We live on 4 acres in Nowthen, where we spend time planting gardens, tending our property, playing with a yard of chickens and constantly dreaming up more plans of what we can do next. In our free time we spend weeks at the cabin; fishing, swimming, rock hunting and just enjoying the slowness of life. We have the BEST little pop up camper that we love to use all summer and find new places to explore. I find peace in nature and I see that my children grow closer and truly take care of each other when we are hiking through the woods together.

We find pure joy in embracing all seasons – winter in particular brings so many challenges, but also so many wonderful and amazing adventures. Branching Roots was started on a whim and with a dream of bringing the love of nature to as many families as I could. I run both a nature hiking group that meets weekly to explore local parks together and just let children run wild and free in nature and I have a more structured nature school once a week where we spend our days learning about nature, wood working, baking on a fire, doing devotionals as a group and letting our children bond and grow together as a group. My hope is to continue to grow a network of mothers that want to raise their children in nature, to let them explore, learn their limits independently and trust their instincts.

History

Our History

When I first started homeschooling I knew that I wanted the majority of our time to be based in nature. For the first few years of our homeschool experience we spent our days on long walks, visiting local parks, hiking through waterfalls, rock hunting and just LIVING in nature. I started to notice that my kids found peace in nature. The amount of nature based and child led learning that happened was wonderful to watch.

During this time I also ran a weekly hiking group that met in local parks to hike and let our children run wild and free. We spent hours with these momma’s and their babies enjoying nature together. After spending a couple years with these families it was apparent there was a need for a more structured nature based learning environment.

In 2023 I started Branching Roots Nature School. We spend our days outside, we learn together as a group, we enjoy crafts and devotional time, some structured lessons and lots of time to explore and work together to accomplish goals. No matter the weather we meet weekly and enjoy a day of learning and exploring together.

Reviews

The first day we walked into the barn at Branching Roots, it was exactly how I imagined a nature school for my children. The setting is peaceful and lovely. My three boys can take a long time to warm up to new friends, and over the past year, they’ve been able to make several friends. There is nothing better to me now than to see my kids run off into the woods with their friends excited to imagine and discover together. The outdoor setting allows space for plenty of wiggles and whispers, short attention spans, and working at one’s own pace-most of which can’t happen in a traditional classroom. I can honestly say my children thrived over the past year because of Branching Roots. The ability to connect on a deeper level with the moms has also been an essential piece for me. How many moms get to see their friends on a weekly basis for a whole day?! Making mom friends that also are choosing a slower, nature-enriched approach to life and also love Jesus has been such a gift.

Ana G.

Hi Nature Friends! I just wanted to reach out and give a bit of a testimony regarding Branching Roots and what it has given/meant to my family. Especially if you are on the fence. I was once there too! We were a new homeschooling family last year looking for a new “tribe” that held similar values to ours and could eventually become our village. If I’m being honest I was a bit skeptical of investing into nature school for my family, however, Jessie was so understanding, reassuring and welcoming. She has such a bubbly personality that truly cares for each and every person that comes into her life. We only joined last Spring, but it was the best decision! My kiddos (13,5,3) looked forward to going every week and always talked about the things they learned or the fun they had with their new friends. In fact my 3 year old told me every night his favorite part of the day was nature school, even if it wasn’t Thursday 😂 Branching Roots is more than a weekly outing, it’s a family. Watching my kids connect with all various ages in our favorite place (the great outdoors) has been such a blessing! I know it will be a core memory when we reminisce about all our homeschooling adventures in the years to come! We hope to see you at the barn! And are so excited that you are even considering joining us and our feral kiddos! Kidding about the feral part, well slightly 😂

Nikki

CONTACT

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Feel free to reach out if you have questions about our program.