Marsalom Inc. Greenbriar School

Greenbriar School and intentional community is located on 173 acres in the woods. We currently service k-12 homeschool students, and have around 15 families living on site.

Our school was founded in 1969 and has continuously serviced alternative families in central Texas. Most of our infrastructure was built in the 1970s and our electrical wires are in severe need of upgrading and we would love your support.

The homes in our community are full of the support staff that run (and children who attend) our beloved Greenbriar School homeschool enrichment programs. Our school consists of children who live on and off site. This summer we are expanding our classroom spaces into other buildings, and need to purchase new electrical wires and the supplies to mount them.

This will support 5 campus buildings (our main school house, new teen space, mom and me space, garden hut and office space) as well as 8+ residences.

The funds go directly to supplies - we have a member who owns a bobcat and has offered the use of it, and the labor will be volunteers. We are a 501c3 nonprofit so your donations are ta deductable.

Vision:

Inspire a passion for self directed lifelong learning and growth

Mission:

To nurture a community that offers student driven educational programs, and that provides a campus to model compassion, cooperation, and life in harmony with nature.

Our 2024-2025 programs:

Homesteading, handicrafts, Hyyge

This class day is an opportunity for your children to learn mindfulness and contemplation through quiet, busy handiwork. In a loud, fast pace world, the art of purposeful creation in stillness is almost impossible to find. Hygge is just that.

In essence, hygge is creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. In opposition to the outside work world our

Mondays are structured with a beautiful slow morning in the garden at 9am where your child will learn how grow, tend and forage many wonderful foods and medicines.

At 10am our academic lessons will commence for ages 8 and older, and for those ages 5-7, we will take this time to learn about homesteading practices, foraging, intro into herbalism, plant identification, land conservation and food preservation, interrupted only by snack and tea.

After lunch, from 12-1pm Your child will select their chosen handicraft such as needle or wet felting, sewing, embroidery, crochet, painting, nature journaling, scrapbooking, or whittling and continue their work.

Relaxing with others in quiet mindfulness, curled up and dedicating their time to their long term projects we hope to teach the joy of peace and creativity.

Project Wonderland

This program is geared toward ages 5-10 and is about creation through experiential, hands on education. There is a lot of art involved, and engineering.

The children will pick a variety of projects, make a plan and execute their vision. This will involve reading, writing, group work, visioning, collaboration, communication, math, and more.

Students’ work will be on display throughout our Greenbriar Campus indefinitely into the future. When we say Project Wonderland, we really mean it! We are turning our campus in to a work of our students’ art!

These younger students may be assigned projects to complete for the Apollo Collective end of year showcase (like costumes or stage decorations) and will be involved with our beloved holiday and other events that take place throughout the year.

In year’s past we created upcycled wind chimes, giant mushroom sculpture yard art, learned about and tended to bee hives, and began making items for our farmer’s market booth. You will find Project Wonderland’s touch all over our property and we are excited to see this concept continue.

How / When it Will be Offered in 2024/2025

This year Project Wonderland will be offered two days a week on Tuesday and Wednesdays.

Apollo Collective

The Apollo Collective is for Ages 11+ and Tuesday / Wednesday enrollment is required. This is a 2 day a week program, if you want to enroll in one day only for an 11+ student, please enroll in Monday or Thursday.

Students learn how to seek inspiration, harness their imagination , ignite innovation and achieve success in the real world using creativity as a motivator.

The challenge of transforming ideas, not just into reality , but into fulfilling careers is met head on with this program . Large scale projects, guest speakers,individual guidance and a focus on special interests will work towards preparing students for extraordinary creative life skills.

The school year culminates into a showcase of personal work , as well as a theatrical production.

Homeschool Enrichment Program

The Greenbriar Homeschool Enrichment Program is a k – 12, hybrid indoor / outdoor educational experience for children in Central Texas.

Every school year looks different because we collaborate with our students and parents to create an environment that fosters the individual interests of each of our families.

In the mornings we focus on core curriculum, such as ELA, writing, math, science, history and geography. In the afternoon we add in elective classes such as yoga, welding, improv, newspaper, orchestra, and more. The classes offered will vary each year, based on the interests of the children enrolled and the interests of the parents and teachers involved.

We love it when parents stay and participate in the school day, but you also have the option to drop off a potty trained child to attend from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Our most highly reviewed aspect of our homeschool enrichment program is the garden class. Children are able to get their hands in the soil and participate in the process of food production from seed germination to harvest and consumption.

Many parents teach classes in the afternoon, or participate in other ways during the school day. We are strong believers and lifelong learning, and enjoy having the whole family together when possible.

This program is a great fit for your family if your children love to spend time outside, getting dirty, exploring nature, and interacting with dogs, cats, and chickens.

In 2024-2025 Homeschool enrichment classes are offered each day, but Thursday is our only class without a specific focus. Mondays the focus will be homesteading / handicrafts, Tuesdays / Wednesdays the focus will be creativity / production of art and other talents, and Thursdays the focus will remain broad and flexible based on current student interest.