STANTON, Ky. — Rain or shine, students at the Red Oaks Forest School in Eastern Kentucky explore the forests in the Red River Gorge area.

What You Need To Know

  • Red Oaks Forest School was founded in 2014 and is committed to a long-lasting appreciation of nature 

  • Red Oaks offers various program including homeschool support where children learn and interact with the forests of Red River Gorge 

  • Six-year-old Charlie Krimm has cerebral palsy and has been involved with Red Oaks since spring 

  • Red Oaks is widening the trails at its Stanton location at The Wilds to improve accessibility for all students

Since 2014, the school has committed to building a long-lasting appreciation of nature for kids up to 18 years old.

Many volunteers in eastern Kentucky spent their Wednesday in the heat, clearing and widening trails at the Red Oaks Forest School in Stanton. The school focuses on an outdoor educational experience and is looking to be more accessible to all students.

Six-year-old Charlie Krimm loves exploring nature and is one of many kids in the Red Oaks Forest School homeschool humanities program.

“It just means a lot to me that they’ve helped Charlie be a regular kid,” said Charlie’s mom, Lindsey Krimm.

Charlie was born with Cerebral Palsy, which limits muscle mobility. Krimm said Charlie mostly gets around in a wheelchair, but since his involvement with Red Oaks in the spring, his quality of life has greatly improved.

“This has really been a form of physical therapy for him. He can do things that he wasn’t able to do before. He can jump and get both feet off the ground now, he can walk further distances, his balance is better,” Krimm said.

Charlie is homeschooled, and this fall is his first as a student in the homeschool humanities program, a support program for homeschool families every Thursday. Wednesday volunteers raked, weed whacked the trails in preparation for fall while also widening the trails for Charlie’s wheelchair.

“I never even had to say anything to Tina or anybody else. It’s something they just did,” Krimm said.

Tina Kraska, founder of Red Oaks Forest School, says it began as a mission to get her and other parents’ kids outside more.

“We just really wanted to get our kids outside into nature as much as possible and just kind of put it on the calendar to make sure that we showed up for our kids and ourselves,” Kraska said.

Kraska says the seeds grew from there and, after meeting Charlie, are committed to making their programs friendly to kids of all abilities.

“We’re trying to provide nature immersive programming from pre-school through 18 where you can participate whether you’re homeschooled or public school, you can bolster that connection to nature,” Kraska said.

The Krimms live in Richmond; Red Oaks’ homeschool humanities course takes place at The Wilds nature preserve in Stanton.

“It’s about an hour drive to here at this location but it’s worth it,” Krimm said.

Red Oaks has many community partners in eastern and central Kentucky. They also have a campus for outdoor classes in Frankfort. In addition to programs for school children, they also offer activities for kids and adults.

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