Teaching Drum Outdoor School is a 501 (c)3 non-profit, federally certified educational institution.
Its mission is to offer wilderness immersion experiences, where one can learn directly from Nature and discover what it is to be fully human. The School has three branches: the Teaching Drum, the Healing Nature Center, and Snow Wolf Publishing.
The Teaching Drum is home to the 11-Month Wilderness Guide program the only long-term wilderness immersion experience its kind. Our wilderness guides have over 74 years of combined experience in wilderness survival skills and personal development training. They have made it their life’s mission to help others reconnect with nature, to their deepest selves, and to find balance within.
Whether you are looking to learn wilderness skills, wanting to challenge yourself in one of our immersion programs, or are yearning to reconnect with Nature, our courses are designed to help you take the next step on your journey.
Staff Openings
We are now accepting applications for several stimulating and personally rewarding positions.
Programs and Courses
Headwaters Nature Guided Tours
DISCOVER the magic and mystery of the Headwaters Wilderness, the Sam Campbell Trail, the Thunder Lake Wildlife Area — or your own lake or special patch of woods. Schedule a special nature-immersion experience for you, your family, or a few of your friends. No experience necessary – children are welcome!
The Wilderness Moon Immersion
Spend 30, 60, or 90 days living on the picturesque lakeshore camp called Nishnajida, which is Ojibwe for camp where the Old Way returns. You will live alongside the participants of the Wilderness Guide Program, surrounded by towering Pines and shimmering Birch, adjacent to the pristine Headwaters Wilderness.
Guardian Trainings
The Guardian Training Program is our most intense outdoor skills program yet. Whether it’s firemaking, hide tanning, shelter building, or direction-finding, we train you to walk into the wilds and not only survive, but thrive, with nothing more to rely on than your own innate abilities.
Wilderness Guide Program
Located in the heart of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest of Northern Wisconsin, participants live day-to-day in a native-modeled encampment, practicing the essential qualitative skills of communication and cooperation, along with all the skills needed to build, maintain, and live in a Northwoods native camp.
Volunteer With Us
Teaching Drum Outdoor School is a nonprofit organization run by volunteer staff and volunteers. Volunteer staff fulfill vital and ongoing roles that support the School (wilderness guide, carpenter, office personnel, editor, etc…). To find out about our open positions, visit our open positions’ page here.
A volunteer is someone who wants to experience living at Teaching Drum’s intentional community where the volunteer staff reside to participate in seasonal harvests, learn primitive skills, or just to be closer to nature. Some volunteers schedule their stay so they can assist with certain projects such as the Wild Rice harvest, or Sucker fishing.
Volunteers receive the same accommodations as volunteer staff and also have the opportunity to learn native crafts and wilderness survival skills that interest them. Because we are a nonprofit school, we ask volunteers to contribute $18/day per person (children 6 and under stay for free). This is to help offset the costs associated with food, shelter, utilities, internet, and other expenses. At certain times of the year, such as the Wild Rice harvest, we forgo the $18/day fee and offer room and board (or campsite) in exchange for help with the harvest.
Please be aware that many of our activities are dependent upon the seasons, weather, plants, animals and other creatures, and they may not happen during your stay no matter how carefully you plan.
The Camp support Volunteer Program
Dates: May 1st to March 31st
Cost: $30/day
We offer this special extended volunteering opportunity for those who want to immerse fully in the Native-style Northwoods lifeway while helping to support the Wilderness Guide Program (WGP). You will be living at Nishnajida, the Teaching Drum’s primitive camp, along with WGP participants.
You would be providing assistance to the Guides when they are instructing in shelter building, foraging, orienteering, hide tanning, primitive cooking, wilderness first aid, animal behavior, and a range of other primitive skills. You would also be helping with provisioning materials and supplies, and any other course support that is needed.
For someone who wishes to directly experience a full turn of the seasons here in the Northwoods, along with being a part of the complete range of seasonal activities that occur, this may be the opportunity for you, and would be of invaluable help to our School.
If you are interested in volunteering with us, email us. We’ll send you a Volunteer Packet to read through along with a short application to fill out and return.
PLEASE NOTE: In order to schedule a date to stay with us, you must complete the volunteer application process, which includes: reading the volunteer packet, emailing the requested information, and a 15 minute phone conversation with one of our volunteer coordinators to help answer any questions. You will only be able to reserve a time to visit when this process is complete. For this reason, it is best to make your request at least 2 weeks before you wish to come.
