Meet our team
Megan Van Massenhoven
Owner/Director, Outdoor Facilitator
Megan holds a diploma in Early Childhood Education, and is a Forest School Practitioner. She has taken multiple courses in non-violet communication, and has experience in Waldorf, child-led, emergent, project-based and high scope settings. She has experience with many different age groups, from 6 months to 13 years of age, and has facilitated outdoor programs within an early years setting. She is a mom of 4 ranging in age from 12years to 1 year, and has been a practicing educator since long before her eldest was born.
Megan's love of the forest and outdoors began at an early age, likely during her first camping trip at 6 months old. From there, she attended multiple camping trips each year, and attended sparks, brownies, and girl guides to fuel this passion. She spent her summers in the creek beside her grandparents house, and still has vivid core memories that drove her to instill this love and passion for the outdoors within the children in her care.
Liz Videka
Outdoor Facilitator
Liz is an unschooling mom of two, who was drawn to Firefly Farm and Forest early on and has joined the crew as a co- facilitator! She is excited to combine her love of learning, creativity, and community with her love for the outdoors. With a BA in Philosophy and a BEd specializing in English, philosophy, social sciences, and visual arts, Liz brings a mix of academic knowledge and hands-on experience. Liz has also completed Waldorf teacher training and has spent over seven years studying and practicing nonviolent communication. She is trauma-informed and values consent-based, self-directed learning.
For the past three summers, Liz has co-facilitated self-directed camps, created and led a number of community programs, including a homeschool drama group (now gearing up for its third live show!). In addition to learning alongside and from her children and community, Liz is a mixed-media freelance artist.
A proud Troll doll collector, Liz cherishes life’s weird and wonderful moments. She believes learning should be joyful, curiosity-driven, and maybe even a little mischievous. Liz is a proud grandmother to a bearded dragon named Zeus, a connoisseur of obscure memes, and partaker of everyday shenanigans.
Hillari Crocker
Support Staff
Sam
Forest Facilitator
Sam was born in Toronto but raised in a small town in Saskatchewan from age 1 to 6. That's where her outdoor adventures began, and she's never looked back! She comes from a family of 6; the oldest sister to 3 younger brothers, 2nd Mom to Charlotte, and an Aunt to 4 beautiful niblings. She's always been an active and athletic person, played on many teams through out the years, and coached a youth soccer team for a couple summers. She's always loved to be out trekking new paths in the forest, no pavement in sight. Any chance to get away from the city. Outdoors and animals have been her life, from keeping exotic snakes/reptiles to raising fallen baby birds that she brought home from elementary school. Everything she learned was from her Pops. He taught her and her siblings respect for nature and animals. He would take them hiking every saturday morning, catching snakes and frogs, it kept them busy and fed their curious little minds for hours!
Some of her outdoor hobbies include rock hounding, fishing, hiking, magnet fishing, tracking, gathering, and photography. Her favorite place to be is anywhere near water.
Her goals this summer are to find a geode, deer antlers, and land a big fish! I'm excited for this program to be able to pass on what I've learned and teach a new set of curious minds.