Treehorn Farm — Children's & Homeschooling Programs
We offer secular reading hours, homeschool classes, workshops, musical events, movie nights, story walks, and more. Located in Climax, NY, just a few minutes outside of Coxsackie (west side of the Hudson Valley, at the foot of the Catskills).
Below is a listing of our homeschool classes through the rest of 2025. Please visit our Calendar to see a full list of events.
Homeschool Classes:
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Animal Poetry: Wings, whiskers, and words (ages 5-8)
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Animal Choir: Hoots, howls, and harmonies (ages 5-8)
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Beginning Embroidery (ages 10+)
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Embroidery as Fine Art (ages 10+)
Piano Lessons with Mark degli Antoni
September Children's Program on the Farm:
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Family Movie Night: Big Fish (PG-13)
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Make Your Own Sun Prints Workshop (ages 5+)
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Make Your Own Beetle & Bug House (ages 3-7)
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Children's Reading Hour (every Sunday starting Sept. 7)
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Stacks and Tracks Breakfast (first Saturday of every month)
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Family Movie Night: A Room with a View (PG)
What does it feel like to be a bird? Or a buzzing fly? In this playful poetry class taught by Melissa Banigan, we’ll explore the world through wings, whiskers, and words. We’ll read and recite poems about animals—both real and imagined—that help us understand big feelings and wild ideas. From the mysterious tiger of William Blake to the nonsense creatures of Lewis Carroll, we’ll meet animals that make us laugh, think, and dream. Each week, we’ll write our own animal poems, play with sounds and rhymes, and even create costumes to help bring our favorite creatures to life. At the end of each semester, we’ll put on a joyful performance of our favorite animal poems for friends and family!
Featured poets include William Blake, Sheila Black, Lewis Carroll, Emily Dickinson, and other surprises.
What does the world sound like to a frog, a cricket, or a seal? In this unique choir, our voices will become an adaptation of nature around us. In this class, taught by Mark degli Antoni, we’ll explore the sounds animals make — sometimes echoing the same creatures featured in our companion poetry class — and learn how to weave those sounds into original group pieces. Along the way, we’ll discover rhythm, practice listening deeply, and explore the melody hidden in all communication. We’ll invent songs together, learning to sing not just about animals but as them.
At the end of the semester, we’ll perform our nature-inspired creations for friends and family. All students are expected to bring their ears.
In this beginner-friendly class taught by Melissa Banigan, students will create stitch books, filling them with one foundational stitch per week while exploring how embroidery has been used across cultures to decorate, remember history, and celebrate. Students will gain confidence with needle and thread while building the skills to create gorgeous embroidery art for years to come.
This class introduces embroidery as a form of fine art. Students will learn just a few simple stitches — enough to make texture, line, and form — but the emphasis is on creative exploration, mark-making, and personal expression. Students will use thread like a pencil, layering stitch with color, collage, and paint to create modern art. Each week includes a short technique demo, plus studio time to create art. We’ll draw inspiration from contemporary textile artists, abstract art, graffiti, natural forms, and the students’ own inner worlds. The class will culminate in a final embroidered painting that combines paint, thread, and imagination.
Mark degli Antoni is a composer, keyboardist, and sound artist whose work spans film and live performance. A cofounder of the band, Soul Coughing, he has collaborated with many artists, including David Byrne, Low, and John Scofield, and created sound for projects with Annie-B Parson, Christian Marclay, Julia Scher, and Sarah Meyohas. His film scores include Werner Herzog’s Into the Abyss, Get Me Roger Stone, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, the Sundance Audience Award–winning Crown Heights, and the 2024 Oscar-nominated documentary Black Box Diaries. Mark has a Bachelors of Music and a Masters of Music in composition from Mannes College of Music, studying composition with Milton Babbitt and David Loeb. Mark taught sound in moving images at Long Island University.
Private lessons are available on-site at the farm or within 10 miles (roughly) of the farm. Please note: For peace of mind, all lessons are video recorded.
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