Date: Saturday, October 22nd
Check-in/Registration: 10:00 a.m.
Bike-A-Thon: 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Talent Show: 3:00 p.m.

Events and Attractions throughout the day will include:

• A Short Track for young riders
• A 3 mile route for experienced riders
  
• Pony Rides
• Henna and Face Painting
• Healthy Food available for Snacks and Lunch

The Farm School Annual Bike-A-Thon is for all faculty, parents, and students everywhere! Everyone is welcome to ride!  All pre-registered riders will receive a commemorative T-shirt! All you need to do to pre-register is call 931-964-2325 & talk to Leah or Michael or email thefarmschool@gmail.com.  When contacting us to pre-register, let us know the shirts size(s) of the rider(s) and whether the rider(s) will be getting pledges or paying the $10 registration fee.

Riders should bring their own helmets, and spectators should bring blankets or lawn chairs.

Talent show participants should bring their own musical instruments, a sound system will be provided.

For more information, or to RSVP as a rider, contact Leah or Michael: (931) 964-2325

How it works:
We ask that riders gather pledges in advance from family members, neighbors, and anyone who wants to help support the school with a donation.  For riders who do not wish to collect pledges, there will be a $10 entry fee. All riders will receive a T-shirt to commemorate the event. 

Step one is to put your name on your pledge sheet(s). Download and print blank pledge sheets from thefarmschool.tv website. https://sites.google.com/a/thefarmschool.tv/fs/Bike-a-Thon
If you are unable to get blank pledge sheets from the website, please call us at
The Farm School (931) 964-2325.

Step two is to take pledges which will then be collected during registration at the Bike-A-Thon.  Most people will pledge a certain amount for every mile you intend to ride.  For example, if you get a pledge for $1 per mile and you ride 10 miles then you will collect $10 on that pledge. (We ask that riders limit themselves to a twenty mile maximum.) When asking for pledges, you will find that some folks prefer to make a flat donation.  That’s great!  You can collect their donation on the spot and turn it in when you register on the 22nd.  Checks should be made out to The Farm School. After you ride, return to the registration table and fill out how many miles you rode and take home a copy of your pledge sheet with the totals to collect.

Step three is to collect the appropriate amount from each person who pledged and then bring in or mail in your pledges to The Farm School, Attention: Leah Thomas.

The main purpose of The Farm School Bike-A-Thon is to offer a safe environment for a fun-filled day of fellowship and community building, and we look forward to seeing you there!

The Farm School Bike-A-Thon is held on The Farm Community in Summertown, TN. The Farm is an intentional community which was established in 1971 through a grassroots pioneering effort. It is situated on approximately 1750 acres, mostly wooded, located in a 45-square mile second growth, hardwood forest in rural Tennessee.  http://thefarmcommunity.com

The Farm School is a state certified preschool and state recognized K-12 alternative educational resource center located on The Farm with a vision of Community-based education for personal and planetary well-being.  We serve local and at-distance students through our on-campus, online, and satellite-campus programs.  Our school is a community of diverse individuals connected by deep relationships; we all learn with and from each other. We invite our community to join us in all aspects of our school, and spend much of our time learning out in the community.

The Farm School is recognized by the Tennessee Department of Education as a Category IV Exempted School. Operating under the Jeter Memo, The Farm School founded The Farm School Satellite Campuses Program as an umbrella for off-Farm, home-based learners. We require no statement of faith and are not interested in mandating curriculum or any other decisions. We believe in responsive education matched to the needs, interests and experiences of individual children.

Kids To The Country is a non-profit program started in Nashville in 1986 by Plenty International to reduce anger, violence and fear in some of our most at-risk urban children. Most of the KTC counselors each year are current or past Farm School students. Through various nature activities, the KTC program offers urban youth the opportunity to get out of troubled situations and develop a connection to nature. Summer programs are typically five weeks and include swimming, riding canoes and horses, crafts, hiking and studying the native landscape, gardening, star gazing, playing musical instruments, and telling stories. Many children from Nashville and surrounding areas are able to make use of the KTC program each summer. http://www.plenty.org/KTC/ktc03.html

The Farm School’s annual Bike-A-Thon is a way for us to share our community as much as it is a benefit for the school.  Examples of our past and current community projects are:

• Extending our Satellite Campus Program beyond the borders of Tennessee
• Local Water Quality Monitoring
• Organizing a Community Bike Shop
• Creating a park for plants, people and other animals
• Hosting National Education Conferences
• Participating in local political actions
• Kids to the Country
• Composting, Gardening, and Natural building using Permaculture principals

For more information about The Farm School, please call Michael Thomas at (931) 964-2325 or email thefarmschool@gmail.com