Classicist-in-Residence on a Mediterranean Island

Dates: August 24 - November 28, 2026 (14 weeks)

Location: Jelsa, Croatia

About The Field School of Hvar

The Field School of Hvar is an independent enrichment program located in Jelsa, on the island of Hvar, Croatia. We bring together children ages 3 through 15 from around the world for a year-round academic program grounded in experiential learning, close reading, and deep engagement with literature, history, and the natural world. Small groups, meaningful work, and genuine community are at the heart of everything we do. Our curriculum is organized based on a chronological story of Western human development. In the fall of 2026, we will be centered in pre-history and Ancient Greece.

An ISLAND as CLASSROOM

Field School's 2026 fall curriculum integrates the ancient world across all of our academic subjects: Aristotle’s invention of natural science on Lesbos, the luminous reasoning of Euclid in math, the Odyssey and rhapsodic art in language, and the material anthropology of ancient clothing in our social studies class. We may even attempt to recreate ancient singing and seafaring experiences.

This Fellow will be asked to provide some limited guidance on all of these topics, helping our academic dean and teachers cut through the wealth of publications that exist across these many fields, and verifying the accuracy of the concepts that we develop.

The island of Hvar has been inhabited for at least ten thousand years. Illyrian hill forts crown its ridges. The ancient Greek colony of Pharos — founded in 385 BC — sits at the heart of the island in Stari Grad, its agricultural plain farmed today along the same grid that colonists laid down two and a half millennia ago. Older still, Mesolithic and Neolithic people have left hints of their world in caves above the sea.

This many-layered canvas is where our learners, ages three through fifteen, will explore the story of European civilization through site visits, stories, and hands-on activities. Our chronological focus in the upcoming year is the ancient world - from the deep past to the fall of the Western Roman empire.

The Fellowship

Role This "Field School Fellow" joins our community as a participant — enrolling your own children in the program alongside other Field School families — and as a contributing expert, mentoring our faculty on ancient history.

Reciprocity In return, we offer up to two full scholarships for children or close relatives. Think of this as an invitation to an adventure in hands-on, intellectually rigorous, place-based education.

Storytelling. If you create content professionally, we ask for one long-form piece (a podcast episode, Substack essay, or video) within 90 days of your residency, provided that it feels like a natural fit.

Time. The fall session runs September 7 through November 28, 2026. You will be expected to contribute about one day each week of active organizing, problem-solving, and direct instruction. In addition you will want to spend time in general research and exploration of Hvar.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

The right fellow is an affable historian — someone with expertise in the ancient Mediterranean world and a gift for making it accessible to children and curious adults. Formal academic training in Classics, archaeology, Mediterranean history, or historical anthropology is expected, but we are also very interested in meeting independent scholars, classical homeschoolers, and social studies teachers.

An important part of this project is translating deep knowledge into hands-on experience for beginners — some as young as five — so warmth, patience, and flexibility are essential.

Learning designers in the Charlotte Mason and classical homeschool traditions, authors and storytellers working with Greek and Roman mythology, and practitioners with living history or museum education backgrounds are warmly encouraged to apply.