Plan Your School Visit
The LAW Steering Committee reserves the Friday program from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm EST for schools and home school groups to attend the event. Attendance by school groups on Sept 18, 2026 requires pre-registration using the form below, as space is limited.
Our goal is to provide educators and students with an extended learning environment integrating with the core curriculum. In an outdoor setting, Native and Pioneer cultures are brought to life by expert demonstrators and tradition bearers. Students engage with past lifeways and technologies, connect past to present, and learn about the importance of protecting archaeological sites and other irreplaceable cultural resources that represent their own heritage and inform our story.
Target Audience: Fifth Grade
Target Counties: Bath, Breathitt, Estill, Lee, Menifee, Morgan, Powell, Rowan, and Wolfe. School groups in these target counties around Red River Gorge have priority registration. Groups from outside the target counties are welcome to attend, pending space. Following this tiered system, we accept registrations on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity is reached.
Curriculum Alignment: Cultures & Societies, SS-05-2.11 and SS-05-2.31 (Kentucky Department of Education, Core Content for Social Studies Assessment, Elementary Version 4.1, August 2006).
Fees: There is no charge for admission to the event; however, a $1.00 donation per student is encouraged if possible. For schools desiring to contribute by check, please make checks payable to KyOPA-LAW and write "Living Archaeology Weekend 2026" in the memo (checks MUST be made out this way). Donation receipts are provided and invoices are available by request.
Scholarship: With the support of our sponsors, in 2026 we will again offer a transportation scholarship opportunity for school groups attending the event on Friday. Funding requests up to $600 may include transportation-related expenses only, such as busses and drivers, fuel, and vehicle rental.
Deadlines: The deadline to submit a reservation request, as well as an optional scholarship application, is Wed, Sep 9, 2026 (or until capacity is reached or funds are exhausted).
Notification: Applicants will be contacted by email and notified if their registration request was approved. Submission of the request form does not indicate acceptance.
Required Post-Event Survey: A representative from each school group approved to attend LAW 2026 is required to complete an online post-event evaluation; instructions will be provided by email. The feedback we receive is essential for assessing our program, providing sponsors with a summary of outcomes, and making improvements to the program. Groups failing to complete the survey will not be permitted to attend in the future.
REGISTRATION REQUEST
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
B4 U GO
Hey educators, want special resources to help in preparing your students for the event? Visit our Before You Go page to see highlighted content, lessons, and online materials that we recommend for teachers and students to watch, read, do, or review before you go! These are special selections from among our vast array of educational support content, intended to provide background about the place, the time periods, and the technologies and lifeways featured at the LAW event.
ARRIVAL
Only pre-registered schools will be admitted on Friday. Please be considerate of other schools – arrive at your scheduled time. To ensure effective spacing of school groups, early arrivals will be held in their vehicles until their assigned arrival time. Late arrivals may be held and miss out on activities.
Busses will drop-off and pickup passengers in the lower parking lot, closest to Hoedown Island. Bus drivers will then park at the Skylift parking lot until the school is ready to depart. Teachers and bus drivers must have their own means of communicating with each other to coordinate pickup.