Usually children spend more time in the garden than anybody else. It is where they learn about the world, because they can be in it unsupervised, yet protected. Some gardeners will remember from their own earliest recollections that no one sees the garden as vividly, or cares about it as passionately, as the child who grows up in it. Carol Williams, Bringing a Garden to Life
While planning this year’s garden, there are seed packets scattered across our table and I’m reminded of the classic children’s book, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus. It is a small little classic that tells the story of a little boy planting a seed. He tends to it daily even though his parents and older brother contininually doubt that it will grow. It ends with: “And then, one day, a carrot came up just as the little boy had known it would.” Of course, it is a huge carrot that any gardener would be proud of! Over the years, almost all our seeds have come up, but we’ve learned by experience which seeds do best in our soil and those that do not. Gardening is hands-on-learning at its best.
I hope you will enjoy the following gardening articles and resources below.
Articles
Spontaneous Science: A Dozen Ideas for Research and Field Trips in Everyday Life – Sue Smith-Heavenrich We’ve learned a tremendous amount just by digging in the garden (or anywhere else digging is allowed). There are lots of soil critters to become acquainted with: worms, centipedes, beetles, sow bugs. When I’m. spading the garden I try to pull out different types of plants so we can compare their root structures. The fibrous grass roots are often so tangled that we can’t pull them apart, which leads to great discussion on erosion control and “grassroots organization”. Sometimes we turn up fossils, ancient relics of the Devonian ages when our garden was under the sea. Homeschooling: It’s All In the Family – Wendy M Haddad Several hours of weeding the rose bed was an adventure for the boys. They felt grown up wearing work gloves and learning which gardening tools do what jobs. Matthew enjoyed learning how to identify weeds and plants. They planted lettuce and sunflower seeds in the garden, rinsed off all of the gardening tools, and eventually doused themselves with the hose, experimenting with the different settings on the garden hose dial. Matthew was so enthusiastic about weeding that he requested to clear out the backyard as well.
Community Supported Agriculture For Homeschoolers – Amy Hood Together my four-and-a-half-year-old son, Vaughan, and I measure the fava bean we’ve just picked against his hand. We decide it’s about one and a half times the length of his hand, and we shouldn’t pick any smaller than that. We search for beans that are long enough and hand them to my two-year-old son, Nicholas, who drops them into the bucket. “Beans!” he says. They’re a favorite of his, along with broccoli, which we will also eat fresh from “our” farm this week. We are working off half our share in a local CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and community is definitely the right word. This is the perfect place for the farming and homeschooling communities to intersect.
Homeschooling and Teens Who Dislike School – Larry and Susan Kaseman Some teens have creative abilities in photography, painting, graphic arts, and pottery. In addition, there are the sometimes overlooked abilities that are demonstrated by compassionate teens who volunteer in hospitals and nursing homes, those with green thumbs who excel at gardening, those with a special sense about animals who do well at animal husbandry or wildlife rehabilitation, etc.
The Things I Really Want My Kids to Learn – Sue Smith-Heavenrich If I were writing a curriculum today, I would include growing a garden and knowing how to make a shelter anytime, anywhere, from what’s at hand. Sure, it sounds like Survivor, but considering the number of employed people who find themselves homeless, I wonder why leaf shelters aren’t included in high school design and architecture class.
A Visit with Mary Hood - Janine Calsbeek For science, the critical element is to learn to think and act like a scientist, said Mary. Ask a legitimate question and find the answer. Don’t simply do experiments because you think you must. Gardening, wildlife, and nature are explored by the Hoods – Roy got out the bird-identification books and that inspired the kids. But more structured subjects like chemistry haven’t been part of their “school” and may never be.
Older Kids – Beyond Names, Dates, and Places – Cafi Cohen Everything has a history , natural disasters, music, aircraft, math, libraries, card games, gardening, computer games, film, even skateboards. Resources
- Cornell University Department of Horticulture’s Gardening Resources
- Gardening with Children
- Gardening for Kids
- Free Gardening Unit Study from Principled Discovery
- Springtime Gardening with Kids from About.com
- The Backyard Gardener
- United States Botanic Garden For Kids
HEM
Helen
mark
marynix
david