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Re: Education

>Hey All,
>
>I have mostly been a lurker for awhile and have enjoyed reading your
>posts.  My first attempt at gardening (square foot even) last year was
>a dismal failure, primarily due to the incredible succes of eight weeks
>bedrest to ensure a healthy baby which arrived June 14th.  (Do the
>math, There goes May, plus and minus 2 weeks!)  I'm not
>complaining--just got a   bonus bumper crop o' boy instead of 'maters!
>Now that it's time to start thinking about seeds (again) and since I am
>homeschooling my 5 & 7 year olds, I thought that I'd like to use the
>garden to teach my oldest all about stuff.  I don't want to do too much,
>but there's so much to learn from, composting, soil chemistry, Other than
>plant a seed and water it (which is what I'm going to do with the 3 and
>the 5 yr old ) what do y'all recommend as a good educational start for a
>bright 7 year old.
>
Sophia,

    Congrats on the baby boy!

    We homeschool our 3 kids (g11, g8, b3) and this last year gave them
their own 3x3 beds in the sqft garden.  They get to plant and take care of
things however they want.  Basically, I am around to remind them of things
they can do in the garden, but it is ultimately up to them.  I resisted the
urge to help them along and there were some failures, and some great
successes.  We took the time to explain the basics of gardening and let them
go.  When they have a question or find something which needs IDing, they
usually come and ask.  They also pick up a lot just by watching.

    We've been able to get them to write about their gardens (the two older
ones), involved lots of math (sqfting is great for that), and looked at
countless things under the microscope.  The two girls even entered flowers
and veggies in the state fair.

    It's worked so well that my oldest decided this year that she was going
to expand the raised bed.  I countered by trading a 4x8 bed for her smaller
one.  The two girls spent several hours during our 5+ day power outage to
browse through my seed catalogs and pick out flowers and veggies for this
next year.

    I guess I've babbled on enough for right now.  In short, we've always
found that if you provide the opportunity and demonstrate an interest, the
kids usually follow and learn.

Cliff Parker
Longview Farm
Holden, ME
zone 4

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