My Review of The Permaculture Student Online
Okay just upon browsing the interface of the course, before i even watched or read anything, the first thing that I noticed that I liked was the fact that all the videos are under 35 minutes. I think this is super important for kids/young adults/anyone really to be able to digest the material and for parents too! The idea of watching a 6 minute or 20 minute video is a lot easier to convince your kids to pay attention to.
For week 1, there is a really nice introduction video that explained some very key things that pertain to the wealth of knowledge that is going to be given out over the next 12 weeks. Honestly, when Matt was talking about all the stuff he's going to be giving to the participants, I was thinking hmm, did he charge
enough for this? As in, this is sort of a huge steal because of the pure volume of information he's giving. So that was just a little few minute introduction to the course.
Then, there is the actual intro to permaculture video. I thought this was really valuable because he talks about how solutions-based permaculture is and I think this is SO important for our children, no matter what age, to be exposed to. Becauuuuse, our children are growing up in a world where people are focusing on all the negative things that have happened to the environment when really, we need to raise people to: 1) have the knowledge that these problems are fixable and 2) have the skills to actually FIX them.
It often seems like Matt is having a conversation with you, the viewer, rather than lecturing at you from across the interwebs. That is super nice when you are trying to pay attention to a video longer than a few minutes long.
Okay I seriously loved the cooking video. I know that a lot of people that have signed their kids up for this are probably pretty active with their kids in the kitchen, but I still just think these kitchen skills are SO crucial to teach our children before they go out onto their own in the world. As a 23 year old, I see the biggest reason people my age buy crappy, processed food, is because they don't know how to cook for themselves and they don't know how stinkin' easy it can be. So back to the course, I think the cooking portion is going to be SUPER fun for all of the participants. PLUS, it is very detailed which is so nice because I think some cooking shows and videos assume people know a lot already but Matt gives so much information, and many tips and tricks that I had never even heard of before.
Okay so I think the plant focus might be my favorite part. (have I already said that about all of the others? oh well) Matt is so incredibly knowledgable about plants that I just loved listening to him talk about a plant I knew nothing about. There are SO many plants that are so amazing and useful that Matt knows so much about that we never learn about in conventional schools!
Lastly, I really appreciated the last video where Matt explains each piece/sheet of the download packet very clearly so participants will be able to successfully fill them out. Also, these aren't boring worksheets. They are super cute, fun, and interactive.
Wow, I honestly am just so impressed with the whole thing. I have been excited about this project ever since matt told me about it, but I think it has come out better than I even expected. I hope all of the parents and communities enjoy it as much as I think they will.
Awesome job Matt.
PS love the lil' theme song.
5
