Permaculture Curriculum for Schools

In line with Paul's desire to infect brains with permaculture, let me pose a question:

Do you think it would be beneficial for we permies to design a free curriculum for grade schools that introduces simple permaculture concepts to these hungry young minds?

Someone once said, and I paraphrase, "Give me the children, and in one generation, I'll change the world."

What better curriculum to change the world than permaculture and homesteading? We older birds can certainly have an impact in our yards, on our properties, and wherever we exert influence.

But until we exert that influence in the classroom, we won't achieve World Domination.

What are your thoughts?

j

I am always a fan of kids books. It is a great way to convey concepts and ideas in bite size pieces and drop the seed of knowledge that blooms with time and conversation. I grew up with a love of story that still persists to this day.

To me, the first lesson would be what permaculture is.

I am not sure how to explain that to children.  Do you have any ideas?

Maybe permaculture is a way of looking at nature`s patterns and how to live within them.

Oh, I like the book suggestion and I did this one year at Christmas.

https://permies.com/t/172223/Children-Books-Infect-Permaculture-Minds

Also, I feel learning some gardening principles would be a great start.

I can come up with a ton of ideas, but this could be a project with many minds working in concert. I thought that maybe it could be broken up, one permaculture principle for each (US) grade. Start with the easiest to understand and experiment with in first grade, and work successively up the ladder of difficulty. Each book would have to be written to appeal to that reading and understanding level. But the important thing would be making it come to life with hands-on lessons that could be done in the classroom or on the school property.

We can find someone, I'm sure, or a group of someones who can craft a definition of permaculture that would perk up the interest of a first-grader.

It would definitely lead to gardening!  

j

Anne Miller wrote:To me, the first lesson would be what permaculture is.

I am not sure how to explain that to children.  Do you have any ideas?

Maybe permaculture is a way of looking at nature`s patterns and how to live within them.

Oh, I like the book suggestion and I did this one year at Christmas.

https://permies.com/t/172223/Children-Books-Infect-Permaculture-Minds

Also, I feel learning some gardening principles would be a great start.

There is already "The Permaculture Student" workbook by Matt Powers.
I think it's written as a student's book...?

Here's the problem: It's too good of an idea. I think independent schools will LOVE the idea. And that's great. Homeschoolers will LOVE it also
But I don't know if state schools are allowed to teach anything other than state-funded curriculum. Somebody help me out here?

That's wonderful, Flora.

I may have to check into that just for me.

j

Flora Eerschay wrote:There is already "The Permaculture Student" workbook by Matt Powers.
I think it's written as a student's book...?

In terms of probability, a Permaculture Club might be accepted.

See? We already have geniuses working on it.

j

John F Dean wrote:In terms of probability, a Permaculture Club might be accepted.

Jim Garlits wrote:

What are your thoughts?

j

Yes, getting kids interested in Permaculture is a fantastic thing to focus on! I'm a teacher in the UK and think that an after school club is likely the most achievable way to go. However, there is also potential to get teachers talking about Permaculture in class if it can be related to national curriculum standards and brought to their attention by adding resources to sites like Twinkl and TeachersPayTeachers.

I've added a free book on TeachersPayTeachers and I'm working on a whole series of Children's book with characters that introduce different Permaculture concepts relevant to their area and the challenges they're facing. The eventual aim is for these characters to be animated and then teach Permaculture as part of a course that teachers can use with students.

Here's an early prototype of what I'm talking about with the animated characters: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Oua9jjDDFik[/youtube]

Here's a link if you want to see the books being developed: World Regenerators

Marcus, thanks so much for your work! These look excellent.

j

Marcus Fisher wrote:

Jim Garlits wrote:

What are your thoughts?

j

Yes, getting kids interested in Permaculture is a fantastic thing to focus on! I'm a teacher in the UK and think that an after school club is likely the most achievable way to go. However, there is also potential to get teachers talking about Permaculture in class if it can be related to national curriculum standards and brought to their attention by adding resources to sites like Twinkl and TeachersPayTeachers.

I've added a free book on TeachersPayTeachers and I'm working on a whole series of Children's book with characters that introduce different Permaculture concepts relevant to their area and the challenges they're facing. The eventual aim is for these characters to be animated and then teach Permaculture as part of a course that teachers can use with students.

Here's an early prototype of what I'm talking about with the animated characters: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Oua9jjDDFik[/youtube]

Here's a link if you want to see the books being developed: World Regenerators

Flora Eerschay wrote:There is already "The Permaculture Student" workbook by Matt Powers.
I think it's written as a student's book...?

Thanks for the reference! He has published a bunch of stuff I didn't know about other than his soil books.
The Permaculture Student 2" is available to download for free on his website