I'm building a grades 4-12 curriculum series (for public & home school) - SUBMIT REQUESTS

Would you say water is potential energy because water is rarely "still"? Water is always moving, even when frozen.

Matt Powers wrote:Would you say water is potential energy because water is rarely "still"? Water is always moving, even when frozen.

I wouldn't, since I would not be trying to be 100% technically correct at the expense of being understandable to 4-12 graders. While I loathe telling kids incorrect things, I don't feel the need to be confusing by adding unhelpful exactitude. You didn't say 'air' for instance, you said 'wind'.

You might also want some energy storage examples.

Thank You Kindly,
Topher

Hm. Let me think about that. I tend to feel that you can be summative without being incorrect.

Trapped water in a design is potential energy ready to be used at anytime, and that concept is important.

Thank you for the insight!

Still water stored at a higher level has potential energy which is released when you allow it to gravity feed downhill.

I think there are limits to how utterly accurate and complete information has to be for children. You want to spark their imagination and paint a wonderful outline for them so that they can fill in the details and extend the picture later.

I think I'm going to differentiate between potential and actual energy since gravity is potential energy like water and very useful in design.

Thank you for the extra thinking and resultant improvement!

MP

I always answer my children's questions with as much accuracy a I can meaning if I give them inaccurate information it is because I was wrong not because I was simplifying to the point of inaccuracy. my kids are 3 and 6 and my 6 year old asks really huge questions about molecules and atoms and we look up the answers together and he listens intently. I know that when I buy educational stuff for my home I get upset and get rid of things when they have been simplified to the point of not being true that or every time my kids look at it with me I have tot ell them the correct information. we had a kids book about breast and it said men can't produce milk which maybe the author thought that but it is very wrong. men can and sometimes do produce milk. my kids know that all mammals make milk and that metronomes are I believe the only mammals to not have mammary glands. My daughter who just turned 3 finds this concept easy to understand yet many books for children don't say these things.

I also believe it is ok to give kids information that is a little bit beyond them and a little bit complicated and hard to understand and then as they grow and ponder those ideas they have these wonderful eureka moments. even adults have that. people of all age do that.

Meryt, I couldn't with you more!! Thank you!!

I really hated the false histories spread in elementary schools and felt like they wasted my time and mind.

The only limitations on a young mind are the perceptions of the older minds around it quite often.

I will always seek to give as much information as possible in the clearest fashion.

Thanks again!!

Update:

I'm up to 98 pages now. I just have Earthworks and The Home now, but that includes dams inside earthworks so... could be a bit more to go!

Class today went well. Geoff's wonderful Intro to Permaculture video was a bit slow for a 5th grade boy, especially surrounded by 10 other 5th grade boys, but his short videos and using excerpts from here and there, much like any science teacher would, is very effective. Having both art & outside activities worked well too.

BY THE WAY, I'm going to have both Potential Energy and what I'm calling Direct Energy (aka readily available) in the textbook because as designers those are critical aspects of main frame design... not to mention correct science, BUT does anyone know if Direct Energy is really just renaming some other term for 'readily available energy' (which is too wordy). I'll research it later if no one has it off the top of their heads.

Thanks!

MP

Final Section of the Rough Draft! I'll polish the writing, organization & format while the illustrator starts their part, but the hardest part will be done soon!!

Page 106 for those counting.

OK! 1st draft is done!! 108-ish pages (page #'s are always variable as edits and pictures come in). I'm guessing when it is done it'll be anywhere from 150-200 pages in length. It will be full color, hand drawn ink & watercolor. I'm going over it for completeness now and sending it off to the illustrator, Sarah Eagar, homeschool mom and my sister-in-law. She works in her church calling with youth in middle school, so she is calibrated to their level. She is also new to Permaculture which will help me see how clearly I've conveyed it all as she goes through and asks questions.

The Action section is half the length of the book; I thought that was rather fitting.

I'm going to flesh out the outline of the Workbook now.

MP

I've learned some interesting things working with this Permaculture class this week. It's half boys, half girls. Almost all the boys are in 5th grade. Almost all the girls are in 7th and 8th grade. The range reveals things clearly as I switch teaching styles and methodologies on topic to topic.

All 5th grade boys are kinesthetic learners yet the organization aspect of zones really appealed to them.

They ALL loved using the Refractometer to measure the BRIX of tomatoes (My homegrown cherry (8%), school cherry 5.2% (only watered 3 times in drought!!), organic local farm cherry 7%, conventional roma: 5%, organic local farm roma: 5.9%). I even had a girl squeezing potatoes for half an hour to get enough juice to refract! They were into it! We also found a cherry tomato plant several feet from the boxes, never been watered with fruit on it ripening. We talked about good genes and how those seeds were special. It was awesome!

The first completed Dream Garden, "gravity irrigated" (her own words) from a pond higher up in the landscape.

I've learned a few things in this week teaching Permaculture to 4-8th graders.


-Boys can't sit still in 5th grade
- Salsa Competitions are fun for everyone (& the more ingredients the better)
- 6th Graders MAKE TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS - so something I thought advanced was NOT.
- I need to practice drawing: kids are tough critics
- KIDS INTRINSICALLY UNDERSTAND PERMACULTURE!!! They instantly see how it connects all the inputs and outputs in a sustainable system.
- They will find something to do with their hands if you don't first
- If a guitar class isnext door they will pillage the food from crepe to salsa
- They have an affinity for the gardens and working with water, soil, food, and plants.

I think wilderness and the garden are where Permaculture starts connection-wise with children. Many cannot reach wilderness unless they create it (like a small zone 5 section on a lot). I think when we are older we apply what we connect with in childhood. I think a generation educated with permaculture and suffusing the rest of public education with Permaculture Ethics, and we will have natural and smooth transitions occur with positivity pushing us forward even in the face of negativity, it will be unstoppable because it is science and anyone can use it from anywhere and find it effective and prove it to themselves.

It was superbly fun! I think I can edit the first draft now with a better lens.

MP

From the Workbook, which will be useful to anyone learning to design. It will have all the equations, references, recipes, organization & checklists necessary to design anyone's home site.

I'll have this as part of the Kickstarter, so that anyone can support The Permaculture Student effort & get something of serious value back.

KICKSTARTER UPDATE:

We are going to have a condensed version of the Workbook, just the organized information a client would want/need, as a Client Site Report PDF that you can print and use forever as a Permaculture Consultant. It'll streamline the whole process and allow the designer to focus more on the client & the site. It'll be one of the options

MP

The workbook's rough draft is nearly complete!!

The idea behind the workbook is that it is an organizer, checklist, quick reference for equations & planner for an entire site. It will work with all the textbooks I create 6-12 grade but will ALSO be great for anyone who is new to designing or needs a reminder to make the whole process fast & easy. If you are a newer design consultant, this will help you organize your information into a client report.

I recently learned that there are Permaculture courses in over 40 US colleges much to my delight. I hope to create the middle and high school linkages to those college courses. (Hopefully those college courses are focusing on Mollison's manual and have properly trained teachers in place).


If we want to end ignorance, we have to start with education.

MP

UPDATE:

I almost lost the entire book! My computer crashed, the illustrator lost the file, and the online copy expired, BUT I had a prompting to copy it onto a flashdrive the moment I initially finished. I thought it was the only surviving copy... until the Apple store fixed the computer's optical drive and returned my computer 100% intact. It was nonetheless a few days of seemingly close calls.

I also lost both my illustrators during this time to the demands of life. I have an amazing one that I'm working with now, Brandon Carpenter. I feel a little bit like Paul Wheaton might have when he was struggling to find a committed illustrator for the playing cards I do so enjoy. If my artwork ends up as well put together as his did, it'll be worth the changeover.

THOUGH THIS BOOK IS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, IT CAN SERVE AS A CRASH COURSE IN PERMACULTURE FOR ANY AGE STUDENT. Something like a "Idiot's Guide to.." in usefulness but not in any relative format to that. The workbook will be universal and useful to all students of Permaculture.



I am currently editing things, making sure every word is correctly placed. I'm looking forward to sharing more things soon!!

Any feedback is helpful!

MP

OK I'm going to change it up a bit, no more outright grade correlations, just 1, 2 & 3 (beginner, intermediate, & advanced), so ANYONE can use these books.

The Permaculture Student will be a valuable asset to any student of Permaculture. The books will have Ages 12+ on it or something like that, but none of the texts will be limited to one level or age. They will complicate as they advance and be used in public and home school environments like so: 7th&8th grade - Book 1, 9th&10th grade - Book 2, 11th&12grade - Book 3. Bill Mollison's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual would be what they'd use in their college program. With Geoff Lawton's help I hope to have the curriculum approved and aligned perfectly to Bill's great work, that way we can exponentially spread Permaculture.



MP

Writing is just like any other craft in most ways, but once you get to the editing stage it can be like sculpting stone or carving wood. You remove the excess to expose the simple truths that extend through all complexity. I'm having fun writing this!!

I'm super exciting that our new format will be The Permaculture Student 1, 2 & 3 w/The Permaculture Student Workbook accompanying all of them. I'll have a PDF form of it so you can print it out, scratch it up & then print it out again to try another design and on and on.

Can't wait to share the first images I get back from the illustrator!!

First sneak peak of the art!

The subtle beauty of Brandon Carpenter's work:

IT'S EDITED!!! I'm just waiting on more illustrations right now.

I'm likely going to start working on The Permaculture Student 2 now... and formatting... my favorite part

I might format it around the art. That might make it easier. It has to be clean & beautiful in order for it to become encoded properly & deeply.

I need to take Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web course, so I can get well-trained on microscopy and soil analysis. I want the high school books 2 & 3 to have a lot of lab work.

MP

I'm working on the next books... should I make them all have the full introduction and expand with each one or should I make them components of a longer arc that includes the earlier works as a component? In other words, should I just rewrite everything every time or focus on the depth further for each volume?

For instance: the Introduction would be primarily in 1 only.

do you think the person reading the next book will have already read the previous? it seems to me each book should be separate and should be in depth. that is I thinkw hat I would want if I was reading these books.

They are meant to build upon each other: 7-8th grade is The Permaculture Student 1, 9-10th grade is The Permaculture Student 2, and 11-12th grade is The Permaculture Student 3. They could also be used together to progress understanding & prepare students to use Mollison's manual on one's own as an adult or for homeschoolers. While I want to reintroduce the subject matter every other year (to fit current science courses around), I know that it is a slippery slope when it comes to abstraction & differentiation. I'm just looking at rewriting the sections I just wrote and it is a bit numbing to think of the same definition stepped out to 4 different levels of comprehension (3 of them within a year of each other) though it may just be my mountain to climb I can do it. I'm just wrestling with best series format.

The main idea is that it can be used in public schools across the US to prepare students to study Mollison's manual in college. I also wanted it to be useful to adult learners, but I fear that 2 will be less exciting for adults as 1 and 3 are (introductory & high level). I will have more on soil and specific labs in 2 & 3 requiring a microscope, thanks to Elaine Ingham, her research & Teaming With Microbes. Maybe I should let go of the idea that the whole series will appeal to adults. It is more important that we get Permaculture into every public school: we will educate a generation, they will go home and adapt their families' homes, & when they leave home they will design their own homes properly from the start. It is the easiest, most straightforward & simple solution to our current problems. It is only miseducation or ignorance that prevents current policymakers from adopting permaculture designs; if we remedy that, we can expect a real change. It has to be by example and from the bottom up. It has to be disruptive innovation (Clayton Christenson) to find its niche in the collective understanding and application.

Permaculture is glue for all the sciences, just like english class is the glue for all the others classes in school. You need reading, writing, listening & speaking to succeed in other areas, just like we need permaculture design science as an ethical, sustainable lens for all design creation. Eventually school itself will be based on the principles and ethics of permaculture without even being labeled as such. Currently my principal, superintendent, & school board head are excited for my Permaculture class next year as are many national and state FFA champions who will go on to be leaders in agricultural business. I feel very fortunate to be in this position. I just want it to be exactly what we need it to be.

Thank you for all your support & feedback. It has all been helpful.

MP

I'm getting quite a few pages formatted now. Brandon Carpenter is sending me his illustrations regularly I'm super happy with all of them!




HUGELY EXCITED ABOUT ALL THE TRANSLATORS ALREADY ONBOARD!!

We have Mandarin Chinese, the Maharashta dialect of India, & German so far! I hope to have more! Contact me if you are interested.

Thank you!!

I'm also planning on filming my Permaculture Classes next year routinely especially when we have organized activities like hugulkultur construction, etc. That way teachers nationwide and globally have working examples of classroom workflows.

We have a team of translators working on putting The Permaculture Student into over 10 different languages: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Maharastan Indian, Tagalog, Italian, French, Dutch, Polish & more. Donors are going to be able to donate curriculums to schools of their choice or languages of their choice (our translators can place the school sets as well). It will be part of our future nonprofit organization: donating permaculture curriculum to children and schools globally to foster ethical sustainability and self reliance.

I'm 38 pages into The Permaculture Student 2... it's way more in-depth; I cover almost everything in Mollison's manual, relying upon visuals and 9-10th grade reading level.

It's been a lot harder, but it been a superbly valuable experience. Still waiting on more from the illustrator to finish PS1.

We are planning on having the illustrations done by Christmas.

Should we do the Kickstarter in Dec or Jan?

MP

We now have a 2nd illustrator to make the deadline of a January Kickstarter.

I have illustrators, a formatter, a printer & translators working hard. I am now building the kickstarter campaign.

Can I get some feedback?

Should I just focus on the textbook, the workbook, & shipping/printing/formatting costs? Or should I also have t-shirts, totes, high quality prints of the artwork, etc. Should I keep it really barebones or should we make merchandise to accompany it as perks for donations?

While it is fun to have gear, it is also a significant difference in costs for the overall campaign. If it was only printing, shipping & formatting, our goal would be 5.1k. If it was to include tshirts, totes, art, etc., it could easily go over 10k. My goal isn't to sell merchandise though promotion is nice; my goal is to get the books to as many people as possible.

Some of the perks will be class sets to be sent to schools of your choice, family sets to families of your choice, etc.

We want to start a future npo where we donate class or school sets to schools in the US or internationally (that's why we are going for a ton of translations).

If we plant the seed of permaculture in the hearts of our youth, they will be and bring the change; harmony with nature can be achieved through permaculture education.

Some new art:

Just spoke with my mom for a bit. Def just going to focus on the books, printing, formatting & shipping.

I had to add in the workbook printing costs as well though it'll be cheap in comparison: less pictures & much shorter.

Are the books tangible? Is there anything for say 4th-6th graders? Where can I get copies?

Thanks!

We are just weeks away from the Kickstarter Campaign for book 1 which can be used 6-8th grade or with help of an adult: younger kids

It will be tangible soon with community support.

I will post links here and a new thread just for the Kickstarter.

I'm so excited to share what we are working on!

MP

WE ARE SO CLOSE!!

I'm writing the music for the edited Kickstarter video tonight. I'll record it tomorrow morning, master and upload it tomorrow. I recorded the video earlier and edited it with footage from classes & our family farm as well as screenshots of book excerpts.

We are waiting on the final 4 drawings from Brandon Carpenter, our main illustrator. Those should be done by the end of the week I hope.

Last week I was fortunate enough to check out Danial Lawton's latest permaculture design consultancy project which was local in Central Valley California! Meeting Danial was great; he even has been looking over the textbook for me. He has also put me in contact with Wayne Fleming. We are going to have Wayne Fleming, illustrator of Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture, use his permaculture science illustrating mastery to create several key illustrations - for example he'll be illustrating a backyard food forest.
http://www.waynefleming-illustrator.com/index.php
His cover:

We'll be using Wayne for the key drawings in each volume. I'm planning on finishing 2 & 3 this summer, having 2 illustrated by fall & ready to Kickstart. In the meantime I want to make a Permaculture Kids DVD with animations and filmed live classes with kids in mixed age groups. The animation team is already working on some examples for the Permaculture Student website and for the Kickstarter. It would be mellow programming, paced for a 4-5th grade audience like a permaculture Wild Kratz/MagicSchoolBus genre show but more mellow like a Bob Ross narrator is needed. It needs to be warm, inviting, confident, action-based, showing kids what they can do around their home or neighborhood with permaculture.

Any suggestions and ideas are welcome! Can't wait to share!!

I just ordered proof copies to show people while we do the Kickstarter & for at PV2 to check out. They won't have Wayne Fleming's illustrations or pro formatting, but they will give folks a great example of what they will get when they buy books from me.

I can't wait to share!!

We are going to announce the campaign this week: Monday hopefully! I'm waiting on quotes from the printer and formatter.




MP

I'm coming into this way too late, but one thing I always want to see in both permaculture and science curriculae is critical thinking. All too often permaculture gets taught as a series of solutions, without reference to the problems. And school in general is like that - all "right answers" as defined by the teacher, or "no wrong answers" like art class, but the process of analysing a situation and developing your own, workable solution is rarely taught. Not easy to do, but with your experience, I'm hoping there's a lot of this kind of observation and analysis of the situation rather than pat solutions.

I hope your project goes great. Excited for you.

Yours,
Erica W

I have immense respect for the work you do; thank you Erica & Ernie too!

1st off I completely agree with your ideas: I focus my teaching in 10th grade on critical thinking, logical fallacies, analytical thinking & problem solving in open-ended situations like Fix Detroit was the opening project of the year, midyear was research an ethical How/Why question and create a giant research project around it. That's just my English class.

The permaculture textbook series is modeled after Bill Mollison's A Permaculture Designer's Manual, so it is not so much a textbook as it is a guide/reference manual. It can be used in a number of ways: a student can use it to teach themselves, an adult can use it to start fixing up their property, an adult can teach a child younger than 6th grade, etc. I will be using the first and second volumes (1st is only just finished) next year if the class gets through the final district hoops for only 1/2 the school year as a teacher. The 2nd semester will have the students implementing permaculture design to try and make sustainable income generators whether it is using gardening or just the design in something non-farming related. I want the class to be 1/2 application, group discussions & business planning (permie biz only). I wish I could just focus on depth all year, but I need to have the class make a difference in kids lives that year and make a big splash that year if I want the class to stick around. Such is the politics of public school electives

You know what, Erica, if you ask Paul or Cassie, they can show you PDFs of the books that are just missing a few key illustrations by Wayne Fleming; I would love to get a review quote for the back cover from you both on the book. I have had teachers look it over but very few permaculturists who are also trained teachers. It would be great to get your feedback.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

MP