Looking for instructors for homeschool workshops

Hi! I am new to the forum. I have been farming (organically) in central VT for 6 years and have not been in love with the idea of scaling up in order to make money. A golden opportunity came along this year in the form of a farm store/greenhouse retail space with about an acre and a half of land. The owners retired and the property is somewhat run down. However the terrain is wonderful with wooded areas and display gardens, a few small forest pools and space for more greenhouses etc. We would like to transform the space into permaculture production and also have the display gardens reflect this philosophy. I have recently become a big fan of hugelkultur and would like to use this technique to build up the soil in our wet field. So, the bottom line is that I am looking to offer instruction to homeschool families in the area and use our property as the classroom. Of course we are willing to offer fair pay and lots of elbow grease. Can anyone help connect me?
Thanks,
Hannah Davidson

I am doing this! I am only doing one-off workshops and a co-op club which does not always come to my place, but there is so much potential. Have you heard of forest schools?

Giving kids a place to experiment, play and build outdoors is, in my opinion, a key part of infecting brains with permaculture. When kids see moving water they begin to think about hydrology. When they begin to see the difference between leaves that taste yummy, leaves that taste bitter and leaves that are poisonous, they learn quickly and teach their parents. "Observe and interact" is the natural way of children, we only need to get them outside and they begin.

Giving children a place to experience the outdoors is really good work.

I don't think you need to hire permaculture experts to teach permaculture gardening techniques to young children to be successful. You can hire good open minded teachers to facilitate children's experiences of the outdoors on a permaculture property, teaching the teachers about the permaculture principles.

Have you seen Matt Powers' "the permaculture student" curriculum?

You might find some folks through your local waldorf school, they might even be interested in some kind of partnership.

Hannah, I'd love to keep tabs on what you've got going on. I'm living in MT right now but am from central VT and am considering a move back there. My husband and I home school our 2 young girls. We do a lot of outside and garden exploration. I'm an avid gardener - hoping to scale up to production in the near future. I think there is a big home school community in VT - hope you can tap into it. And please, keep posting about what you're doing.

Cheers!

Hi Samantha,

Keep me posted if you decide to return to the area! I'm part of a really great group of families and we have some interesting stuff coming up this year. Working on "Kids teaching nature crafts" series of workshops to teach leadership for homeschool kids and I am tapped in to homeschool groups in two counties. It would be exciting to hook up if you come back to the east coast.
Take Care,
Hannah

Matu,

Thanks for the links! I believe you are right about being able to teach without being an expert.... I just want to have some good starting resources so I do appreciate it. I'll keep everyone posted on what we set up. I'm big on documenting too so can post videos of our classes in the spring!
Hannah

Hannah Davidson wrote:I'm part of a really great group of families and we have some interesting stuff coming up this year. Working on "Kids teaching nature crafts" series of workshops to teach leadership for homeschool kids and I am tapped in to homeschool groups in two counties.

Hannah, where are you guys in VT? I'd love to know more about your homeschool community. We're unschoolers and always looking for other unschooling families. Feel free to contact me at my email: splanglois@hotmail.com

Thanks!
Sam

Hey! I'm new to this forum too!
My name is Dana, my boyfriend and I, from SD and WI, are going to start up our own farm when we get home from Australia. We hope to aim at organic veggie production, permaculture, market gardening, etc. I thought of running a summer program for kids, not sure on age group yet, but do you know anything about the legal aspect of something like this? What kind of licenses and facilities would one have to acquire to be able to either run a strung out course or summer camp activity for kids to involve the community, get kids learning about their soil and food, and at the same time financially support the farm in another way. I'm thinking we will have to have a few legs to stand on.
Does anyone have any links to programs like this already running in U.S.? Would love any knowledge and advice!
Keep the movement moving!