Fall Homeschool Program at the Living Classroom - Nature, Sustainability and Permaculture

This fall, the OEC took on a new pilot program servicing a niche market for education: homeschool students.  Every Friday, for 8 weeks the Living Classroom had 8 students aged k - 3 that were an absolute delight!! In our regular science camp programming, we get an opportunity to work with a child over the course of 2 - 4 days, and then sadly we often don't see them again.  Having students come consistently brought on a new element of familiarity, camaraderie and fun for both us the instructors and the students.

Every Friday had a theme for the day: 

• the sun, its purpose, photosynthesis and solar cooking
• changing of the seasons, harvest time 
• decomposition, composting, vermiculture and recycling
• water cycle and water footprint
• citrus investigation and integrated pest management
• bees and pollinators
• native animals to our region, trip to the OC zoo

We knew from the beginning that we wanted our students to be able to see the progression of their own garden at the OEC.  We devoted one of our raised beds to this program and upon our first meeting the children remediated the soil of their beds and planted their own seeds.  Each week they tended to their garden, watering, pulling weeds, organic pest management and discussion on the process of growing plants.  They were absolutely thrilled each week to see their little seeds sprout and grow into healthy plants. 

There was also an element of art for most of our activities, adding the concepts of STEAM to our curriculum.  STEAM incorporates art into science, technology, engineering and math which is an excellent way to help relay technical words or concepts into a more creative understanding.  Water - bottle rockets, seed mosaics, ephemeral art in nature and many more activities are examples of STEAM in the classroom.

We look forward to our next homeschool program that will begin next spring!