Today we began our first unit of study: Farm-Based Education
This program is broken up into modules that everyone studies together and completes group projects and tasks in each particular area. On top of that, each student chooses a specific aspect of the farm activity to specialize in and complete a final project of his or her own choosing.
Farm-Based education is a very broad topic because it includes many different aspects of the farm, how we teach these subjects, and how to create a value-added product to the farm to off-set the expense of training educators and other associated costs. This unit is very interesting to me and I am pretty sure I'm going to use this as my final project.
We are just beginning to work out our learning contracts so we have time to learn more about each area of study. They are all so interesting! I hate to give you all of this information up front, but you can be excited with me for the upcoming adventure.
1. Farm-Based Education
2. Permaculture
3. Sustainable Building
4. Renewable Energy Systems
5. Organic Gardening/Agroecology
6. Animal Husbandry
7. Slow Food
8. Agrotourism/Marketing - Bush Skills Weekend!
I lean toward focusing on Farm-Based Education because it is the most applicable to my current vocation and skill-set, but there also is a lot to learn. I am excited for the projects associated with each focus area and for what each individual will explore in their personal project.
As part of the Farm-Based Education module we learned about the natural cycle in learning and teaching roles. I have never thought about teaching like that nor observed these subtle stages in the process of acquiring knowledge.
The holistic method of teaching that they do here is to inspire someone to learn, give them the tools to learn, and achieve learning through action.
"Seeding beneficial relationships to inspire abundance, creativity, and joy."
I will explain the process that we went through to learn to teach a lesson in the Day 4 post.
calm down
ReplyDeleteGET BACK!
DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN!
ARMS OUT!
(sorry, I guess this is more appropriate for a nonexistent Val blog)
is that derrick commenting above me? now that he mentions val, it is kind of funny to think that you two are currently learning, but two VERY different things. :)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about that the other day when I was tromping through the forest looking for a stick to make a bow-drill out of to make fire. There I was, learning these primitive skills and communing with nature and he is learning very modern skills of warfare and machinery. However, to each of us, this is grown-up summer camp.
ReplyDeleteand as cheesy as it sounds it's all very yin and yang like. Im sure each of your experiences will allow for hours of conversation with each other and insight into both the outside world, our relationship with it, as well as your relationship with each other and what makes you each tick and inspired. if that makes sense...
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have said it better myself. Seriously. Thank you for your insight, Anka. val today will be shooting full-size, fully-automatic weapons in the ice and snow.. I, on the other hand, will be eating soursop in the shade of a saman tree learning about how trees are essential to permanent agricultural systems..
ReplyDelete