Food Adventures Week is the perfect time to explore where our foods come from and even experiment with growing some food of our own. The Unit Study Adventures Gardens study has lots of resources to kick-start that exploration.
There is something so basic and satisfying in the planting and nurturing of a garden. Whether in a planned spot in the yard, in containers on a tiny balcony, or on a bedroom windowsill, gardening offers a priceless opportunity to work together on a fun family project, and share thoughts and ideas as you build your own special place of beauty and memories. From pole bean tepees to sunflower houses, what memories they will build! Use gardening to share lessons about nature and plants with your children. What makes the seeds grow? Why do we grow things? What does a fresh ear of corn taste like? Imagine together what it might have been like in the first garden–the Garden of Eden.
The joy and excitement on the children’s faces is great motivation as we begin to plan the garden and buy the seeds, whether for the spring, fall, or indoor herb garden. These fun times together are still shared, even as the children grow older, and this is a wonderful blessing to families everywhere. From the first chance to look at how seeds sprout, learn about earthworms, and then on to plant propagation – these are some of the concepts that we share with our students. We adjust and learn with them as they progress with their interests in plants and gardens.
The Unit Study Adventures Gardens study includes the following topics:
1. Planning and planting your own garden
2. Plant science
3. History of gardens
4. Famous gardens
5. Famous scientists and gardeners
From developing, planting, and maintaining our own garden and plant experiments through the study of gardens, their history, and gardeners like Thomas Jefferson and Monet – all contribute to an EXCITING gardens study. It is one that we repeated on a regular basis at our house. There are plenty of topics and resources for all ages, and this study can keep your family busy for many seasons to come. We have all kinds of gardens here on the farm, from vegetable gardens to rock gardens, and the knowledge that we have gained from studying gardens has been impressive.
It is so rewarding to see how much our children have learned and how self-sufficient they are becoming. They look forward to planning their own gardens and selecting the plants that they want to experiment with – this is a self-motivated interest that they will probably carry throughout their lives. This is a measurement of true success, according to our way of thinking! Enjoy the adventure, and get planting!
Amanda B.
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