Homeschool Gardening: A Great Learning Opportunity For Children
There’s no reason why homeschooling families, and even those of us who are not homeschooling, can’t take advantage of the fact that most kids love getting their hands dirty in the garden.
Gardening can provide children with a great opportunity to learn about the weather, food chains, and responsibility.
The Benefits of Homeschool Gardening
Homeschooling can help kids become interested in gardening.
Gardening at home can be a great opportunity for kids to learn about plants and how they grow. Gardening also provides a chance for kids to get some fresh air and exercise..
Homeschool gardens can teach important lessons about cooperation and responsibility. For example, when everyone works together to tend the garden, it can be a rewarding experience for all involved.
School gardens provide an opportunity for kids to socialize and make new friends. And when students are given the task of caring for a plant, they quickly learn the importance of taking care of something else.
Homeschool gardening is a great way to supplement your child’s education or just get them outside to enjoy some fresh air.
Including homeschool gardens in curriculums offers a number of advantages for both students and educators.
If you want to make your curriculum more engaging, consider adding a little bit of dirt to your lesson plans.
Here are 10 tips for starting a successful homeschool garden:
Choose a location that gets plenty of sunlight. Most plants need at least six hours of sunlight per day, so a spot in your yard that gets full sun would be ideal. If you don’t have a spot in your yard that gets full sun, you can also grow plants in containers and place them in sunny spots around your home.
To prepare the ground for your homeschool garden, loosen the soil and add organic matter such as compost or manure. If you’re using containers, fill them with a potting mix designed for container gardening.
When you are picking plants for your homeschool garden, it is important to choose plants that will grow well in your climate and soil type. If you are not sure what plants will do well in your area, ask a local nursery or gardening center for advice.
The timing of when you plant your seeds is important to consider. Some plants, like tomatoes and peppers, need to be started indoors before they can be transplanted outside. Others, like squash and cucumbers, can be planted directly in the garden bed.
One of the most important things you can do for your homeschool garden is water it regularly. Most plants need at least 1 inch of water per week. Checking the soil often and watering as needed is key to keeping your plants healthy. If you don’t know how much water your plants need, ask a local nursery or gardening center.
Fertilize your homeschool garden as needed. The type of fertilizer you’ll use will depend on the plants you’re growing and the soil type in your area. If you’re not sure which fertilizer to use, ask for advice from a local nursery or gardening center.
To prevent weeds from germinating, cover the soil with mulch or use a weed barrier fabric. If weeds sprout, pull them out by hand or use a hoe to chop them down.
In order to keep insects and other pests from destroying a homeschool garden, it is best to prevent them from getting into the garden in the first place. This can be done by using row covers or insecticidal soap. If pests do become a problem, traps or pesticides can be used to control them.
Pick the produce when it is ripe and use it right away to get the most out of your harvest. If you can’t eat all of the produce right away, you can preserve it by canning, freezing, or drying.
Enjoy your homeschool garden! Gardening is a great way to teach kids about science, math, and nature. It’s also a great way to get some fresh air and exercise. So take some time to relax and enjoy all that your homeschool garden has to offer.
Ideas for learning activities that can be done in the garden
A garden can be a great place to learn about nature, science, and many other topics. Here are a few learning activities that can be done in the garden:
– Caring for the plants: As the plants grow, have students help water, weed, and care for them. They can learn about the importance of plant care and the amount of time and effort needed to maintain a garden. – Harvesting: When the plants are ready to harvest, have students help to pick the vegetables. They can learn about the importance of proper timing and techniques for harvesting. Stop and think about what your students would like to learn about gardening. Would they like to learn about planting, caring for the plants, or harvesting? Choose one of these topics and have students help with that part of the gardening process. They can learn about the importance of proper spacing, depth, and soil type when planting. As the plants grow, students can learn about the importance of plant care and the amount of time and effort needed to maintain a garden by helping to water, weed, and care for them. When the plants are ready to harvest, students can learn about the importance of proper timing and techniques for harvesting by helping to pick the vegetables.
– Sunlight: Many plants need sunlight to grow properly. Teach students about the different parts of a plant that need sunlight, such as the leaves and the stem. Watering: It is important for students to learn how to properly water plants. Different techniques, such as watering from the bottom up or using a drip irrigation system, can be experimented with. Sunlight: Many plants need sunlight in order to grow properly. The different parts of a plant that need sunlight, such as the leaves and stem, should be taught to students.
–Weeding: Although it may be seen as a tedious task, weeding can be used as a teaching moment for students. They can learn about the importance of maintaining a healthy garden, as well as the different types of weeds and how to control them.
-Harvesting: Students can learn about the different stages of plant growth by harvesting fruits and vegetables at different times. They can also experience the produce they’ve grown!
Moreover, you can bond with your child (with learning on the side) by doing the following:
1. Get a few different kinds of plants and have your kid help water them and watch them grow. This is a good way to teach them about the plant life cycle.
Insect-hunting can be a fun game to play with others in the garden. Try to see how many different types of insects you can find.
Get your child involved in the process of creating a compost bin to teach them about recycling and the benefits of composting.
Planting a veggie garden with your child’s help is a great way to teach them about where food comes from and how to eat healthy.
Encourage your child to smell the different flowers and herbs in the garden. This can be a fun sensory experience for them.
Plan a picnic in the garden! This is a great way to enjoy the fruits of your labor and spend some quality time with your kid.
Take your child on a walk and explore the nature around you. See what other plants and animals live in the area and learn about the local ecosystem.
Making a scarecrow with your child is a great way of teaching them how to scare away pests from the garden.
A sunflower makes an excellent teaching tool to demonstrate plant growth rates to children. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce them to the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical marvel.
Have a blast by getting down and dirty in a mud fight! This is a great way to cool off on a hot day and have some fun at the same time.
There are plenty of opportunities to learn in the garden, so get out there and explore!
REASONS TO TAKE YOUR HOMESCHOOL OUTSIDE
- #1 – “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without!” – Charlotte Mason
- #2 – Because nothing breathes fresh air into a math lesson like the music of bird song while you do it
- #3 – For all of the treasures glimmering in a tide pool or a pond–living and non-living–ancient and new
- #4 – Because you never see the exact same place twice when you’re outdoors. The weather, the time of day, the season, and the growth within yourself all open and close little doors in the backyard classroom. One morning’s wonder may be the perfect green sprouts pushing through the snow while the evening’s wonder may be the flash of radiant orange across the trunks of the trees as the sun sinks behind the mountains.
- #5 – “Wisdom begins in wonder.” – Socrates
- #6 – For spiders and their webs, and the silent lessons in engineering, beauty, and resourcefulness that they provide
- #7 – Because nature study IS science! It’s biology, chemistry, astrology, physics, botany, zoology–and more. “The very essence of nature study is science. Of course, there are all sorts of additional skills that happen alongside nature study – geography, art, writing, reading, research, and even math – but the very purpose is centered fully on science.” – Our Journey Westward (Read the full blog post here.)
- #8 – Because you, the parent instructor, don’t have to do anything in order to have a successful outdoor learning experience. You don’t have to prep, make copies, cut anything up, find obscure supplies at the hardware store, flag pages in a book, or make an outline. All you have to do is show up.
- #9 – For the marvel of ancient trees shielding us from the rain, welcoming us to climb upon their branches, and for the miniature universe they support with their shelter, food, and oxygen. Trees are excellent teachers, and patient ones at that.
- #10 – Because muddy feet > “stay in your seat”
- #11 – Because you don’t write lines like this unless you’ve spent a lot of time seeped in nature: “Bees blew like cake-crumbs through the golden air, white butterflies like sugared wafers, and when it wasn’t raining a diamond dust took over which veiled and yet magnified all things.” – Laurie Lee
- #12 – For rock thrones, tree forts, and castles made of snow. For leaf crowns and flower garlands, for the kingdom of a child’s mind.
- #13 – Because one of the greatest sounds in a mother’s heart is the excited cry of “Mama! You have to come and see this!” from across a meadow
- #14 – For adventures, great and small, teaching us to look beyond where we have looked, wonder beyond what we already know, and believe beyond what we thought we could do
- #15 – Climbing, balancing, navigating, and exploring physical boundaries helps children to build confidence in themselves, physically and mentally. This confidence seeps into every aspect of their lives–academically, socially, and emotionally.
- #16 – For dandelion fluff and helicopter seed pods
- #17 – For the discovery that things are made to change–frogs and caterpillars, seeds and stones–and that we are part of that, as well
- #18 – Reading about life cycles, such as that of a butterfly or a frog, is all well and good. But witnessing these cycles in nature, seeing them first-hand, connects in our consciousness on a deeper level. It’s the difference between hearing a description of how a sun-warmed peach tastes and actually tasting one. Sense memory is so powerful, and it sticks around. A child who has watched the tadpoles in the pond grow legs and become frogs will carry that experience with them forever.
- #19 – For the butterscotch-vanilla smell of ponderosa bark warming in the sun
- #20 – For the feeling of pine resin on your hands
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