A Natural Fit

To date, there have only been a couple of agriculture based charter elementary schools in the nation, but such an agriculture integrated curriculum is gaining supporters. In fact, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has recently approved a grant to fund curriculum for the School for Agriculture and Environmental Studies. A charter school receives public money but has the freedom to enhance their curriculum, while still being accountable for producing specific results set forth in the school’s charter. The project based, cooperative approach of charter schools is an ideal setting to teach students about agriculture and offer them the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to the real world. This focus on agriculture allows students to experience hands on learning through time spent actually visiting and helping out at local farms, and growing and selling their own vegetables, while having the chance to put new technology to work in developing gardening and business plans, researching plant hardiness, and keeping production records. While it’s not about “creating farmers” , it is about teaching children that agriculture is naturally all around us.