After writing The Permaculture Student (www.thepermaculturestudent.com), I soon realized that just having a permaculture class in traditional schools wasn’t enough, we needed schools that were entirely dedicated to teaching permaculture to children the full academic year and not in summer. In my research and education, I also have come to realize that we cannot force anyone to learn anything, that all is choice-based if we are seeking true intent, and if we do not recognize and design choice into our learning systems, we will never develop the earnest and ethical life-long learners, problem-solvers, critical thinkers & innovators we sorely need.
Instead of focusing on all 9 intelligences, the education system we have is fixed solely on mathematical/logical and verbal/linguistic which neglects visual/spatial, kinesthetic, & naturalist intelligences. This blind focus overtime has crippled our environment not to mention how interpersonal, intrapersonal, existential & musical intellectual neglect has crippled our societies, art and philosophy.
I propose that we end this trend here and now. We say NO MORE. We demand an ethical education by pulling our children out of schools & forming permaculture education groups that pool resources to fund a qualified teacher & generate scalable projects to setup all the homesteads in each group. It combines a CSA, SeedShare, Farm share, PDC, camp, home business incubator, permaculture tool, germplasm & book library, and community self-reliance generator into one small family-focused entity. They don’t have to have an overhead or a traditional building. The teacher can even travel and host the classes at different locations, even in the wilderness, so students can learn from nature itself.
My family and I are starting one of these schools to be the flagship of a movement of these small, community & family focused schools that build resiliency through ethical education that is non-compulsory, play and hands-on service learning with permaculture and the 3 ethics as the backbone.
The Permaculture Student Online
Applying his year’s of working as a teacher with online classes (Minarets.us), Matt has opened an online program to accompany the textbook series. Focused on starting resilient homesteads from scratch, students of all ages and families learn through weekly downloads of 2-3 videos, worksheets, coloring pages, projects, activities, & critical thinking with teacher’s guides, recipes & Q&A with Matt the end of each week.
For more: https://www.thepermaculturestudent.com/shop/thepermaculturestudentonline
Our Objectives:
1.To inspire a love and appreciation for nature’s patterns and systems
2.To re-imagine, repair & make resilient their homes, communities, and degraded landscapes
3.To create sustainable and ethical sources of income
4.To plan and inspire a new way of designing our civilization
About Matt Powers
Matt Powers is an experienced teacher, family guy, author, consultant, farmer, seed saver, plant breeder, musician & permaculturist. Matt has a masters degree in education, a bachelor’s degree in British & American literature, & a certificate in permaculture design from Geoff Lawton’s online permaculture design course.
You can find more about our school here:
https://www.thepermaculturestudent.com/shop/thepermaculturestudentonline
You can help us get our Tipi & other supplies by supporting our IndieGogo campaign:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/permaculture-life-school/x/11054819#/story
