permaculture

[Jenny Katz <jennykatz@sbcglobal.net>]

Hi all--

I've been playing around with something I'm calling "greenschooling"-- 
education in the permacultural mold, which is to say: environmentally  
based, but taking nature as structure and model rather than just as  
subject matter. Greenschooling, in other words, is education that  
grows the awareness of learning (and living) in relationship. All  
knowledge, of course, as I don't need to tell you permies, exists in  
relationship; the patterns of "knowledge" and "truth," like the  
patterns of "tree" or "zone one," emerge as a relationship between  
knower and known, between self and environment, between fact and  
context.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with these ideas. I'd be  
homeschooling, but my ex-husband says no, so I'm trying to see the  
gift in that and develop something greater--a solution that benefits  
not only my own two kids (ages 6 and 10) but also helps other  
families, too. I'm interested in developing a series of simple  
techniques (awareness techniques, maybe) that anyone, of any age,  
could implement at any time to increase his or her understanding of  
these patterns, these relationships. I don't want to create a new  
curriculum; instead, I want to shape a lens for understanding the  
indivisible classroom--the curriculum that the world is presenting us  
at all times. It's easy to see and feel the connections when we're in  
the garden or in the woods; harder to do so during math class or the  
dentist appointment. But they're no less valid, and no less present,  
in math class. I want to try and figure out some ways to make this  
clear.

I'm gonna get a website up soon, either at greenschooling.com or at  
indivisibleclassroom.com. If anyone has any suggestions of great  
resources or great people, I'd love to hear...

yours,
Jenny in Connecticut