Homeschool Club Relaunch

Sweet Water Foundation kicked off 2022 ready to re-engage students and families in the Seeding The Future program. The team has connected with educators from nearby schools to plan virtual and in-person programming in the spring and is continuing to create and refine lesson plans for the upcoming year. In early January, SWF also launched a Homeschool Club to engage families not enrolled in one of SWF’s partner schools. The Seeding The Future Homeschool Club meets weekly via Google Meet to explore a variety of urban ecology topics. Read more about SWF Homeschool Club.

Over the course of summer 2021, a number of neighborhood children began to visit The Commonwealth weekly with their families to harvest from the Community Gardens and attend the Friday Farmer’s Market.  As relationships grew, Community Wellness Wednesdays emerged as a new weekly ritual at SWF, welcoming local residents and children to help weed, water, and cultivate the SWF Community Farm and, afterwards, enjoy a farm-to-table lunch. 

To keep the connections flowing amidst wintery weather, the SWF team established the Seeding The Future Homeschool Club in early 2022.  The first session was spent reconnecting after the holidays and brainstorming ideas for virtual lessons that would take place January - March.  The homeschool club did not hold back and expressed their interests, which included worms, snakes, butterflies, mushrooms, cooking, drawing, and more. After collecting their feedback, the SWF team got to work creating lessons for the group. 

So far this year, the Seeding the Future Homeschool Club has covered lessons covering topics such as Butterflies, Mushrooms, Ecosystem Energy Flows, and Thermal Energy. Each lesson includes a hands-on element, with materials delivered or picked up prior to the session, and most integrate the arts through drawing. Homeschool Club lessons have been created by the SWF team and apprentices and, many, were digitally supported by the work of RND Research Interns during their 3-week convergence. 

The Homeschool Club will continue to meet virtually until the weather allows us to welcome club members back to The Commonwealth for in-person lessons and activities on Community Wellness Wednesdays.