With more parents wanting a direct and active part in their children’s education, it is no wonder that both homeschooling and unschooling are an increasingly popular choice for families in Ireland.

We work with two separate families, facilitating social garden groups at the children’s own homes. Our experience in growing food can help to supplement the children’s learning and help to build a love of the outdoors, as well as an interest in the environment around them. Our approach to each family is tailored to their specific wishes and needs. We happily work alongside parents and children in their own garden space.

The parents of one group of children who are taught at home wanted their kids to learn the important skill of growing food. Every week in the busy gardening months we sow seeds, plant them out, and harvest what the children have grown. The children are very excited to cook with their own garden produce. Even when the weather is bad, there is still much that can be explored while learning indoors; the earth’s orbit in space and how its tilt creates our seasons, the different kinds of weather and how we can learn to predict it, how plants make food for themselves and seeds for next year. These are only a few of the things we have studied within our Space to Grow children’s garden groups.