Potato council potatoes for schools – home education resources

One of the most frequent questions when people know we home educate is about resources. What resources are out there? What support do you have? What things can you get access to?

I have to admit, it takes a bit of searching around and word of mouth recommendations initially, but there are some great resources available once you know where to look.

Internet

The internet is a veritable source of all sorts of information and you can get access to lots of resources, freebies and information through it.

Potato council

One scheme we are taking part in this year is the potato council’s potatoes for schools. We signed up and received a package in the post containing:

1- 4 thick black, plastic bags for growing the potatoes in (we don’t actually need those, but it’s great that schools and homes without gardens can take part as well)
2- 2 x rocket seed potatoes
3- 2 x vales emerald seed potatoes
4- 1 water spout – it’s a plastic spout that you can screw ontop of a water bottle!
5- 1 sheet of children’s stickers
6- 1 sheet of variety labels for grow bag identification.

Lesson plans[amazon-product align=”right” small=”1″]1844765695[/amazon-product]

In addition, there are a range of lesson plans, work sheets and ideas available through their website.  You also get access to nutritional information and recipe suggestions to help pupils focus on healthy eating.

Children are encourage to submit their stories to the site to develop their communication and IT skills.

Timings

It was recommended that planting took place around 17th March. We’re a couple of weeks late on that, but our ground was not prepared and it was still very damp on our clay soil!

We’ll be planting this week and I’ll let you know how we get on! If you missed the boat and would like to join in next year, then you can register now.

This is just one of hundreds of home education resources available. Throughout the year I’ll share more about some of the other schemes we are taking part in and I’d love to hear what you are up to!