"a limitless field for scientific and historic studies"

“Work on the land is an introduction both to nature and to civilization and gives a limitless field for scientific and historic studies.” -Dr. Maria Montessori , Italian Physician and Educator (first published in 1948)

Dr. Montessori believed that we could achieve a better and more peaceful society by improving the education of young people.

The farm provides the basis for the curriculum at the Farm School, lending itself to project-based, experiential, learning.

Food, Inc. Makes an Impression

Farm School students, faculty, and parents attended a showing of the film Food, Inc. in Warrenton, VA with a follow-up Question and Answer session with Joel Salatin. The film made quite an impression.

At breakfast and lunch the next day, there was a lot of talk about food choices and analysis of where the ingredients for our meals were grown.

While the movie painted some pretty dire problems in the US food system, the students noted that they were proud to be a part of the solution - raising our own pigs for pork, chickens for eggs, and garden for fresh and healthy vegetables and herbs using sustainable farming practices.

In A Word: Braggart

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

To choose the word this week, we opened the dictionary and one of the students closed her eyes and pointed. The dictionary brought us this word: Braggart. Here is one example of how it was used in a composition.

BRAGGART

I lay down in cool grass facing syward,
where the birds and clouds took turns chasing one another in endless blue.
The smell of flowers filled the air.
The trees, tall and mighty, seemed like braggarts,
dancing with color when a breeze blew.
It was the most beautiful day I had ever...

"Erika, keep paddling!"

-Erika, 8th year student

Saving the Basil from the Frost

We harvested the rest of the basil on Friday and are proccesing it into pesto to be frozen for the winter. It will be wonderful to have something to eat from the garden when there is snow on the ground outside!

The basil crop did very well this year. It germinated better, grew better, and has continued to grow longer into the Fall than we expected. This explains the huge piles here in our final harvest. The de-stemming was a whole community effort.

Looking at Algebra Geometrically

The Farm School teaches Algebra using manipulative materials that represent the dimensions X and Y. Rather than memorizing abstract equations without any reference, the materials help the students to develop a concrete image of what the equations mean.

This is a natural extension from the Montessori

Elementary materials that lay the groundwork for advanced algebra and geometry. Here the students are using the Algebra materials both individually and in collaborative groups.

Grapes make great community service

Grape vineyards and wineries are integral parts of the landscape and culture of the Blue Ridge.

Farm School students learned about this aspect of our local agriculture up close this week when they picked Chambourcin grapes at Narmada Vineyards in Amissville.

The group picked over 3 tons of grapes!

Many thanks to Pandit Patil and Rob Cox for the opportunity.

No school today? No way!

Friday was technically a holiday. Students and teachers did not have to go to school. So what did we do? We went to school anyway! Students, younger siblings, teachers, and parents gathered at the Farm School to do community work.

In the morning, we built greenhouses to cover the raised beds, worked on the portable chicken house ("chicken tractor"), dug the hole and began to build the walls for the primitive pit fire (in which we will fire our clay pots), unloaded hay, and reorganized the Farmer's Market materials. In the afternoon, we ate lunch and played soccer.

It was a wonderful day. I was touched by the willingness of so many in the school community to volunteer their time and talents when they could have been sleeping in. The students have such ownership of the Farm School that they love to be there working together to get things done. It is a joy to work with these young people.

-Susan, Farm School Director

In a Word: Force

Each Wednesday afternoon, the Farm School students are given a word as they leave school. They go home and write a creative composition using that word. Thursday morning at tea / snack time, they read their composition to the group. The exercise has very few boundaries. It might be poetry, prose, a story, a fable, a diaglogue, etc. The given word may be a common word, such as "fire," or it may be a new vocabulary word requiring research before use. Often the words are an extension of something happening in the school community. Each week we will share one example of the "In a Word" series.

This week the word "force" came from the study of wind energy. The writing this week was an stream-of-consiousness exercise. After breakfast on Friday morning, the students were given the word and 15 minutes in which to write. The only rule was that they must keep writing the entire time. This piece is one example.

FORCE

The force of the blow shook the earth. The tectonic plates rattled and slammed as San Diego dissapeared into the ground. Tsunamis swept through southern Asia, tossing fishermens' boats like a toddler throws its toys when it is angry. Volcanoes erupted and Pompeii returned to its beginnings. Earth is on the verge of collapse and all the world can do is watch helplessly.

-Sam, 9th year student

Philosophy Discussion: Aristotle

9th year students took advantage of the beautiful day to hold Philosophy Seminar outdoors. Here they are discussing Aristotle with a Farm School faculty member.

Farm School students participate in Socratic Seminars and Literature Seminars throughout their three years at the school. The process of exchanging ideas is formalized further in 8th year Logic, and 9th year Euclidian Geometry.

Microbial fun with All Star Septic

Chris Boucher, owner of All Star Septic, and father of a Farm School student, showed students how the septic system worked while he pumped it out.

It tied in perfectly with our recent lessons and experiments on microbial digestion in the Sheep Occupation Project. Students have been conducting experiments to measure the amount of gas released from yeast fermentation under varying conditions.