In 1996 we created and published the Gardening Adventures Award Program in order to make a curriculum available that integrated gardening with academics. It was our goal to provide a very user-friendly workook that would carry both teacher and student. We introduced an award program to jump-start the kids’ interest in the lessons and motivate them to get engaged.

In our trial run, which was directed toward home-based education, we worked with over three hundred students from forty-one states. When the children sent in their work for review we were overwhelmed to see the effort and enthusiasm displayed in their performance. Our observations were reinforced by the correspondence that followed from parents, curriculum specialists, and educators expressing their appreciation for the program.

It's exciting to see how the gardening-and-education concept has grown.