We Didn’t Set Out to Create a Curriculum…
We simply wanted children to fall in love with learning.
I’m April Viles. I’m a wife, mom, grandma, farmer’s wife, and one of the founders of Sand n Straw Community Farm and Young Pioneers in Vista, California.
I never imagined that our family would own a farm, welcome hundreds of children each week, or create a curriculum for families across the country.
Honestly, none of this was part of some big plan. It grew little by little as we followed where God was leading us.
It Started with Our Family
Our story began when health challenges in our family caused us to take a closer look at the food we were eating and how it was being grown.
Rich started gardening so we could grow healthier food for our family. As the garden grew, so did our interest in the soil, where our food comes from, and how everything in nature works together.
That small garden eventually grew into a much bigger dream.
In 2018, when Rich and I were around 50 years old, we bought a six-acre farm in Vista, California. We named it Sand n Straw Community Farm.
We had a lot to learn—and we are still learning.
We began growing food using regenerative practices without pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. We learned by putting our hands in the soil, paying attention, making mistakes, and trying again.
Looking back, I think that experience shaped the way we now teach children. You do not always need to know everything before you begin. Sometimes you learn best by doing the work and discovering the answers along the way.
Then the Children Came
When the world shut down in 2020, families were looking for safe places where their children could get outside, move, and learn.
We began inviting children to the farm. In January 2021, Young Pioneers started with just 17 children.
The children planted seeds, harvested vegetables, prepared food, studied insects, built projects, conducted science experiments, cared for animals, and explored the farm.
We began seeing children learn in ways we had not expected.
Children who struggled to sit still could stay completely focused when they were building something or working in the garden.
Children willingly read recipes because they wanted to make the food.
They were excited to take home carrots they had pulled from the ground to share with their families. Some children carried a flower around all day because they wanted to give it to their mom.
Parents told us their children would not stop talking about the farm. Some children even told us they wanted to live here when they grew up.
That is when we knew something special was happening.
Young Pioneers grew mostly through word of mouth. One family told another, and today we serve close to 400 children each semester.
Our Lessons Were Tested with Real Children
The Web of Life was not created behind a desk by someone guessing what children might enjoy.
It came from years of teaching children at Young Pioneers.
Every week, our teachers created lessons in science, nature, gardening, cooking, art, and homesteading. We watched what worked and what did not.
We learned which activities made children curious, which instructions needed to be clearer, which questions led to the best conversations, and which lessons the children continued talking about after they went home.
Then we adjusted the lessons and taught them again.
We have been able to do something that many curriculum writers never have the opportunity to do: teach our lessons to children before asking families to use them at home.
That experience shaped everything inside The Web of Life.
Parents Wanted to Bring the Farm Home
Parents began asking us how they could recreate this kind of learning at home.
They wanted their children outside more. They wanted them cooking, gardening, building, experimenting, and understanding where their food comes from.
But they also needed it to be doable.
Most parents do not have hours to research a subject, plan an activity, make a supply list, find a video, and then figure out how to teach it to several different ages.
I completely understand that. It is easy to have wonderful intentions and still find yourself wondering on Sunday night, “What are we going to do this week?”
That is why we created The Web of Life.
From Our Farm to Your Kitchen Table
The Web of Life is our farm experience brought into your home.
We took the lessons that worked with real children at Young Pioneers and adapted them for families with children ages 5–10.
The curriculum brings together science, nature, gardening, cooking, homesteading, history, creativity, and practical life skills.
We do not believe learning always needs to be divided into separate subjects because that is not how life works.
When a child bakes bread, they are learning chemistry, measuring, reading, sequencing, history, and a skill they can use for the rest of their life.
When they plant a seed, they are learning about soil, weather, plant biology, food, patience, and responsibility.
When they explore a pond, they are learning about habitats, life cycles, food chains, observation, and how living things depend on one another.
Everything is connected. That is where the name The Web of Life came from.
You Do Not Need a Farm
I think this is important to say: You do not need a farm to use The Web of Life.
You do not need acres of land, a large garden, expensive supplies, or years of experience.
You can use these lessons in your backyard, on your patio, at a park, around your kitchen table, or with a few pots by the front door.
You also do not need to be a science teacher, gardener, cook, or expert homeschool mom.
Sometimes parents look at beautiful pictures of hands-on learning and think, “I want that for my children, but I do not know how to make it happen.”
We want to help make it happen.
We give you the background information, supply list, instructions, questions, videos, and age adaptations. You open the lesson, gather a few supplies, and begin.
You do not need to know every answer before your child asks the question. Some of the best learning happens when you say, “I don’t know. Let’s find out together.”
What We Believe About Children
We believe children are capable of much more than we sometimes give them credit for.
They can prepare real food.
They can grow something and care for it.
They can use real tools when they are given proper instruction.
They can ask good questions, solve problems, take responsibility, and learn from mistakes.
Children do not always need us to entertain them. They need opportunities to participate in something real.
We have watched children develop confidence because they made something with their own hands. We have seen children become willing to taste a vegetable because they helped grow it. We have watched them slow down long enough to notice a bird, an insect, a flower, or a change in the weather.
When children learn to notice the world around them, they begin to understand it. When they understand it, they begin to care about it.
Our hope is that children will fall in love with God’s creation and grow into people who want to care for it.
Meet April and Rich
Rich is the farmer in our family. He is a gardener, teacher, problem-solver, and the person who is always trying to figure out how to make something grow better.
He has a gift for making gardening feel less intimidating. He wants people to understand that they do not need to know everything or have the perfect setup before they start growing food.
I am the farmer’s wife, although that title has ended up including a few more jobs than I expected.
I help lead Young Pioneers, work with our teachers, develop curriculum, tell the stories of the farm, and encourage parents who want something different for their children but may not know where to begin.
Rich and I are also parents and grandparents. We know how quickly childhood goes by.
Together with our family and our incredible team of teachers, we have helped turn a working farm into a place where children can learn where their food comes from, discover what they are capable of, and experience learning in a way they will remember.
Why We Created The Web of Life
Years from now, children may not remember every worksheet they completed or every fact they memorized.
But they may remember the first tomato they grew.
They may remember making bread with their mom, watching a butterfly emerge, identifying a bird, or running outside to see what happened to an experiment.
They may remember carrying a flower around all day because they could not wait to give it to someone they loved.
Those moments may look simple, but they matter.
They teach children to be curious, capable, observant, and connected to their families and the world around them.
That is why we created The Web of Life.
It was grown on our farm, tested with real children, and created for the parent who wants learning to feel meaningful but needs someone to help make it doable.
We hope it gives you the encouragement to gather your children, open a lesson, and discover something together.
Come Learn with Us
Would you like to see what a Web of Life lesson looks like?
Start with a real lesson and see how hands-on learning can work for your family.
