Groundwork: the landscape track.
The first trade with a full pathway behind it. Twenty hands-on missions across five levels, starting where a ten-year-old can do real work and ending somewhere a contractor would recognise. Level 1 is written and ready to teach.
The four Level 1 lessonsBack to the trades
- Levels
- 5
- Missions
- 20
- Career lanes
- 12
- Written so far
- Level 1
Discovery first. Career choice later.
A ten-year-old shouldn't leave a lesson thinking "I have to pick a career." They should leave thinking "there are a lot of different ways I could fit into this." Everything here is built around that difference.
Lessons run 20–25 minutes, need ordinary supplies, and have no quiz to grade. The yard outside is the textbook.
Written for ages 10–12 — a step up from the Kit #1 crowd, and the age the modules were tested with.
I am good at this. I like working this way. There are real careers here, and I can see how to get there.
What a student should be able to say
Each level changes what a student can do
- 01BasicI can identify it.
- 02ModerateI can do it.
- 03IntermediateI understand why.
- 04AdvancedI can solve problems.
- 05Pre-apprenticeI can be trusted with it.
By Mission 20, teams take a real site problem from idea to final walkthrough — measure, plan, estimate, build, clean up, and explain the work. That's the bridge into an apprenticeship.
Four lessons — free to download the beta
Each one is a facilitator PDF: run of show, the script for the hook, the hands-on activity, an exit challenge, and a home assignment. These are beta drafts — take them, run them, and tell us what needed changing.
01 — Welcome to the landscape industry
Landscaping is dozens of careers, not one job. Students meet six teams and walk to the one they'd pick as scenarios are read out.
Outcome: a personal career map · 20–25 min
02 — Tools, safety & the jobsite
A deliberately careless work area, and one question: would you hire this crew? Then tools, PPE by task, and a hazard hunt.
Outcome: jobsite ready · 20–25 min
03 — Become a site detective
Read an ordinary yard as clues: sun, water, slope, soil, what's there, how people use it. Then separate what you saw from what you're guessing.
Outcome: a site map · 20–25 min
04 — Soil, water & plants
Three cups of soil, one measured pour, predictions written first. Breaks the reflex that a struggling plant always needs more water.
Outcome: a soil and water test · 20–25 min
Levels 2 to 5 are in development: measuring and layout, planting, maintenance, drainage, design, hardscape, diagnostics, estimating, crew communication, and the capstone.
One industry, twelve ways in
The kid who sketches, the one who likes machines, the plant expert, the builder, and the future owner all belong here.
- Design
- Landscape architecture
- Hardscape construction
- Installation
- Maintenance
- Turf & plant health
- Irrigation & water
- Tree care
- Nursery & greenhouse
- Specialty services
- Management
- Business ownership
Lanes follow how the National Association of Landscape Professionals describes the field. Formal landscape apprenticeships start at 16 — this track is what comes before.