Homeschool Class: Outdoorscraft I
Max Class Size: 8, Ages 11 & up
Duration: A three-day class (from 9:30 - 4:00-ish each day, lunch not included).
Description: This class will teach about tree identification/uses; animal tracking skills (with the potential of a Bigfoot tracking adventure); whittling/carving skills; using the skills to build a bow-drill and fire platform to learn how to start fires; basics of stone tool making; making fish hooks and fishing poles.
The classes will be at Sprague Brook Park, and we will be staying in the electrical sites over the whole time, but entry to the park is free, so students could show up in the morning and go home at night. If weather permits, however, we plan to do an evening hike to look for nocturnal animals.
Warning: Stone tool working can produce lots of VERY sharp edges and tiny shards of debitage (stone splinters & microflakes) which can fly from the striking point and cover a large area. Additionally, striking one stone with another without enough care can cause fingers to be squished, and as flakes come off the target rock, sharp edges can come in contact with fingers. Thus, pants, shoes, gloves, and safety glasses/goggles are MUST-haves. Also, the whittling/carving knife must be sharp, as dull knives often cause people to use more force to make a cut, giving them less control and increasing the danger of using them. Gloves are a must-have to prevent irritation and/or blisters to hands unaccustomed to the work, in addition to safety reasons.
Participants will need:
A good whittling/carving knife - very sharp, blade 1-3", comfortable handle; durable gloves (leather or rawhide); safety glasses/goggles; closed shoes (no sandals/crocs, boots preferred); durable clothes (jeans, long sleeved shirt)
If you need the information for your school reports, these are the topics we covered in the Outdoorscraft class:
History Lab (Stone Tool Making - Native American Skills, Bone Tool Making - Native American Skills, Bow Drill Fire Starting - Native American Skills, Coal Bowl Burning - Multilocation Past Peoples Skills)
Botany (Tree Identification, Wood Grain)
Geography (Map Use, Biomes & Tree Growth)
Geology (Rock Types, Rock Crystal Sizes & How They Affect Breaking, Chert Formation)
Physics (Waves of Percussion Inside Rock, How to Apply & Control Forces to Shape Rock)
Shop (Knife Safety, Carving, Coal Burning)
Gym (Tree Identification, Hammerstone Search, Fishing, Animal Tracking)
Homeschool Class: Geology at the Niagara Gorge
A lesson about the formation of rocks, surrounded by the stratigraphy of the (lower) Niagara Gorge in Lewiston. There will be about a 30 minute hike, (which is nice and flat, but can be wet in places, so mud boots aren't a bad idea), and history of the rock layers of Western New York State and the formation of the Gorge. After this hike, we'll break open geodes and talk about some of the things that can occur to rocks after their deposition and formation.
CITIProgram certification of COI Completion.
My bus blog, for a different sort of anthropology