I was thinking about Walt Whitman as Steven and I walked along the red sand road to the Rose Bud Hill Pioneer Settlement. This tree lined forest lane was our road less traveled as Steven started a new adventure as an independently schooled kid. Steven was running ahead checking out all the informative signs along the trail. This was his first day as an independent learner. I wanted him to realize that he could learn easily so I set up this little trip to the Rose Bud Hill historic settlement.
Being a typical 14 year old he didn't want to look like a geek carrying a notebook. To tell you the truth I wouldn't have done it either so we took a digital camera instead. Don't make a kid feel embarassed. The fact is that you can do as much or more with a digital camera than you can with a notebook. He took an absurd number of pictures but in the process he documented everything there was to document. He photographed the information signs along with anything else that caught his attention so they could be placed in a PowerPoint. Make use of technology. Remember we are dealing with a species we might called technokids. A 14 year old has never lived without cell phones. There is no reason to take copious notes when photographs can illustrate everything.
We walked a few hundred more feet when I was almost scared to death. Suddenly a deer jumped up out of the bushes. I reacted as if it was bigfoot. But what a beautiful animal. After I realized I wasn't going to be Bigfoots lunch I kept thinking about food. "Steven, what could that animal be used for by the people who lived here?" He immediately said "you can eat it". "What else can you do with it?" He thought for a minute and then said "you can make clothes with the skin." Then he decided that you could dry the meat for the winter.
Then we heard a furious commotion in a tree. We looked up to see several squirrels jumping from limb to limb in the top of a huge Red Oak. He ran over to the base of the enormous tree. He bent over backwards trying to look at what was creating the problem in the treetop. A loud chattering sound could be heard. Then I heard him yell squirrels. Look they're fighting. I asked, "can you eat squirrels." He made a horrible face while saying I guess so. "Yes, you can", I said. Lets see what you've learned so far. This particular forest can provide two things you need to succeed in making a settlement; food and clothing. He ran over and took a picture of the tracks left by the deer. Without really trying Steven had learned that sources of food had to be in place for settlements to work.
He kept taking pictures and carefully photographed all the explanatory markers. Soon he yelled John come here. I walked over as fast as my arthritic knees would carry me and he said look at this. He pointed me to a sign that explained the Sassafras plant. The sign explained that he could create tea from the roots. I told him that I had drunk Sassafras tea as a child. Steven wanted to know what it tasted like. I told him it was kind of like root beer. So we had found more food. But the more important thing is that he was learning these concepts with no effort while having fun in a relaxed, enriching environment. He was deeply, intrinsically motivated to learn. He soon came up with the idea that you could actually make a meal from the forest.
Finally we made it to Rosebud Hill. We stood at the entrance to the peaceful farmstead looking at the log buildings. Steven walked first to a one room cabin. The cabin had a rope bed on one side and a table. Over the table was a hanging candle holder. There was a log stove that would have provided heat and a way to cook. The walls of the cabin were chinked with a mixture of mud and pine straw. I asked where did they get the materials to build this cabin? Steven thought about it for a moment then said well, duh, from the forest. "Exactly", I said, "that's another thing that has to exist for people to survive; building materials for shelter". We walked out of the cabin over to the fenced garden where we could see the rich soil. Various greens were growing along with other winter crops. Then on to the chicken yard, the pig pen, the outhouse and, finally, the main house of the farm which consisted of two rooms. The large room was the center of all the family life; eating, socializing, sleeping along with protection from the elements. The second room housed another rope bed for the parents of the family. After we examined all the features of the demonstration farm we walked behind the homestead to the Akokisa indian village.
As we walked through the village we talked about the need for people to trade with each other. We also talked about the need for people to establish mutually beneficial relationships to survive. Steven brought up the idea that the indians probably helped the settlers by teaching them ways to live in the forest. "True enough, I said, "and they also probably traded with them." Steven said "I bet that is another reason people settle somewhere." We sat down on a log. "Let's go over some things. What do we know now about why groups settle at a location?" Steven thought for a while then said "well they had to have food. They had to have material for shelter. They had to have somewhere to trade for things they wanted to use. But, don't they need water?" I said "well, let's see what they had for water." So we walked down a trail that led us to beautiful Spring Creek.
More pictures were taken along the way. When we got to the creek Steven realized another important reason for settling here. Not only was there water but he saw a pontoon boat in the creek. He said "they could travel on this couldn't they?". Without opening a book, hearing a lecture or doing a google search he had realized that there was a need for transportation. Looking at a map posted there we found that Spring Creek drains into the San Jacinto River. Then the San Jacinto River drains into the Gulf of Mexico where, at least hypothetically, the whole world could be reached from the Rose Bud Hill settlement.
Later that day after we arrived back at the house we sat down to debrief. "Ok, I asked, what can you say about why settlements are placed in particular locations?" Steven spent the next ten minutes telling me that there had to be natural resources to provide food and shelter. He talked about the need for adequate water. Another quality of an area he mentioned was easy transportation to other locations. And finally he talked about the ability to trade with other people. But that wasn't all he talked about. He mentioned having good soil to grow food. he told about the need for animal resources to provide clothing and meat. But then he surprised me a bit when he talked about the politics that had to work between the population of native people and the settlers. From there we talked about how relationships are established between groups of people. I found that I was able to motivate him to make a list of things to study as an extension of what he had learned. He wanted to do a study of the plant and animal biology of Jones Park. That evening I found him looking up more local indian populations on the computer.
A couple of weeks past. I walked past his table where he was working. As I passed I casually asked him "what kinds of things have to exist for a human settlement to exist". He thought for a minute then said "it's like Rosebud Hill. You have to have some food, some water, transportation, trade, materials to make shelter and you have to be able to get along with the other people who live there". The novelty of the way he was taught those concepts burned them into his brain with no effort.
Don't ever be afraid to abandon the books for the real world. Just get out there. Look around you. Everyone lives in a place where there were natural resources, trade opportunities, transportation to other places available and shelter when your city was established. Get out into your community with your kids. Show them your world and why people came to live there. Keep in mind that local historical demonstration parks are nothing less than time machines. They provide a lens directly to the lives of the original people who came to live in your world. They teach through direct contact with all the senses of a child. They show through true experiential learning why every city and community in the world exists. Get out there in the world. Rescue your kid from the four, square walls of a classroom. Move on to the future of learning. Take your child on a time machine to see why your present world exists. The whole world is waiting to teach your child.
Author Info:
John McGeough is a professional teacher, change agent, and child advocate since 1973. John has had the career of a renaissance man. He has been a professional trumpet player, a professional conductor, a successful music instructor, a biology teacher, an outrageously successful middle school music and science teacher. He is now a youth pastor serving children of all types from his ministry. He is committed to making the world a better place for children from all backgrounds. John believes that the era of mass education is dead. It just hasn't laid down yet. John believes in the all American concept of the independent American responsible for himself, making decisions for himself without the help of pervasive government interference.
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