Practicing the Kamana Guide

One thing that has kept me from writing blog posts, looking at my Instagram feed, prepping family meals, keeping up with friends – basically you name it – has been my venture into the homeschool experience. I vacillate. There’s part of me that wants to embrace the “unschooly” mind set. And another part of me that wants to ensure my son knows his letter sounds. And then a really big part of me that is on a quest to have my son. The bottom line is, no matter where I land, I find our lives and experience have more meaning when I do some preparation for what learning is in store for us. Preparation equals time, all those unpaid hours that teachers put in.

Foxtracks in Felton

Last year, our first year of homeschooling, my confidence and direction were at their most wobbly. The strongest sense I had was a tug in my heart that said “I want my children to be connected to nature.” I myself, enjoy a walk now and again. I’ve had many opportunities to connect with nature. And yet, I felt this lack in me. So I’m not sure how I thought I would foster this connection. Originally, I thought “we’ll just take walks every morning.” I had no plan how to motivate my son Max to do this. In fact, he often complained that his legs were tired when we went on hikes. Yet, put him in a wind-less meadow with a kite and he’d run for 12 hours non-stop (true story). But as often happens with calls of the heart, the universe hears the call.

Max got enrolled in a program called Fox Tracks one day in a week in a redwood forest outside of Santa Cruz. The curriculum was inspired by something called the 8 Shields Model of Mentoring. They definitely have an idea of how to motivate children. You meet them at their passions. Want a 6-year-old boy to sit quietly in a spot outside? You play hide and seek. But you don’t just count to twenty. You let the time linger, maybe tell some really good knock-knock jokes or stories to those ready to seek. And maybe those hiders – buried in the leaf litter – see a hummingbird buzz by, notice the bark pattern, or just feel themselves be quiet for a moment. Makes you wonder where and how that game actually got started.

Tree Whispering

The curriculum goes much deeper than that. I’m glad. I’m on a quest to go deeper. And so, over the summer, I started practicing the Kamana Naturalist Guide for myself. Additionally, I joined another homeschooling mom and we got both our sets of children together to practice the Kamana for Kids. It’s been a thrilling journey, learning how to ignite the passion. And then, on the days you are lucky enough to get a spark, how to focus the flame. Sometimes we’re flying and singing and playing and learning together. Some days there’s moaning and negotiating and well, all those things that go along with being a teacher, or in our cases, hopefully more like mentors as we ourselves journey into our connection with  nature.

There are also the hours spent in the trees, the boys doing what they do best…. pretending. They build. They chop. They defend. They journey. Their play centers them firmly in the “now” in the way we’ve all (or at least I’ve) forgotten how to be. Yeah, those are the “unschooly” moments. Let’s be serious here… those are the “unschooly” hours. They’re awesome. I wish I could remember how to play as awesomely as they do.

I’m not there yet. But here’s a little photo-synapsis of our “learning” in case you get inspired to take-off on this journey yourself. The first book is about Awareness. The children listened to stories about an animal associated with each of the five senses, and we practiced engaging each of these senses. Hopefully at times, using all five keenly at once. It took us about four to six weeks to get through book one. In book two, Hazards, stories were employed again. The children learned what to do if they encountered a mountain lion, a bear, a thunder storm, had hypothermia. We enacted scenarios to help them demonstrate their understanding of these hazards. We are now on book three, gratitude, where we use stories to explore our understanding of how we are connected to this earth and each other, and what it means not just to express but to truly feel a sense of gratefulness.

Experiencing Raccoon Touch

On the look out for lightning

Engaging Deer Ears