February Homeschool Series

Camp Bayou will be conducting another Homeschool Series, this time the theme is Florida's Native People.

The classes will take place on consecutive Fridays in February from 10am-noon. The cost is just $20 for the four week program, collected on the first day, Friday, February 3, 2012.

Each week's specific topic will include hands-on activities, including crafts and games, plus optional do-at-home activities that include materials that review the previous session and/or prepare for the next session. A vocabulary list is also provided each week that includes terms used during the sessions. This list plus online resources for further investigations will be posted on this blog for easy referral through the month.

Syllabus:
Feb. 3:
- Introduction
- Shelter construction- students will learn basic construction materials for primitive shelter and help add thatched walls to hut in recreated native camp.
- Storytelling- students listen to one of many native tales with this interactive story told by White Feather.
- Fiber crafts- students learn about various fiber crafts and their uses then make one or more items using techniques similar to the ancient ways.
- Optional take home craft to create item to return for use in native peoples program.

Feb. 10:
- Stone, Bone, Shell and Pottery- students will view a selection of native artifacts and discuss their uses with Dr. George.
- Pinch pots- students will construct a basic pinch pot as they follow simple instructions.
- Archaeologist Hour- students will learn some basic archaeology principles then investigate their assigned grid and carefully document findings as they unearth simulated artifacts and reconstruct the pieces to determine original appearance.
- Optional home activity to create a story to describe the artifact and its use in the culture of the tribe.

Feb. 17:
- Games- students will learn games of skill and chance that were common for youth of native tribes with Ms. Jeri.
- Communication- students will learn words from one or more of the native tribes in the Southeast, plus sign language.
- Storytelling- students will read their story, if they have created one, and/or take part in a group storytelling session.
- Optional home activity is to think of food item that the native people may have eaten to bring to share at next week's final session.
(Note: This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count - consider participating in this year's count; which species of bird might you see now that was not present 500 years ago? Think introduced and invasive...)

Feb 24:
- Native food trail walk- Students will look for plants and signs of animals that native people may have used for food.
- Discussion about how food was located, collected, prepared and stored.
- Native foods buffet, including items brought from home to share.

Pre-registration required with payment of $20/child for 4-week session due on Feb 3. Adults are free and must accompany child(ren). Program suitable for ages 6-12. Contact Dolly at campbayou@gmail.com. Include in your email:
Name(s) of child(ren):
Age(s) of child(ren):
Name of adult accompanying child:
Email address of adult:
Phone number:
Zip code:

These activities are part of a Be Out There!-NWF, Get Outdoors Florida!, "Let's GO"- C&N, No Child Left Inside, and Let's Move Outside inspired initiative.

Camp Bayou is neither a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the Center offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching, nature photography and trail walks.

The Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is a public- private partnership between the newly created, non-profit Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc. (BOLD), the non-profit Ruskin Community Development Foundation, Inc. (RCDF) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org/ or call 813-641-8545.