Teaching in the Great Outdoors

I've spent a great couple of days at camp with some sixth graders from my school.  I've attended with them several years, and I've managed to get to lead the nature hike more often than not.  I LOVED hiking with my Dad as a kid, and enjoy sharing the hiking experience with others.  To me, it's the ultimate outdoor education.

Once we got the kids settled into their cabins and playing outside before lunch, I had one another teacher show me the basic road for the hike.  Fortunately, she was game enough to head off on many of the side trails with me.  I'm definitely a road-less-traveled kind of hiker!  This first run gave me a chance to scope out points of interest and get my bearings.  Once I've traveled an area, I don't get lost.

After lunch, the real fun began- hiking with 16 kids.  I must say, they followed directions pretty well, and were pretty eager to follow me "off road" for a while.  Apparently, trail names like "Shady Maples" and "Jungle Trail" beg kids (and yours truly) to come explore.  Unnamed ones that curve into dark woods just demand it!  

We spent time looking at turtles, stick bugs, dung beetles, lichens, poison ivy (good to know), wild persimmons, a spider building a web, and a tree being strangled by a vine.  Of course, some groups were quite fascinated by the animal scat, which also led to some interesting discussions!  I love the more informal teaching atmosphere of a trail and the challenge of keeping up with a huge range of topic as students began noticing different things.  Knowing the kids and classes they came from meant I could link to specific experiences we had in common.  I led 6 different groups of students, and no two hikes were the same!

Today, I had a chance to try out some more of the trails, finding short cuts, hidden bridges, and some wildlife.  My first run of the morning was on my own, and it even included my devotion time.  Later, a small group of adventurous girls spent their recess/free time on another hike with me.  We even braved two overgrown trails, even though one proved to be impassible.  

The rain held off long enough to get all the groups through the trails.  My last group headed out a bit early with me, allowing us to arrive at the zip line before the rain.  My knee was also cooperative, holding out for the last group before "giving out" on me.  I'm relaxing with a hot drink and Motrin this evening.  I'm definitely feeling the aches right now, but look forward to next time!