Some of the Lexington, Ky., homeschoolers organized classes at Big Bone Lick State Park on Wednesday. Their were about 20 kids (surprisingly: all a great group) who learned about the Ice Age, threw atlatls and learned survival skills, including how to start a fire. The naturalist was exceptional and we got all this for $3 a student. It was an incredible deal!!
It was pretty cold out, considering the day prior had been in the mid 70s.
First, the kids learned about the Ice Age and associated animals such as the mastodon and giant ground sloth, portrayed here in a bog diorama. The parks bills itself as the birthplace of American paleontology. Large mammals are said to have been drawn to the area by its salt lick.
Here Hayes portrays the head of a mastodon and warily eyes approaching hunters.
The kids form a glacier to demonstrate how glaciers moved through the upper parts of North America flattening the land and creating hills in our neck of the woods in Kentucky.
Hayes interjected a story about her fossil finds so the naturalist took the kids over to this poster to show them what can be found in the area. A deviation from the day's history lesson.
After our lunch break, we walked with homeschooling friends Riley, Maya and Seth and their mom Holly to see the bison herd. Hello, tatanka! (that's Lakota for buffalo)
We learned about atlatls and all the kids had the opportunity to use one to throw spears. Here's Hayes' demonstration:
After all that learning and playing freeze tag, Chooj just closed his eyes and fell asleep on the couch!
2 comments:
Thanks for your comment over on my homeschool blog. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who takes pictures of their kids in their "not so shining" moments:)
This field trip looks like it was really fun and educational! Wish we had something like this close to us.
This looks like a fun field trip.We have passed by Big Bone Lick on the way to visit my folks in Tennessee.Next time we just might stop.Thanks for visiting my blog.
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