Getting hands-on in nature with Appalachian & Indigenous cultures // Intercultural Microgrant Guest Blog
The following guest blog is from 2024 Intercultural Microgrant recipient Red Oaks Forest School, who received funding through our partnership with Kentucky Waterways Alliance. Learn more about this project at kyrux.org/microgrants/2024.
About Red Oaks Forest School’s Homeschool Humanities Program Fall 2024 Semester
The RUX Microgrant has helped us remove financial barriers by providing scholarships to families/students wanting to participate in our newest program.
Red Oaks Forest School’s Vision, Mission, and Values
These elements are present in all Red Oaks programming, including Homeschool Humanities.
Our vision is a world where everyone has access to nature and the benefits it brings.
Our mission is to foster a deep and lasting connection to nature and community through exploration, education and play.
Our core values are nature immersion, exploration, wonder, compassion, and community.
Homeschool Humanities Program Mission
Our Homeschool Humanities mission is to foster deep and lasting connections to our shared humanity, planet, and local cultural history through arts education, nature immersion, and play.
In Fall 2024, we used storytelling, music, and visual art to establish and deepen our connections to each other, our natural space, and Appalachian and Indigenous cultures.
Fall 2024 Process
Each class began with our Land Acknowledgement and moment of silent reverence for the Indigenous tribes who were living on this land before us. By the end of the semester, students were leading the Land Acknowledgement themselves!
Next, we would listen to a traditional story from one of those tribes, predominately Cherokee, followed by student-led discussion.
“It seems like a lot of these Indigenous stories talk about being still and quiet in order to connect to nature.” =Student
Lastly, we would look into an integral element of Appalachian culture, which often informed our arts lessons for that day.
A large piece of this was looking into the Native Appalachians, or Cherokee, culture, and ways in which it informed and now intersects with what we know to be traditional Appalachian culture.
Following our arts-based lessons, the final portion of the class was devoted to free play and exploration. This time is essential for students to strengthen connections to each other and our natural space, and to foster confidence and independence.
On our last class of the semester, we showcased what we’d been working on for our friends and family members during our community potluck celebration!
Fall 2024 Resources
Bruchac, J. and Caduto, M.J. (1989). Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children. Fulcrum, Inc.
Duncan, B.R. (2008). The Origin of the Milky Way and Other Living Stories of the Cherokee. University of North Carolina Press.
Pack, L.H. (2009). A is for Appalachia! The University Press of Kentucky.
Checkout these photos from our visual art class!
NART Explorations
Our overriding theme for visual art explorations and lessons this semester was Nature Art, or “NART” as we like to call it! We discussed why arts and crafts might have been important elements of Indigenous and Appalachian cultures, and how these ancient peoples might have created artwork without access to the stores and supplies we have today. We worked both individually and collaboratively on all kinds of natural creations, simultaneously depending connection to our own creativity, our classmates, our natural surroundings, and the ways of the peoples we were studying.
In addition to creating NART, we played games/participated in activities that help us learn to look and perceive our natural surroundings in new ways.
Students especially enjoyed sourcing their own clay from the creek, and using the creek rocks and water to create our own natural rock pigments. We painted our faces and bodies with the rock paint (and later in the semester using watercolors), and discussed Indigenous uses for face/body paint (sun protection, hunting/camouflage, rank distinction, ceremony).
We deepened our connection to our creek by removing invasive flowering species, and we created additional natural pigments using their petals. We worked collaboratively to cover a canvas with the rock and flower paints we’d made, with beautiful results.
Black Walnut Ink
As part of our NART curriculum, we gathered black walnuts and worked together to make our own ink from scratch using the same process as the Indigenous Appalachians. In addition to learning about the black walnut tree and its key identifying features, we also learned about the many Indigenous Appalachian uses for black walnut ink, including wood, basket, and fabric staining, as well as its medicinal uses. We talked about Indigenous medicine people and traditional Appalachian “yarb doctors”, and students shared any natural medicines they create and/or use with their families at home.
Sketchbook Explorations
Students were often prompted to deepen their connection with nature through visual art by taking ‘artist walks’ with their sketchbooks in tow, and creating observational illustrations of natural elements that interest them, and/or filling their books with things they love about nature. We discussed that this too can be considered ‘NART’, with nature being the subject matter of our creations, instead of the media utilized.
Checkout these photos from our music class! Click to enlarge.
This semester, students were introduced to the basic elements of music and learned all of the musical “families” used to classify instruments.
Drumming
Students explored “beat” and learned about the significance of drumming to Indigenous cultures. They saw and played with a drum inspired by traditional Indigenous drums. They heard examples of Indigenous drumming, had their own drum circles, and explored with various percussive instruments throughout the semester.
Rainy Days
The weather for around half of our classes this semester was very wet and rainy. Instead of seeing this as bad luck, we decided to connect with the rain through various “rain making” sound activities. Students also learned about the significance of “rain sticks” in Indigenous culture, and some older students even created their own rain sticks from bamboo, shells, and other natural materials!
Dulcimer
Students learned about the traditional Appalachian instrument, the dulcimer, and had a chance to explore and play with a dulcimer that was created from a turtle shell. They also heard examples of traditional Appalachian music that exclusively features the dulcimer. Their response was that, “it sounds like someone riding a horse, or maybe a bunch of people all dancing together!”.
Instrument Creation
Similar to our NART explorations in art class, music students were prompted to think about how early Indigenous and Appalachian people would have created instruments without music stores to go to. They created all kinds of instruments from natural materials!
Finally, check out these photos that simply show students connecting with each other and nature, and having a great time in this program!
—Red Oaks Forest School
The Kentucky Intercultural Microgrant Program is a seed grant to support two or more individuals or organizations collaborating across distance, difference, or sector on projects that celebrate and connect Kentucky's people and places.
Launched with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Fund for the Arts, the Monument Workshop at UK, the Josh May Memorial Fund, and individual donors, the 2024 Microgrant Program invests in a series of seed grants (awards from $250-2000) to support short-term projects that foster dialogue, connection, or collaboration among Kentuckians from disparate backgrounds, identities, or experiences. Projects that involve diverse partners and invite the public to participate are preferred.