Teaching Outdoors

Lately, I have been catching up on some magazine reading that I have neglected for way too long. One article that I read tells about a kindergarten teacher who is an outdoorsman. He brings his love of the outdoors into his classroom and uses everything about outdoors to teach his students everyday concepts from math to science to language to word recognition. Using various tools such as deer antlers, turtle shells, track imprints, skulls, feathers, and more, he opens the eyes of the children to the outside world around them and causes them to being to appreciate the beauty of the natural world around them. Several times a year, he takes them on short field trips to pick strawberries at a local farm, to walk through the woods searching for items left behind by nature, or just to be outside soaking in the possibilities of learning there. He routinely mentions his love of hunting and fishing without forcing it onto their impressionable minds. He also has future plans to build an elevated blind on a piece of nearby property where the kids can just watch silently and observe nature going about its normal routine.

I am really impressed by his methods of teaching. His love for the outdoors shows in everything he does. Most of the parents are supportive of his methods but there are a few who are concerned that their child will be negatively affected by them, especially when he mentions hunting and fishing. He listens to their concerns and then explains that he doesn't focus on the killing aspect of a hunt. He just shows hunting and fishing as a natural part of the environment. I agree totally. The more humans remove themselves from any interaction with nature, the more they want to just ignore it and act as if they can live without it. One doesn't have to actually kill an animal to interact with it. There are always other ways such as birdwatching, kayaking, or hiking that can keep us in contact with the natural world.

It's a shame that there are not more like him in our schools today, not just in the USA but worldwide. I see a growing general trend across the globe (especially in urban areas) where most people have no knowledge of the outdoors nor do they have one ounce of interest in learning anything about it. I am constantly amazed at the ignorance out there when it comes to common facts about nature. People can't tell the difference between well-known animals like deer and antelope let alone something as obscure as a Dusky Wood-swallow (Artamus cyanopterus). If it's not a video game, a club, or any other venue of entertainment, people could care less about their surroundings. I realize that not everyone has a great interest in the outdoors. We are all diverse in our likes and dislikes. However, I am convinced that if children are shown how to appreciate nature and to learn from it, they will grow to be more responsible adults and think twice about their actions before doing them. God has commanded His children to care for His creation as a loving father would care for his child. Have we really followed that commandment?