Wednesday, September 11, 2013

It's not quite what you think: exploring Native American life

The boys squat in a woven wigwam.  senk 2013
I looked at the paper-and-stapler-based strategy More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide To Traditional North American Indian Life by Laurie Carlson (1994:13-14) suggested for a wigwam and frowned. "Surely we can do a little better than that," I thought. So, we donned boots and sleeved-shirts and headed to the harvested corn rows in our garden. Then, together, we bent, tied, and wove corn stalks, Johnson grass, small okra stalks, large gourd leaves, and clumps of grasses to fabricate a wigwam, which the boys could play in rather than just hold.

Bugs swarmed, dust stuck to our sweaty arms, and our hands, hair, and faces were browned from dirt and crumbled fronds. It was mid-morning and the sun was just about the get hot. If Joey had been in a public school, the teacher would likely have chosen the simpler paper-and-stapler-based craft, which would have been constructed at his table and in air-conditioning while surrounded by tons of other friendly and happy Kindergarteners. But, in our homeschool setting, we mucked outside and created something life-sized that two brothers could enjoy for days. And, we needed a shower.

The Virginia History SOLs for Kindergarten includes knowledge of Indians - more specifically, Powhatan and Pocahontas. But, our family lives in the Shenandoah Valley, not along the coast, where colonists would have met Powhatan Native Americans. Here, Souian-speaking Native Americans inhabited. I want Joey to learn about Native Americans, but I want him to learn about those that lived where we are - or at least as close to where we are as we can get - in addition to other tribes that inhabited the areas coinciding to the United States of America. But, how do we do that when there was so little written about them?

I've pieced together a curriculum from what I can find. It's non-traditional and pulls from myriad resources: books to a living village to Internet sources. I try to pull together activities and learning that are as closely connected to what might have been going on in this area as possible. Of course, the Shenandoah Valley was prized foremost for its rich hunting grounds, which even yielded elk at one time. But, in the surrounding areas what would life have been like in a small village? Although my list of resources is by no means complete, it gives a springboard that may be helpful to other families looking for resources on Native Americans (beyond those encountered by the early settlers).

"Journey to 10,000 B.C." - Paleo-Indians were the first place to start after we briefly covered the history of the Earth (which will be revisited over and over). Russell actually found some fascinating videos on the history of the earth (one a time-lapse video; another an addictive music video). While there is so much more for Joey to learn about the Clovis culture, we have just started exploring information that will be helpful in his understanding of this culture. We're fortunate to live near the Thunderbird Archaeological Site in Warren County, which is a wealth of information - but, now to figure out how to tap into it.

A majority of our focus, though, has been on Native American groups more contemporary with the first European settlers. There are a variety of books I'm consulting. Some provide a broad conceptual idea of Native Americans in Northern America, such as Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi by David Bushnell (1922:43-44), The Siouan Tribes of the East by James Mooney (1894), and a plethora of Archaeology books. Indian America: A Geography of North American Indians by Marian Ney (1977:4-5, 48-49) provides a a geographic distribution of North American Indians and, to my joy, of the Indian confederations of Virginia (including Manahoac, which was likely nearest the Shenandoah Valley). Other resources have provided activity ideas, such as More Than Moccasins, which I mentioned earlier, and History Pockets: Native Americans (which correlates to state and common core state standards). Yet other books have given a voice to Native Americans for our family: a huge handful of children's books surrounding legends, American Indian Myths and Legends edited by Richard Erdoes & Alfonso Ortiz, and Great Speeches by Native Americans edited by Bob Blaisdell.

Monacan Village at Natural Bridge.  senk 2013
Other useful resources have been on-line or in-person. That is, we visited the Monacan Village living museum at Natural Bridge in Rockbridge County, VA. The Monacan Indian Nation provides a good resource for historical and contemporary information on the Monacans, who constituted a second of the three confederations of Virginia (yes, you've probably guessed the third already: Powhatan). Virginia Tribes from Manahoac to Tutelo is an on-line resource with basic information on Virginian tribes.

With all that I pulled together, Joey and Ezra have been able to engage their senses as we explore the culture and history of Native Americans. They've worn clothing indicative of cultural attire. They've snacked on corn popped and drizzled with maple syrup, sun-dried raisins, and roasted sunflower seeds. We fabricated a wigwam in our yard. We've listened to stories and music indicative of Native American life. We've toured a Monacan village and made Native American games from shells, pottery, and sticks. And we continue to explore these fascinating lifestyles. Throughout the entire process, we've all learned that authenticity (or as close as we can make it) enhances learning.

There is so much to learn and so much richness in exploring Amerindian cultures. So, instead of just talking about Powhatan and Pocahontas, dare to explore more of what Indian America was (and is) like. Please feel free to add a comment about other resources you have found to be useful in studying Native American culture, history, and life.

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