Journal Entry 4: Unschooling, Stalking Pumpers and Building Awareness Skills -

When I homeschooled (unschooled) my kids, we hiked almost every day with our goats. As part of their schooling to learn about nature, I read out of Tom Brown’s books on nature observation, tracking and stalking. The kids practiced the “fox walk” while we were out in the pasture.

I read to them Tom Brown’s adventures of stalking and sneaking up on unaware campers and boaters. They especially enjoyed these stories and wanted to sneak up on the next available unaware soul.

So the next time we went hiking, the kids saw the pumper coming down the road to check the gas wells for the neighboring rancher. They said, “let’s practice stalking!” So I stood off at a distance out of view of the pumper and watched. They got all quiet and walked softly in a slow fox walk and then crouched below the yucca and mesquite when the pumper looked out the pickup window.

He stopped at the meter building next to the gas well and got out to read the chart. The kids crept up closer, daring each other to get closer every few minutes, while the pumper walked around the well site checking things and then eventually getting back into his truck and leaving.

He never saw two small kids almost in plain site a few feet from him. He was oblivious to his surroundings, never once looking around.

After he left, the kids talked non-stop on the rest of our hike about the next time they would play tricks on the pumper.

Awareness skills are essential where you are. When you get too comfortable in your routine, you miss the unexpected changes in your surroundings. It could have been a rattlesnake, a mountain lion or a lost baby goat (true story—another pumper did find ours—he never expected to find a baby goat miles away from the closest houses.)

What routine are you comfortable in? Do you look at your surroundings between your door and car before leaving the house? Or before stepping out into the backyard?