Hardee County kids kick it old school; learn life skills that end summer blahs
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For six years, kids in Hardee County have spent part of their summers learning some old-school skills -- knowledge they may use the rest of their lives.
Over a six-week span, about 25 children, who range between 8 and 18, have been part of the Back to Basics day camp program, where they’ve learned everything from how to can their own pickles to tie-dye their own shirts. Cooking, baking, woodwork, knitting, embroidery, crochet and even quilting have been taught.
Between a quarter and one-third of the campers are male, and the rest female, said Hardee County Extension Agent Carolyn Wyatt.
Ever since the first camp, the children have enthusiastically tackled the new skills. But the camp’s biggest success, Wyatt says, has come from the enthusiasm of a group of home and community educators who organize the camps and teach the skills.
“I owe it all to them,” she said. “They were the force behind it.”
Part of the rationale for starting the program, she said, was the volunteers’ belief that children who learned tangible skills wouldn’t ever need to spend their summers bored.
“I think they thought ‘there’s a lot of things to do, and we know how to do them,’” she said.
Comments:
From Tammy Wilson, Jr Ranchers 4-H Club of I.R.C.
I think what you are doing is GREAT!!!!!
I'm the 4-H leader for children ages from 5 to 18. These children are cloverbuds, and the older one show swine and steers at our local fair. The co-leaders and myself, of our club had already set up our calander for the up coming year planning on things that you have already done with your children.
We are thinking the same way, these children need to learn "old school", things that they can take with them for the rest of their life and put to use.
If you have any infomation that may be available to me and give me some more ideas or suggestions that would help please foward them on to us, we would appreciate it. Thank you so much for thsi article it was just a reassurance to what we are setting out to do.
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