Schools and Scouting Program

[Normark]

Schools and Scouting

Hey Guys..

Rick and I just got done teaching 50+ Grade six students and their teachers from 2 different schools Fire making..

This is a new program that introduces school children into the outdoors and the Scouting program. Some of these kids have never been exposed to the outdoors, or have ever camped..

The students learned not only Fire making, but made survival kits, learned how to make different kinds of shelters, Archery, Canoeing, Orienteering, as well there were several different kinds of rope bridges.

Each class was 80 mins long so there was plenty of time to get fairly in-depth into explaining many different aspects of how things work and why

By normark1 at 2009-10-24

Rick Marchand and Myself on the last day.

By normark1 at 2009-10-24

Rick Explaining several different tinders, and how and why they work

By Normark1 at 2009-10-24

Myself helping one of the students with a Jute tinder bundle

By Normark1 at 2009-10-24

Rick showing how the Firebow works

I even made fire with Rick’s kit this week. My first time..

By normark1 at 2009-10-23

Rick working on his spindle

By Normark1 at 2009-10-24

It was an Awesome Week.
One of the teachers and myself

More to come

Ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[mymindisamob]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

 

[nate1714]

Wow...was it an overnight trip or just a day trip? How do you think the students liked it? I love this sort of thing. Getting to know the outdoors early on is important.

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys..

Thanks...

Nate...

It was 2.5 day course for each school...

Needless to say, LOL I believe the majority of them thought the Fire making was the best thing they did..

We really got them involved in all aspects of fire , and was very much hands on..

All of the kids and teachers them learned to use Flint and Steel, Ferro Rod, Char Cloth, PCBs (Petroleum soaked Cotton Balls). They practiced with the flint and steel, lit a PCB. Then threw a spark onto a piece of Char and blew it into fire with their Jute bundles.

At the end of each lesson Rick showed them the firebow and going over the concepts on fire making explained how the fire-bow worked, and fully demonstrated it..

I as well showed them how a chemical reaction fire was made using PPM and Glycerin, and as well explained and sometimes showed how a Fire piston worked..

These are some of the skills that Scouts Canada is lacking with their leaders.

As Rick will attest to; This has been one of my Goals and Dreams for several years, to have these Extremely important skill implemented back into the Scouting program...

We Seriously opened up some eyes this week. One of the Scouters that worked with us is in charge of training for the district and has told me Personally that he will be pushing hard to have these skills taught as a mandated program at the Regional level...

None of this would be happening without what Rick and I taught this week.

I Owe a Great deal to Rick, his skills, the Atmosphere he brings and couldn't have done it without him. We Seriously effected some change in the way the Scouting program will be run and taught in the future, at least in this area.

My hope is that it spreads like a forest fire throughout the entire Scouting program.

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Hey Eric,

Nice pictures and congratulations on now being a firemaker!!!!!

It's good that you're reinstituting these skills in the Scouting movement. From what I hear, it's been drifting away from its origins for a long time.

Did you also teach them about the joys of Arisaema triphyllum???

Just asking.

Doc

 

[stingray4540]

Holy smokes, that was one of the teachers?! Too bad it wasn't an overnight...

Joking aside, that is awesome! It's good to see kids learning something useful, and helping un-brainwash them a little.

 

[dartanyon]

Thanks Normac, Very inspirational!
I feel the urge to join a scouting hike with one of my boys and return some skills.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Thanks Eric!!
I had a great time with the kids. They were all so well behaved... how could I not have had a blast? The other Scouters in our group really caught on well, too. I hope this is only the beginning!!


Doc..... I desparately tried to find some to bug Eric... he must have harvested it all for his salad.

Rick

 

[Stormstaff]

Awesome! You gentlemen are top notch! :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys..

Thanks much...

Doc..

LMAO..

No More JIP for Me !!

Stingray...

Dartanyon

Absolutely..
They'll Love that...

Rick...

If you run short on thing,, you Could tell them about my Botched campfire !! LOL

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[Esav Benyamin]

This what scouting is for, even if a lot of scout troops don't do it right.
Good job lighting a fire of inspiration along with the tinder and sparks!

 

[dtownknifekid]

Its great that you got to do that. Here in PA (Im not sure about the rest of the country) we cant have any association with schools because the BSA is an organization that discriminates againt females, except in venturing (IMHO the best branch of the BSA) and requires a member to believe in God. Good luck with your future teachings and keep up the good work.

 

[kgd]

I think it is really nice that the school and scouting program got together on this one. I wish the schools would take more interest in outdoor education and include part of it in the curriculum. I know this would be hard to do and perhaps almost meaningless to very urban environments. Still, they mandated sex-ed as part of PE, why not have some survival lectures to talk about urban/wilderness settings. Teaching skills like firebuilding, purifying water, building a shelter are sorely needed and require even more enforcement in a world of cell phones where everybody things the pizza delivery will be here in 15 minutes or its free. Also in the urban, teaching how to build a 72 h home kit, basic first aid and what to do in an emergency would make a good set of lectures.

Great stuff guys. Two days is a real commitment of time on both your parts (I know because you both have orders from me ), glad it went off so well! Were they multiple grades?

 

[Rick Marchand]

Great stuff guys. Two days is a real commitment of time on both your parts (I know because you both have orders from me ), glad it went off so well! Were they multiple grades?

5 days Ken (well, 4 for me).... and worth every minute. I think it was only grade 6'ers. Two schools... the first attended Mon, Tues and 1/2 Wed. The second attended 1/2 Wed, Thur and Fri.



Yes, I almost forgot about Normark's fire blow-out... lol.

Eric, in his usual mischievious ways, decided that Wednesday was "blackpowder surprize" day. He thought it would be great fun to slip little gunpowder charges (I forget the real name) in the char cloth. I admit, we all had a laugh seeing people jump out of their skin when basically, a slow-fuse flashbomb scared the bejeezis out of them. It was all done with safety in mind, BTW.

The funniest part was when it quite litterally "back-fired" on him. Eric prepared the gathering fire in the evenings. On Wednesday night he set the framework as usual... but this time he added his powder charges for "effect". Well, the joke was on him when in a flash, the tinder bundle and kindling were blasted out from under his nicely built teepee fire. The fire was completely snuffed out... the explosion was less than spectacular... and he was left scrambling for tinder and kindling in the dark, while the poor shivering children and teachers wondered what the hell just happened.

..... or something like that, anyway.

Rick

 

[Normark]

Hey Rick...

LMAO...

Well..

I tucked 4 - 50 Grain pellets of Pyrodex (synthetic black powder) in behind the main tinder bundle..

Tinder bundle was ignited with a Fire steel, it burned nicely for about 45 secs, then Poof the black powder went off and Literally blew out the fire...

Then as Rick said, I was left scrambling to get the fire going. I ran back to my pack, and grabbed my Jute and hogged off a good size ball of it.. Didn't have time to unravel it, so I lit it, and squeezed about 3/4 of the contents of my Purell bottle just above the flame...

That solved it, and it turned into a beautiful fire..

So the Question remains..

Did I not use enough black powder or too much ??

LOL

Next time, placement will be different and maybe I'll add a flash pot or two ..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys...

Here are a few more

By Normark1 at 2009-10-26

By Normark1 at 2009-10-26

By Normark1 at 2009-10-24

By normark1 at 2009-10-24

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys...

Shenanigans

By normark1 at 2009-10-26

This was a Hastily made Improvised Axe made from a circular saw blade. The idea wasn't to make a long lasting tool, but a quickly put together tool to show what could be made if one took the time to do it properly. This was made in less than 10 mins, the handle and pin taking the longest to find.

By normark1 at 2009-10-26

This was one swipe into a hardwood log. although it was already wobbly from chopping into the gravel parking lot, it still was strong enough to bury into the log.

There's No doubt if the saw blade was better lashed to the handle it could handle some fair use, either as a QCB weapon or to hack down a small tree.

The saw blade was taken out of a junk pile that was just Brimming with useful junk that could be used..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST

 

[Normark]

Hey Guys...

By normark1 at 2009-10-26

My #2 son and daughter in Rick's Clausterphobia Debris shelter. For two small children this is the Perfect sized shelter. They fit in there quite well..

By normark1 at 2009-10-23

Helping a young lad with his Firesteel

By normark1 at 2009-10-23

Rick helping a young lady with her Firesteel

ttyle

Eric
O/ST