These past several months have been devoted to creating a remote version of the Ancient Living Skills Program which I have run in local schools for the past 20+ years.  Due to most or all of the schools that I normally work with moving to "Remote Distance Learning", we had to figure out a way to take this very hands-on experience into the digital realm.

PROGRAM PACKET

It has been a huge challenge to figure out all the details of making it happen, but we have created “Program Packets” which contain all the required materials and tools to make a beautiful necklace:

• handdrill,

• soapstone squares,

• pine nuts or

• willow beads,

• organic hemp twine,

• horsetail “sander”,

• bamboo poking stick &

• grinding surfaces.

These “Ancient Skills Program Packets” are sent out or delivered to the schools for distribution to their students.

PROGRAM HANDBOOK

The packet also includes an Ancient Skills Handbook which gives detailed instructions, background and even a few pages to jot down personal notes. It is available in both printed and digital format.

GOING LIVE

The first two "classes" were held on Zoom over the last few days and the response has been overwhelmingly positive with the students being very engaged and excited.  They are really hungry for this kind of thing and we are very much looking forward to working with more schools in the coming weeks and months.

We have created a series of topical videos which are shared with the students using screenshare on Zoom, stopping every so often to check on student activities, answer questions and take comments and one of the highlights has been taking a “Zoom screenshot” in which all the students are holding their projects close to the camera.

DIGITAL MEDIA

One added benefit of having all of this content in a digital format is that participants can also access it after the fact; so all the video tutorials and a digital form of the handbook are available via a private link.

QUESTIONS AND FOLLOW-UP

I plan to post more photos and details here soon so stay tuned.

Visit the School Programs Page for more details.

Please also use the comments section of this blog to ask any questions, find out more about a topic and explore further.