Hoku Lio Farms Children’s Program: An Oasis For Heartfelt Learning and Relationship Building
Get a feeling for what happens
in a children’s program
We start out by checking in, seeing how each student is. We have a movement circle together which helps us arrive where our feet are and get more into our bodies. The circle also gets us connected with one another and gives the volunteers and me a few minutes to observe the children as we recite our farm verse, stomp our feet and do midline crossing exercises to increase connection in our bodies. We gather at the pasture gate, next to our fragrant honeysuckle and garden boxes. I hold the bowl of light and after we’ve each released any stress or struggle of the day, I huli the bowl into the nearby banana grove so it can compost the challenges into something useful. As we enter the pasture, we are greeted by the flock of chickens and ducks who are part of our farm. Their happy clucks and quacks, well our muscovy ducks make kind of a hissing noise really, greet us as they gather around the children joyfully. Their joy is reflected right back in the children's smiles and laughter. Guards come down a little. A deep breath is taken. Fiona the pig is in her pen nearby, she weighs over 200 lbs now so she has to stay in her pen when we have classes, but the keiki love her and hurry over to say hello. Fiona greets the students with happy grunts and squeals. Most days we have a snack to toss into her bowl - a banana from the tree or slice of stale bread, she loves snacks!
We take our time greeting the smaller animals. Olive and ‘Ele’ele, our black hair sheep, love when the children come as well. Olive is brave and friendly and comes right up, she considers everyone a friend, even if she just met you. As we make our way to the classroom in the middle of the horse pasture, there are large telephone poles lying on their side; giant balance beams to walk or leap across. Navar, our Morgan horse, usually greets the children. He is tall and so dark he looks black, his shiny coat and long flowing mane add to his majestic look. He kind and gently nuzzles the children and we share that he is our Daddy horse. A child or two will lean in to hug his neck.
Along our way the rest of the horse herd comes close to the wire fenceline to welcome the group. The fencing is five foot woven wire so we can see and say hello through it. Children feel the horse's warm breath on the back of a hand as they press it in close. The joy and excitement is contagious, we get to play and work together!
By the time we reach the gate to the classroom, we have felt the earth under our shoes, hugged a sheep or horse and had a peaceful little stroll with the breeze on our faces and the smell of a warm horse in our noses. We take time to look around, see where the horses are and what they’re up to. Is Uncle Aguacero playing with his nephew Makana? Or participating in mutual grooming with his niece Hokulani? Are the youngsters playing a game of chase, kicking their heels up high? We all love seeing the relationships between the animals. Every member of the herd has a role and is essential. Here you can feel how this process allows the slowing down and transitioning out of a rushing world into a different space.
Relationships are a important foundation of our program. We learn how to be in relationship with one another. We strive to practice kindness and remember that everyone counts, everyone brings something special to offer. Belleza, our black mare, brings us a focused love. She loves to be groomed, scratched and appreciated. And she loves her daughter Hokulani. She pays close attention to her, speaks to her in warm nickers and sometimes if Hokulani gets too far away, she’ll whinny loudly to reconnect. Uncle Aguacero is the most benevolent generous member, almost never a cross “word” or impatient action. But he has clear boundaries too! He loves his niece and nephew but he has limits to how much he tolerates being jumped on or bitten in play. He has taught both youngsters how to settle and just stand and chill sometimes too. Sara loves her boy Makana so much and she has some health challenges and moves more slowly than the rest. We give her all the time she needs. Sara gets special food and care to help her feel her best. Her small paddock, where her extra food is served, needs regular cleaning and additional attention. Her buckets need scrubbing. Everyone joins in to meet Sara’s needs. Scooping the poop is a favored task for most of the children!
We groom and work with the horses. Aguacero likes to be led through our labyrinth as the children learn to navigate haltering and leading horses. Over a series of classes, The children groom the horses, both the warm easy work of brushing and the challenging work of cleaning out hooves. Again, we take our time, children trying things at their own pace. We have recognized over our work the last three years that we need to have 3-4 month series of classes to allow the time the time the children need. Its not only for the children who seem to need more time to master the tasks or even come to them but also for the children who master the “tasks” right away because they are often breathless because they need to slow down and integrate what they are learning an experiencing. We honor the learning differences and the connection that comes from working together, horses and humans. Some children need a lot more time to find confidence and sometimes the “smart” children need to learn to slow down, repeat tasks so they can learn to integrate to properly so they are not so breathless. We learn a “five step exercise”. Then at some point the children will be standing on a mounting block next to a horse, and only then do they realize the five steps give them the knowledge and skills needed to mount the horse on their own. The smiles are so big when a child finds him or herself on the back of the horse. This Slowed down step by step learning gives incredible benefits, not only is the learning retained better but it gives security, something to count on, a way to learn how to learn. It Creates a calm nervous system out of extremes into a middle range where the child can take in more of the world and find themselves safe. Some time kids are nervous because horses are so big, and when they do the five step exercise, they consolidate their learning which is applied to the mounting block and then to the horse and they gain confidence and can get themselves on the horses’ back even though they were nervous. If they do the 5 step exercise, that’s not scary, then they do the 5 step exercise on a mounting block, not scary, solid learning from before, a little step new. The next step is solid 5 step exercise on the mounting block, then make the new step of mounting the horse with the 5 step exercise. Can do it because each time the step isnt so big. Each step gives security, new element which is new, then master that, it solid pathway. It’s a learning, because its better retained, it gives security. When you know something you feel more secure because you have experience and know it Physiologically it has an effect on your autonomic nervous systems. It’s from this middle range where we relate to the one can relate to world, form relationships and this middle range we operate the ventral vagal nerve is social engagement . steve porges - social engagement. This is where we should be ideally when we are interacting. Its calm enough to function and learn and awake enough to go into action. Perfect sweet spot. Especially for kids with great stress in their lives, don’t usually get the opportunity to learn one step, feel comfortable, then next step. In fact our world really pushes us to learn new steps in a hurry, without the opportunity to feel solid and secure This has a physiological effect, we are always on a certain level of alert that interferes with the ability to retain the learning. I remember when I was in school, I could memorize or “learn” all the info for the test, get an “A” but later couldn’t retain any of the learning. We learn horsebreaths and exhale stops, all things to calm and center ourselves and communicate kindly with our partner, the horse.
After a rich time with the horses, we settle back into the classroom and take out our books and colored pencils. In silence, we spend 5 or 7 minutes with our blank booklets. Most often the clean white pages are filled with drawings of our time with the horses, but sometimes it will be a day at the beach with a visiting relative, and one time it was some math problems that a young girl was proud to have mastered. It is our time for integration, for an inbreath, to check in with ourselves. The timer goes off quietly, “One more minute to finish up what you’re working on”. Each, in turn, shares their picture, and something that made them squirm, something they learned and their favorite part of the session.
It’s never easy to stop and put the books away, but the time comes to finish and make our easy trek to the front, past the horses, past the birds and the sheep and out of the pasture gate until next time.
We have all been in an oasis of the kind friendliness of the herd and the farm. We have all received gifts and offered care and attention. We’ve learned things about slowing down, appreciating and connecting. We’ve connected with ourselves, each other and the animals and all that makes up the farm.