Mothers' Roots Curriculum Project

Since time immemorial, Indigenous mothers have taught their children how to survive in Indigenous way of being. When we remind our daughters of the strength, and the generations of resiliency and self-love before them, is when we will see real change. The truth is, when we teach our children their identity, we are giving them the tools to restore and rebuild their roots. These children are then the seeds which will be planted with the promise to grow in the awareness of true sovereignty, nationhood, and self-empowerment steeped in Indigenous truth which will ultimately trickle down in their own parenting and within the future generations of our peoples. The Mother's roots curriculum was written by a Blackfeet mother of five daughters and knows that it is the responsibility of the mother to teach her children the ways of her grandmothers. A young Blackfeet mother of five daughters had a dream she was out on the Two Medicine Buffalo Jumps on the Blackfeet reservation with her sister Elisha. They were looking for arrowheads scattered amongst old buffalo bones. The young mother looked down on the ground and spotted a red bead lying amongst the scattered buffalo bones. It was an old, old, old red bead that was a dried berry. Because of this dream, I created a lesson titled 'The Red Bead' and this is where the Blackfeet mother will start her journey in renewing her roots and teaching her children the ways of her grandmothers. Mothers' roots is a curriculum framework that is intended to help Indigenous mothers renew their roots and teach children the ways of their grandmothers. In this curriculum guide, you will find a summary of each lesson attached to each unit. Then you will find a set of three lesson plans that correspond with the four units in the Mothers' roots. Included is a template of the Structure of the lessons that can be tailored to the needs of your Indigenous Mothers. This curriculum was designed as a framework for Indigenous mothers throughout the world to tailor to the needs of their mothers and children.