The La Pointe – Krebs House and Museum welcome approximately 1,000 fourth grade students each year as a way to enhance and supplement what the students are learning in their Mississippi History classrooms. La Pointe – Krebs typically welcomes students from October to November, as well as for a few weeks in the spring months, to give the fourth grade students from the Pascagoula-Gautier, Moss Point, and Resurrection school districts a chance to visit the house and museum while they are taking Mississippi History in their curriculum for the first time. Over the last three years, they have welcomed 1,000 students each year from these local schools during the field trips. The tours provide these students with a history of the property as well as Gulf Coast colonial history and general Gulf Coast History.
According to Marks Sokolosky-Wixon, executive director of The La Pointe – Krebs Foundation, having the students visit while they are taking this particular class allows the tour guides to use terminology the students are familiar with and focus on key subjects to help enhance their learning experience. “These field trips are immensely important for the children of our area,” he said. “It gives them a hands-on opportunity to learn their very own history and, working in conjunction with their school curriculum, expands their understanding of history as a whole.” Through six rotating centers, they are able to expose the students to as much as possible during the field trips. Each center focuses on a different aspect of history: the museum teaches them about Gulf Coast and property history; the colonial games center allows them to do what children their age would have done during this time in history; the artifacts center teaches them about archeology, including digging to find artifacts and a necklace they get to keep; the cemetery teaches them about respect and genealogy as well as math skills; the house and grounds tour teaches them about architecture and other history on the grounds including military history; and the building materials center teaches the students how the unique building techniques used to build La Pointe – Krebs, i.e. tabby and bousillage (including getting to mix the mud with their bare feet), are executed. “Learning what they have in their own backyard opens up their eyes to the vast history that they have around them and why it has led up to why where they live is like it is,” Sokolosky-Wixon said.
“The more these children are invested and exposed to their history, the more often they are to take pride in it and take the torch being passed to keep and conserve important historical aspects of our world.” Currently, the tours are just for the local school groups. The docent team is made up of retired school teachers and are all volunteers.
To learn more about the La Pointe – Krebs House and Museum, you can visit their website or find them on Facebook.
