Big Futures

By David Polston

recently met Tom Brendl at the Tidewater Wooden Boat Workshop as he welcomed students to his homeschool program. Brendl had a group of volunteer men at the ready to greet their assigned students who, like most kids their ages, tend to warm up a little slowly in the mornings. But as any other day there, the students first go to the classroom and library, put their bags away, grab their own work aprons and then gather around the skiff to be given their work partners and assignments for the day.

Each group has specific tasks and work under the direction of an adult instructor that patiently guides and thoroughly teaches them how to do the given job. What struck me early on was that the instructors—all of whom are military retirees—gave specific and detailed descriptions of tasks that I, as an experienced woodworker and carpenter, do naturally. I observed tutorials of the differences between the Phillips head and flat (or slotted) head screwdriver. Another instructor gave a brief correction to a student that was marking a piece of wood: He advised to not push the pencil forward, but to pull it across the wood making it less likely to follow the grain. I saw another student measure the width of a board by offsetting the tape measure by burning an inch to get a more accurate measurement (The little metal part at the end of a tape measure has some wiggle in it on purpose, but isn’t always the best way to get the most precise measurement that “burning an inch” does). And the old adage measure twice, cut once was also expressed.

These little mini-lessons are tricks learned through my own experience as a remodeling contractor and for my current vocation.

Therein lies the beauty of Tom Brendl’s workshop. He and his volunteers are ensuring that every student coming into the program gains not only the technical skills, but also the confidence that comes with creating something with their own hands.

Origins of the Tidewater Wooden Boat Workshop

After Brandl assigned work to his volunteers and students, he and I sat down for an informal conversation to find out more.

“This isn’t a trade school. This is a youth program primarily. Most of the kids that have attended our program, the vast majority, are ages 11 through 18 and are still in school— whether it is middle school, high school, homeschool. All of these kids you see here right now, they’re here because they’re homeschoolers in the morning,” Brandyl responded.

He goes on to explain how the homeschool program started. “About four years ago, five years ago, the homeschool community discovered us. I talked to one school co-op in general. I was at some event called Engage Norfolk. We had a boat display and things like that, and this one woman came up and expressed interest in the program and said, ‘My kids are homeschooled, so I can’t come after school.’ So I said ‘Homeschooled? When can you come?’ She said, ‘We can come during the day; we’re flexible.’

“Ding…the light went on. Up to that point we only had afterschool programs. We can use the shop during the day for homeschoolers. She told me that she could check to see if there was enough interest with a mention on her homeschool network. It’s a big network. There are various ones in the area. That’s what happened. I have homeschoolers coming now three mornings a week.”

Brandyl continued, “We advertise specifically for 12–18 yearolds. However, we’ve had some 10–11 year-olds. I interview them all, talk to them all. We have to determine if they are responsible enough to be safe since the kids will be using tools, some of which are power tools. One 10-year-old young lady I watched go to the bandsaw without an adult being there. She was that good. I knew she had a bandsaw at home that she used all the time. I watched her a lot. And she’s got it. She was so accurate. She was wonderful. Ninetynine percent of the kids use power tools under adult supervision.”

Brandyl explains his class schedule this way. “We run what I call trimesters. Some kids come in the fall. Our winter trimester starts the second week of December and runs through the middle of March. The third and final trimester of the year begins the last week of March and runs through the first week of June.

“We didn’t used to do it that way, but it just made sense. The reason is that we team with Sail Nauticus every year. Sail Nauticus has a program called Sail Nauticus Academy and it’s for middle schoolers. The middle schoolers choose this program to learn to sail. It’s a three-year program. In the wintertime they can’t sail, it’s too cold. What they were doing with the sixth and seventh graders was to take them to indoor pools and teach them to swim. The eighth graders come here and build boats. So we’ve been doing that.”

“Students start coming back in early December, continue to Christmas break, and are actively participating throughout January, February and the first week or two in March before returning to sailing. There are usually about 20 to 25 students attending classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It’s been working. During the latter weeks of June we start one-week summer camps. The kids receive workshop instruction Monday through Thursday and on Fridays they meet at our waterfront location where they enjoy rowing and sailing. We also do environmental science by teaching them to appreciate the shore. We learn all about crabs and oysters, and how oysters filter our water. We have two tanks on display where they can learn all about environmental science.”

Hmmm, that’s pretty cool. So that’s a compact class.

Says Branyl, “It is what we do here. They can’t build a boat in a week. In the summertime, we do what I call a nautical round robin. They’re not building any of these boats. They might do some work on them, but generally what we do is show them how we steam and bend wood. We have a pulley set up, but they have to do the measuring, cutting, steaming, and bending. We also have a CNC machine (Computer Numerical Control). Pre-programmed computer software directs the movement of