It is exciting to see others enjoy the fruits of something I felt inspired to do for my own family and children. I am excited to see the truths shared freely, openly, and see others bring their truths to the table and make it even better :).
As new groups start up, I feel the same hesitance I felt as I left my original group in the hands of very capable, wonderful people. What I feel is my gift and ability and role in this is to explore this educational approach for youth, share the truths I find for my family and those that others have shared, and collect it in a...well, somewhat organized fashion on this blog. I continue to see it bear fruit as my own children progress through scholar phase. I don't feel that I can offer much more in the realm of particulars of the "how," as that is such an individual and prayerful application. Hopefully this blog will have a lot of resources for you to access and use as a spring board for your own group.
I would like to have general questions or concerns that come up in groups be posted on this blog, so that we may have open dialogue: like, "How do we get older youth to remain engaged?" or "How do others effectively engage or train parents and mentors?"...things like that. For those who already have groups going, I think this end of the year time would be a valuable time to share learning experiences from this year. What works for one group may not necessarily benefit another. However, as they say in the scouting acronym for TEAM, "Together Everyone Achieves More."
We could use this post for that kind of feedback. Of course, I expect it to be a respectful forum for the exchange of ideas. I figure this would be the case, but sometimes it is good to be reminded that there is a human heart on the other side of the internet connection :).
I also wonder if we could have the mentors of the different groups on the yahoo/blogger groups of the other groups? I strongly believe in the power of synergy that comes when great ideas come together to become more, and feel that this could be a useful way of sharing. The only concern I could see is if a group has personal info included on their sites. What do y'all think?
I know this is a crazy time of year, so do what you can, but just wanted to have this place as an available forum for this kind of dialogue.
Woohoo! The Vanguard grows and moves forward!
Okay, I'll start :).
ReplyDeleteI loved having a smaller group. Tova and I were able to sit down in December (we started in January) and really look at what she wanted to do and accomplish. I guess essentially we had a Master class as she took everything to a deep level knowing she would have time to share and use all that she learned. She made powerpoints, Jeopardy games for topics, studied Latin, taught from youth Leadership books (TJEd for Teens, 7 Habits of Teens) and read the books on the TJEd for Teens list that she wanted to catch up on.
This year, after MUCH trial and error, I realized (again and for good) that I can not be my son's mentor. He needed his father and he needed to come to Vanguard simply because he thought it was important to him.
We continue to follow the 7 month principle outline, as always, and it has been AMAZING to see the connections Tova is now making in her reading and as we talk about things we see in society.
Games, etc. are much more fun with more people, but Kel kept the classes lively. They each liked having things that they were in charge of helping with and took real ownership over it.
I got worn out being the only mentor in the class, but am grateful for all I have learned this year through the pushing :).