Some Advice for Starting a Group

I wrote some advice about this on my blog, but I thought it may be of help here so I am changing a few things to apply it specifically to starting a Vanguard group in case my experience is of help to some...

A couple of my friends from our homeschool group are moving.  They are looking to start a Vanguard scholar group in their area when they move.  As I think about the most important advice I could give them, I decided to write a blog post about it in case it may be of some use to anyone else thinking of starting a scholar group.

1. To narrow down the focus of your group, prayerfully figure out what is most important for your children to get from their education and focus on those things.  Each lens has many areas of focus and there is more out there than any one person can learn in quite a few lifetimes - choose the most important aspects of each lens and focus on that.  It can be tempting to make Vanguard feel "all-comprehensive" since you have these different subject areas, but it is important to target your resources on what will have the most impact.

For me, this was: 

-A testimony of Jesus Christ, His gospel and His love for them
-Knowledge that He has a work for them to do (core)

-The ability to find true principles in anything they read, see and experience and apply those principles to themselves (core, journeyman and master)

-The skills to take that truth and share it in a way that changes hearts (journeyman)

-A love for all people (historty/geography), and of freedom (leadership academy), beauty (imaginative arts), and order (Eureka)

-The ability to think spiritually (core), from other perspectives (history/geography), creatively (imaginative arts), symbolically and logically (Eureka) 

-The desire to serve

I do know tests and making money is important, but I believe if my children have the abilities and skills listed above, they will be able to quickly learn what they need for any test and be able to provide for their families.  Besides, learning to think logically often involves doing some math...

2. Decide what you want to do at home and what is best done in a group setting. (For example, for us, math is best done at home, but group discussions are a powerful way to learn to find principles and see their evidence in the lives of our peers, fun group games can motivate skills and knowledge, etc). This year I am asking parents for volunteers to teach 3 BONUS classes outside of Vanguard, but after or before it (to save driving time): Writing Structure, Apologia Science and History (chronologically) on a weekly basis. We could do these at home, but these subjects seem to work well in a group and we don't have time to do them justice in during Vanguard. Plus,  I don't want to take away from the more important purposes stated above.

3. Pray for God to send you people who you can serve and who can help you with the vision He inspired you with.

4. Set up an information meeting (look for yahoo groups or other homeschool websites in your area) to tell people your vision and to let them know you are looking for people who like your vision and would like their youth to  participate and would like to help you see it through. Then read great books together and some of the resources on this blog and find true educational principles you want to apply to your group.

5. Learn and focus on true educational principles (and teach them to your students)

Such as the foundational principles on the top tab that incorporate some of the following:

-The Spirit is the real teacher - our job is to invite Him to teach us

-Going to class prepared to discuss invites the Spirit into our hearts and edifies others as we share the truth we learned. (This applies to teachers, but especially to students)

-Inspire as much as possible - students learn best when they choose to do it. Never force.  Sometimes ask for obedience when you see a need that the student does not yet see.

-Writing and speaking open communication channels to others and also to God.

-You can't inspire if you are not living the truth you teach (including a love for learning more than you already know and aspiring to live it)

-Extrinsic rewards (grades, treats, social time, etc) can distract and overpower intrinsic rewards. Use them very sparingly for skill or knowledge acquisition. Never to inspire a love of learning.

-Seek an education for the purpose of blessing others
-The deeper you follow a truth, the more connections you will find.  If you go deep enough, it will connect to all subjects or disciplines of study

-Classics teach you to think. A lot of curriculum focuses on information. In this age of google, youth are right when they feel they are wasting their time regurgitating information.  They must learn to sift through the data to find the nuggets of truth that will benefit them and others. Classics help them learn to do this.

6. Only plan assignments, lessons and activities that support your purpose, don't get distracted with all of the other good purposes out there. The methods listed on the top tab here are only suggestions. For example,  your may find your group's needs are different for the types or amount of ativities. Or maybe the focus of your Eureka lens is to show how science alighns with the word of God and that when it doesn't it's because we don't have all the pieces and another group may focus on symbols/shapes and numbers to teach symbolic thinking.  Decide what your purpose(s) is/are for the year and don't try to cover everything.

7. Be okay with changeL you may have found the perfect system for a semester, but it may need to be changed to fit different needs the next semester.  It is okay, and perhaps for the best, for your group to looks different every year.  Just measure your changes against the true educational principles you know and be okay with changing the application of those principles as you are inspired or see a need.

8. Remember the principle of a council. As you lead a group, choose carefully who you want in your governing board, choose those who are close to the spirit and who live the truth they know. Then counsel with them when you need to make decisions.   Remember Elder Boyd K. Packer's words, "I have a deep, even a sacred, regard for councils; inspiration is evident in them.  If ever another course has been followed, trouble has followed as sure as night follows day. If we are to meet the great challenges...we must respect these principles. The Lord has said, 'I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine."

My favorite books or sites for finding true educational principles a lot of these are listed under the foundational principles tab above)  - just remember to apply them in your own way:
The Scriptures
Teach the Children by Neil Flinders
A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille
Norms and Nobility by David B. Hicks
Educating Zion
Increase in Learning and follow up books by Bednar
D&C 88 and 93
Gateway to the Great Books Introduction
The Great Conversation by Hutchins
Teaching Videos
Teacher Training
Arm the Children by Arthur Henry King
Ten Boom Institute

The list may look overwhelming, but the good news is most of the principles are the same in each book :-)  And it is hard to apply more than one principle at a time so just get started and apply the principles as you come across them.  Then the next time you come across one, you will see a way you can apply it even better, and you can just keep progressing in your educational journey :-)

Our youth need a great education. Schools are often (not always) failing them in this. Too often they are training instead of educating our youth. I think a grassroots effort to help these youth get a real education may be the best answer to this dilemma.

I love learning about learning.  If any of you are embarking on the great adventure of building community and helping one another inspire your youth, I am happy to help by sharing my experience if I can.  I don't claim to be an expert, but I do believe there is a need for better education out there and so I am happy to help in this endeavour when possible.  Have joy in your journey!

Planning a new year

The following is simply a suggestion.  How you arrive at the final decision should be understood up front or specified within your bylaws.

1. Principles of 7 months:
Similar to the mentality of inspirements, we should start with principles that we want to teach.  I would sit down with those, youth and mentors, who feel that they really understand the seven monthly principles, and brainstorm how you want to focus on each month.  Someone may have a classic that they feel is very meaningful in a certain area and you many center your monthly theme on that aspect.  For example, someone may feel that "Little Britches" is important for them (or their youth, if they are an adult) to read that year.  "Little Britches" has a strong work and property theme, about the freedom, strength of character, and life lessons that can be learned through hard work and sacrifice.  Therefore, the "work" month could focus on that aspect of the principle.

I have typically sat down with a group of mentors, brainstormed meaningful books or classics that we want our youth to read, separate those classics into the seven themes (several times, books may discuss more than one theme), and then selected the books within the themes/principles that we wanted to focus on.
-you can now bring in poems and scriptures that fit this theme, to help round it out, although you don't need to have these in place before you move on

2. Look at the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88 about what we study:

 77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall ^ateach one another the ^bdoctrine of the kingdom.

 78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

 79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must ^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

 80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

Evaluate how you are going to use the lenses of art, science, and geo-conquest to bring out these points. 

Class games and techniques from the previous year should be evaluated for effectiveness and new ideas should be encouraged.  At this point, if you have lens mentors who have sound understanding of their stewardship, I would let them organize the decision making process per your group's method as outlined in your bylaws, whether by appointed committee, volunteer temporary committee, or junior mentor/lens mentor corroboration.   Then they can bring their ideas and suggestions (complete with classics, games/activities, projects) to the group or principal mentor for finalization...again, per bylaw method.

3.Come together to determine what will be studied which month. I find it easier to start with the scientific or art lens. If the person who is mentoring one of those lenses has people they would like to study, they can see if or how they fit in with the selected monthly leadership themes.  For instance, one year when we had a group of scientists that the mentor wanted to study, one of the people was Edison, famous for his work ethic.  We placed him in the month of "Work" even if he had nothing to do with the geographical theme of "Asia" that we had for that month.  Each Vanguard group can determine how effectively they want to use the lenses to coincide with the principles. The more the mentor understands the seven principles, the easier it is to make connections, and the less a student may feel like they are being fed a stream of non-related information.  Leaders make connections and bridge gaps between apparently different fields to bring things together. :)

Again, the more liberty and stewardship the mentor feels over their area, the better they are able to communicate their own passion to those they are mentoring.

4. Geography/history.  You can use this lens to help the youth focus on an area, its history and culture and understand the context of the literature, scientist, leaders, or art that they are studying in the other class(es).

Subjects may not seem to always "perfectly" complement each other, particularly in the continent of study for that month (i.e. you read a book based in Africa and study a scientist from Norway in the same month and choose to study Africa as your continent of focus). It can also be challenging to bring in leaders from the particular time period the group may be focusing on for the year, if a group chooses to organize their group in a particular time period.  However, you should keep in mind that all the material for the month should be considered lenses or angles through which the youth can study a particular truth.  The priority in choosing the continent of study should be to see, first, what the principle is, and then from there decide which continent (See post on geography and lenses.)

5. Time period.  If a group chooses to follow the pattern of time periods of other groups (like "ancient history", "medieval history," "early modern history," "later modern history"), then it is easier to facilitate multi-group events that bring out this theme (like the medieval feast two groups had last year.)  However, the needs of the particular group should take precedence.  Time periods are definitely low on the totem pole of priorities in how to structure a year.  We simply adopted this tool to help us narrow down the spectrum of focus years ago, but I have since seen how it helps to also provide more context and connections.

The brainstorming/planning for the year is best done in an open-environment, including youth and mentors that feel vested in and aware of the basic principles of Vanguard.  Synergy creates miracles, especially when including the youth mentors.  Ask them: what their needs are; how they would like to help or share their mission; how they would like to learn more about geography, science, and art; concerns, questions, and suggestions.  Specific classes and needs of youth that might not work for the whole group could be used in journeyman or master-level classes.

 With the spirit in your midst, you will be amazed at the higher truths and potential you can achieve!

Overview: how it all fits together...

Okay!  Here it is...the overview!  Don't be overwhelmed...hopefully the posts in the blog will give you clarification and ideas to flesh out the ideas below--look for labels on the blog or in the "Reasoning" tab at the top of the page that match the underlined terms! :)

I have organized it with a general outline above, with a fleshing out of the ideas below that, to help you understand what the outline represents.

GENERAL OUTLINE

MISSION

I. Foundation

A. Principle Centered Education

            1. Monthly leadership themes (Leadership)

            2. Lenses

                        a. Geo-conquest

                        b. Face-to-Face with Einstein/Eureka!

                        c. Imaginative Arts

            3. Mentor selection of content based upon context

B. Student Agency

            1. Levels of scholarship

            2. Inspirements

C. Inviting the Spirit to the Classroom to be the primary teacher

            1. 4-R

            2. Environment

            3. Mentoring

II. Building Blocks:

A. Classroom tools:
           1. TOME
           2. Reflection 
           3. Timeline 
           4. Original sources
           5. Learning Styles 

B. Mentor Training

C. Levels of Scholarship:

            a. Apprentice/Core class

            b. Journeyman

            c. Master

III. Suggested Methods: (See more about these in the tab "Reasoning")

A. Newsletter 
B. Schedule:
C. Intrinsic reward - those who do the journeyman and master work get to participate in the journeyman and master class and are rewarded with a deeper level of learning.

D.In-class activities
E. Out-of-class activities
F. Monthly Themes
G. Youth Presidency
H. Junior Mentors
I. Adult Leadership
J. Adult Mentors
K. Elections
L. Other bylaws (cost, age, parent responsibilities, amendments)

DETAILED OVERVIEW

Mission:

The mission of this group is to empower the youth with a sense of personal mission
and enable them to move forward with that mission by:
(1) Encouraging faith in God as their ultimate mentor
and source of truth through the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ
(2) Helping them find value in their own unique mission and introduce the
to various communication styles so that they may communicate that mission to the world
(3) Helping them come face-to-face with greatness as they study the world,

history, people, and science in order to to prepare them to become future leaders* in society.
(4) Creating an environment of respect, decency, trust, and confidence
(5) Teaching service-oriented leadership
*Leader: someone qualified to lead others in the home, community or world

I. Foundation

A. Principle Centered Education

1. Use monthly leadership principles that provide a context for the studies of the month.

2.Make every subject/lens pertinent to the student.  The student learns how true principles apply in government/leadership (Leadership Academy), history/geography (Geo-conquest), math/science (Face to Face with Einstein), art/literature (Imaginative Arts) and how those same principles apply to their daily interactions and experiences in the world.

3. The mentor will select the direction of study for the year in a particular lens, as they prayerfully seek examples of greatness in their chosen area that exemplify the principle of the month. This process gives the mentor the opportunity to more fully appreciate, love and apply their subject and the principles.

a. The mentor is the living textbook.  The mentor seeks to understand the principles deeply and work to apply them in their daily lives.  They will share their experiences and inspire the youth to "come and see".

4. Purpose for Each Lens:

a. WEEK 1: LEADERSHIP ACADEMY:

Focus: Developing leadership virtues as we learn to become better followers of God so we may lead others to Him; understanding moral law, or principles of freedom, that allow men to reach their full potential.  Youth will learn about great leaders and nations which have demonstrated these virtues and used them to serve others, as well as those who have not. 

b. WEEK 2: GEO-CONQUEST:

Focus: To enlarge our perspective as we view the world through the perspective of others as we study the history and culture of God’s children throughout the world. To develop the desire and ability see patterns in the past, how they relate to the present and how they may relate to the future; To develop a love for all of God’s children and a desire to serve them.

c. WEEK 3: FACE-TO-FACE WITH EINSTEIN/EUREKA!

Focus:  To see God’s hand in the world around us as we understand and apply the natural laws of the earth and the patterns therein. To develop the desire and ability to exercise inductive (i.e. logic) and deductive (i.e. scientific method) reasoning to find truth and to help others to do so.

-to expose them to great thinkers and concepts in history—to teach them to think—as well as inspire them to greatness as they study the lives of great individuals, their triumphs and struggles.

d. WEEK 4: IMAGINATIVE ARTS

Focus: To see the artistic view of the concept of the month as we study the imagination of man through art and literature. To develop the desire and ability to recognize truth through it’s beauty and feeling.  To desire to create new ways to share ideas to help others find truth.

B. Student Agency

-The student chooses their level of involvement and study - apprentice (know), journeyman (understand), and master (become/intelligence)
-The student chooses from a variety of "inspirements" which incorporate a variety of learning styles in which to learn and understand the subject

C. Inviting the Spirit to the Classroom to be the primary teacher

-Students come prepared to class having done their chosen inspirements and will learn from, teach, and inspire each other.  This preparation will open their hearts to the Holy Ghost. (BYU Idaho learning model)
-Students learn with the intent to act on what they learn and draw closer to God by using the 4 R method: reason, research, record, relate.

-Mentors love the students and encourage they love and respect one another to make the classroom a safe place to fail and try again.
-Making prayer and scriptures an important part of every meeting

II. Building Blocks:

A. Classroom tools:
1. TOME - A notebook used to keep a record of what has been learned.  Students take notes, draw, write "ah-has", keep handouts, or other ideas they would like to use to keep a record.
2. Reflection book - During class the youth are invited to reflect and also to consider how they can apply what they have learned

3. Timeline - When a new event or person is introduced in class, students are invited to note them on their timeline with some key points to remember.  They will begin to see God's hand in the unfolding of history.
4. Original sources should be used as much as possible
5. Different learning styles should be considered when structuring classes and creating inspirements (see “Multiple Intelligence” and “The Element” as good books for background to this concept).

B. Mentor Training
1. Mentors should love the youth
2. Mentors should understand how "His" story relates to every subject (I'll be using the FACE books for this)

3. Mentors should love what they do and have passion for the subject
4. Mentors should learn to lead discussions by understanding how to ask good questions and how to invite the youth to ask each other questions
5. Mentors should participate in the learning process and are seeking to apply the principles in their lives

6. Mentors also participate in the fun and build relationships

C. Levels of Scholarship:

1.      Core Class:

This is the main class of the week for all levels of scholarship to participate in--apprentice through master--where the basic topics and principles are brought up and discussed in a core class with supporting activities.  Different levels of scholars are encouraged to share at least examples from their projects to inspire each other, even if time does not permit the sharing of the full project.
Apprentice Level: the student gains more knowledge about the principle/matter of study.

2.      Journeyman Classes:
These classes will go into more depth about the time period, experiences, events, documents and may use more of the 5 mentoring environments. They may use games to motivate the learning of skills and memorization of facts, poems, scriptures, etc that are important to the lens.  The purpose is to gain understanding (see ch 2 in "Increase in Learning" by Bednar)
Journeyman Certification
Youth who are participating at the journeyman level in a particular lens are invited to certify.  They can choose a certification contract written by the mentor or write their own and submit it for approval. (COG)

3.      Master Classes (Classics, discussion, writing, oral presentations, application) 
        Once the youth are certified in a pre-determined number of Journeyman classes (or qualify by doing the Master-level inspirements for that week, depending upon how the group wants to do it), they participate in a master-level class with the above listed components.  A speech and writing advisor are recommended along with whatever main advisor is in charge for the week.  
      Since this class is "application" phase, the youth will also have more say in subject matter and direction.  (See "Master Class" post on blog for more information.)

Sample Start-up plan for new groups

Hi!
On this page, I will provide a step-by-step suggestion of how to actually set-up your own Vanguard group.   Adapt as necessary, and hope it helps!  Make your own deadlines, but we have found the following to be good ideals to shoot for in order to get the new year started in an orderly fashion.

I cannot stress enough the value of getting parents and fellow mentors on board with the purpose and mission of Vanguard.  It is not a group that seeks to set-up another conveyor belt :).  It is designed to be adapted and applied to your group as you feel the needs of your group grow and change.  However, I feel that it is essential to regularly re-visit the founding principles found on this blog if it is to be a true Vanguard group.  Review the monthly themes, the mentoring, the training, the "foundation" articles on a regular basis, and seek to bring your parents and youth on board.   Because the nature and approach of this group is quite counter-intuitive to minds bred in the public school system, it is important to continually re-align your activities and classes with your original purpose.

For access to all the files I have compiled over the years for Vanguard, please follow the link below:
Public Vanguard Skydrive

 FOR NEW CHAPTERS:

The spring before:

·         Contact Mary Biesinger to let her know you are interested in starting a group…woohoo!

·         Send out an interest "head's up" with a brief outline of Vanguard to find out who is interested

·         Find other willing parents to help mentor and run it

·         Get "trained" by a serious study of site info, attending a training class offered by another Vanguard group, or visiting other Vanguard groups to see how they run their groups

·         Hold “training meeting” for new parents to cover basics in May

   --Sample “General Year description for new parents”…tweak it to fit your group—it’s an older version

General year description for new parents 

   --Sample “Karen’s New Parent info outline”

Karen's overview for new parents 

(Sometimes, I hold these one on one with new families that weren’t able to attend the meeting if I am still looking for interested participants.)

YEARLY:
*Probably the most important thing to do yearly is to re-visit the "Books/Articles that Capture Vision."  Like any classic, they will not only renew your passion and vision, they will teach you something new or inspire you to "tweak" something else unique to your group.  If the principle mentor does this yearly in the spring, they will feel compelled to share and encourage the others leading their group to focus on some of the concepts that are of particular pertinence to their group that year.  It is a good review to determine what should be emphasized in the yearly summer training for the parents, youth, and/or mentors.

I.Enrollment:

   A.Email to determine interested participants for following year sent by May 1

   B.Mail registration forms (sample) with bylaws (sample) to be gathered by June 1 (ideal)

release form 

   C. Put together “membership scroll” for chapter (name, address, phone number, emails, parent’s names) complete with email addresses for youth by Aug 1 for “Tome packet refill.” (see below)

   D. Send out Summer packet info (sent by July 1):
               -Welcome letter to youth (sample)
        Welcome letter for youth

                          -Letter to parents briefing them on pre-year events and information (sample)
      Sample pre-year letter for parents of participants

               -Questionnaire for youth to fill out (sample)
       Survey

·                       -Summer reading book mark (samples)
      Bookmark for Year of Miss Agnes 
      Chasing Vermeer Inspirements 

·                        -Art contest for Tome sections invitation (sample)

Art contest invitation

II.Summer activities:

    A.Youth presidency training retreat: inspire them to service-oriented leadership, help them understand their roles, remind them of learning style and personality differences-Advisors

    B.Vision Hike: coordinated by Outdoor Youth and Adult Specialist and Main Advisors (sample)
Vision hike sample outline

    C.Parent Retreat: review concepts and mentoring strategies (sample)
parent mentor retreat info (We scheduled all the material in this doc for one day.  Upon reflection, it would have been better if we had started it the night before and then continued the next day, separating it over two days.  The information was very valuable to the parents, but it was hard to discuss it all very well in the limited time we had.)
      --One group chose to hold a series of summer meetings at the park to cover information. 
    D.Mentor Training meeting: may be held with multiple chapters (recommended)

III.Summer responsibilities:

    A.Determine location, date and time of next year’s classes

    B.Figure out time period of year (if applicable)

    C.Coordinate and gather topics of individual lenses and activities from mentors for an overview of the year (sample)
Overview of years 

   --Biographies

   --History subjects

   --Poems and scriptures

   --Books

   --Scientists

   --Monthly Service projects (who and what months-can be included with family activities and other outside activities—like tying a quilt while watching a movie)

   --Fundraisers

   --Science Projects

   --Game Nights

   --Movie Nights

   --Temple visits

   --Art Projects

   --Parent and student devotionals

   --Outdoor Activities

   --Guest speakers

   D.Create a Schedule of the Year including outside (master and journeyman) classes and activities as much as possible (sample)
Sample schedule for year 

   E.Organize new Tome pages for returning students:

   --new Membership Scroll: list of members and their personal contact info

   --Schedule of the Year

   --Overview of the Year

   --New pages for sections in Tome from Art Contest

   --Bylaws (if updated) (sample)
Bylaws example 

   F. Purchase and put together new Tomes for new students (2 1/2-3" white binders):

   --Cover art (preferred use of original image if possible :)...contact me for this if you're interested)

   --All “new Tome pages for returning students”

   --Tome pages (sample)
 Pages for Vanguard Tome

   --Timeline (sample)—suggestion: have parents coordinate with Tome compiler to find a timeline that is best for the youth
Timeline from American Heritage 

   --Extra note paper included in each section, including blank pages for art

   --Bylaws (if not updated and included in “returning student Tome packet”)

   --Plan Parent Training Retreat (sample) 
parent mentor retreat info 

   G. Hold Mentor Training Retreat if applicable (highly suggested to have yearly to refresh and for new mentors!)…if possible, it would be beneficial to coordinate this with other chapters

IV,Other "Deadlines" within year:

   A. Start planning end of year “Outdoor Adventure” in January or sooner
   B. Hold "Vision Night" for older youth (14+) with a nice dinner and presentation about scholarship and youth mentoring (sample not yet available)

MONTHLY:

I.Parent Mentor Meetings:
     A. Agenda (sample) 

Sample Mentor meeting agenda 

  B.Vision Moment (reminder of “Whys” of Vanguard) (see blog for some ideas…but don’t limit yourself to those!)

  C.Teaching Tips (see blog), like:

       -- How to write inspirements

       --Activities to help in class

       --Ways to bring in the spirit

       -- Personality considerations

       --Tools for teaching: scriptures, resources, networking, etc.

  D. Specific Mentor Training: this is to address certain qualities of effective mentoring (see blog)      --Marni Hall and Julie Johnson are great resources for this!

  E.Discuss changes to class or bylaws (voting on changes as necessary)

  F.Bring up concerns by parents and mentors

  G.Make sure upcoming “outside activities” are scheduled and coordinated

       --Newsletter

II.Gather info from different mentors so that it can be printed up/sent out two weeks before the new month: ideal deadline for mentors, the mentor meeting the month before   (sample)
         sample newsletter 

III. Youth Presidency meeting

IV. Devotional, Science Project, and Service coordinator remind the next month’s people about their upcoming responsibilities

V. Guest Speakers reminded (previous one given a “thank you”)

VI. Dues paid to building, where applicable.

WEEKLY:

I.Set-up at location (good responsibility for youth presidency, mentored by Advisors):

   A.Erasers and markers for white board

   B.Chair and tables

   C. Flag, hymn books, posters, scriptures, 1828 dictionaries :) (dream, dream….)

   D.CD player with peaceful music

   E.Video camera or camera for taking pictures and recording activities

II. Babysitting/Joy school for mentor's children

   A. reminder to parent’s involved

   B.   bin with supplies

   C.snacks

   D.set-up in room

III.Youth secretaries coordinate and remind about “opening ceremonies”

IV.Devotional and science project coordinator remind people the week before about their project

V.Clean-up location:

   A.Zones based upon location (recommended: divvy up responsibilities with youth)

VI. Get changes in schedule out to yahoo!group (or other communication medium) at least a week in advance.  Any changes made more suddenly than that should have individual families notified

VII. Reminder to post inspirements on the blog for that group

2012-2013 year in review and New Group info

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!