Week 7 (2016) – What Makes Good Authority?

I am so proud of the challenges that our young heroes are taking on! This week, each hero has decided to partake in a “30 book challenge”. This means that over the next 5 weeks, each hero will read at least 30 books during Core Skills time.

In addition to this, our heroes have been working on completing a Writer’s Workshop on Poetry and have set new session goals for themselves in each Core Skills Subject (math, reading, writing, and spelling).

Since the beginning of the quest, the heroes have been receiving proclamations from The King of Great Britain, decreeing what they can and cannot do in the studio. The majority of them weren’t too happy to find they would be playing the Game of Life during free time all week, or eating lunch at their desks. However, only 2 of them decided to “revolt” (by the roll of a die).

Authority has been a popular discussion topic as a result. The heroes have identified authority figures in their own lives, and discussed at what makes a “good authority” or “bad authority”. When asked if it is better to have more or less rules to follow, heroes were divided. While 2 heroes thought having more rules would ensure safety, the majority thought that rules should only be made when it’s essential for everyone’s well being.

While normally heroes don’t sit in bean bags during discussion times(as they can be distracting to the conversation), everyone also agreed that since the majority thought less rules were better, bean bags should be allowed. Heroes sat in bean bags for 2 discussions after and it became obvious that it was not in everyone’s best interest to use them.

This is what Journey Academy is all about. As the heroes learn to navigate their own learning, what they are really learning is how to navigate through life. These are the skills they will be able to apply to community wherever they go. Thank you all for making this possible!!!

Here are a few side notes from this week:

*P.E. takes place every Monday and Thursday

*Library takes place every Thursday

*The heroes are responsible for creating everything for our exhibitions. If they need to bring anything from home, we will let you know well in advace (like booster seats if we go anywhere).

Some of our more interesting Discussions this week included:

*If you had the choice to take one of the roads in Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Less Traveled”, which would you take? The easy road that your friends are taking, or the difficult road of the unknown?

*How can a person show respect to another? What does it look like to respect someone who is not respectful in return? Can you love the Lord and not respect others?

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!