Week 20 (2017) – Heroes of the Faith Quest

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This week marked the beginning of our newest quest, “The Heroes of the Faith”. We are now diving into the word of God, learning about characters from the Bible, and engaging in spiritual disciplines such as prayer and worship. We began this week by familiarizing ourselves with the bible (memorizing the books and finding scriptures) and ended by learning about Esther’s journey with God.
Over the course of the next 6 weeks, our heroes will learn about King David, Daniel, Moses, and Paul’s journeys. They will get to choose a bible character (anyone they are interested in learning about) and create a Hero’s Journey map for that character. For our final exhibition, each hero will present his/her Hero’s Journey map AND recite the books of the bible and passage of scripture that he/she has chosen to memorize.
Since this quest involves creating a map, we hope to utilize some of our heroes’ creative and artistic talents. We also encourage each hero to think about their own Hero’s Journey with the Lord, and how he is helping them overcome challenges.
A few discussion questions this week included:
  • How does being a Christian change your hero’s journey?
  • What is kindness, and how do you show this fruit of the spirit?
  • Is memorizing scripture valuable? Is knowing how to navigate the bible valuable?
  • Can you show the fruits of the spirit without God’s help?
Other Highlights this week:
  • This week, we began using My Journey Tracker, an electronic way to set goals and earn points. This has made tracking our heroes’ progress much more efficient!
  • We had 2 worship leaders come to visit us from Cornerstone University. They taught us some new songs, and we all were able to worship together!
  • One Hero completed her level 2 Reading Badge this week!
  • Another completed his Level 1 Math Badge this week!

Week (19) 2017 – Detective Exhibition

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Today was a day of reflection, discussion, and celebration as we brought Session 4 to a close. At the beginning of the day, we reflected on the latest Exhibition, and discussed both the triumphs and the failures that it brought.
Our heroes were proud of their performance of the trial and the presentation of their trifolds. Overall, they felt much more comfortable presenting than at the first quest.
At times, I feel that I am learning even more than our heroes. While we had deadlines set throughout the quest, many of the heroes were making last-minute changes up until the morning of the quest. I encouraged heroes to make revisions (as I believe it encourages their best work), but I now realize that these changes need to be made within the milestones set out for them (and no later). Our heroes agreed that this would encourage them to feel more prepared on the day of the quest.
After spending some time in discussion, our heroes celebrated their hero’s journey by doing some fun reading, participating in science experiments, and playing 2 new games. We then made some friendly letters (Valentine themed), and watched “National Treasure” to celebrate the completion of The Detective Quest.
 
Over the course of this quest, four Heroes completed all of their Character Trait badges! A few of our Heroes had the opportunity to do a presentation on something that they are passionate about! Over the past week, we learned:
1. How to make pickled cucumbers as a healthy snack! Designating roles encouraged everyone to work together,
2. An experimental science activity which taught us how to make a catapult.
3. A new game called “Jungle Speed”.
4. A fishing board game.

Great Discussion Topics this Week:

1. Would you consider yourself intrinsically motivated (from the inside) or extrinsically motivated (by rewards)?
2. Which of the following MOST motivates you?
  • Showcasing your work at an Exhibition
  • Knowing you did your personal best
  • Earning a Badge
  • Earning Hero Bucks that you can buy rewards with
3. What does a world class business meeting look like?
4. What kind of culture do you wish to create at Journey Academy? A challenging culture? A friendly culture? How can we work together to create that culture?
5. What what the best part of this session? What was the most challenging part?