Bringing Joy to Our World

Our heroes are on a mission to bring joy to the world. In everything they do in our studio, their joy overflows to others, as they worship the Lord with Christmas carols, open their Bibles to Luke 1, persevere in developing their core skills, research during project time, all the way to the end of the day during close.

Our heroes’ journey during this quest takes us on the mission field. We are going around the world not only to celebrate Christmas but most importantly to fulfill our mission to share Jesus with the world. We revisit the meaning of JOY to the world as we made our commitments at the beginning of the school year; J for Jesus, O for others, and Y for you. So we hold on to our promises to put Jesus first and tell others about the true meaning of Christmas through loving others and honoring our Father in all that we do.

And so we continue our Hero’s journey during this session as missionaries. Each morning, we are inspired to learn about how kids around the world spread the gospel. Our heroes are coming up with their own ways to share the gospel. One hero said she cooks food for her mom to share the love of Jesus. Another hero wanted to collect coins in a jar to help missionaries in Asia. Many heroes agreed that singing Christmas carols tell others about Jesus.

Only within the first week of our Christmas around the world quest, our motivated heroes have learned so much about their world. They researched about Christmas traditions all around the world. They chose the countries they would like to visit, got their Chromebooks out and discovered the interesting ways others celebrate Christmas. They compared and contrasted the various Christmas traditions in their countries and their own Christmas traditions. And on their own, our heroes demonstrated their resourcefulness in doing their research by reading articles, scanning through images, or watching videos. One hero could be heard having a nice conversation with Google as he asks “How do they celebrate Christmas in Hawaii?” and then Google answers his question with facts about Christmas traditions in Hawaii, followed by giggles all around the studio as they hear about Santa on a canoe pulled by dolphins! Our heroes can also be heard greeting one another Merry Christmas in other languages of their choice. As they color the flags from different countries, they learn how people say Merry Christmas from that country. Then they eagerly go around the studio greeting one another in many different languages.

Christmas Around the World Quest

Our field trip to Meijer Gardens really opened up a whole new world for our heroes. They distinctly recall and identify various traditions from specific countries just from the symbols they saw in each tree. As we look back to our field trip by looking at our pictures of the many Christmas trees in Meijer Gardens, our heroes can immediately name the countries or people represented in each tree, such as Germany with the hidden pickle, Mexico with pinatas, the Native Americans with dreamcatchers, and even Ukraine with the spider webs. As we continue traveling to all the continents during our quest, the Christmas trees from Meijer Gardens help our heroes recall and make connections with people around the world and their unique and interesting Christmas traditions.

Despite all the hustle and bustle of the beginning of this Christmas season, our heroes need not be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. There was no confusion or any debate about what all the celebrations are all about. Getting presents under the tree did not have any part in our discussions about Christmas. Our heroes were unanimous about what is truly important: For unto us, a child is born…Jesus! And we can’t wait to share this with all the world! At the end of each discussion, our heroes get in a group huddle to encourage and cheer for each other to “GO CHANGE THE WORLD!”

Many thanks to our special guests this week who inspired our learning: Mrs. Amash, who read books we love for story time; Sergio and family, for our Hero talk from Madrid, Spain, who shared about their Christmas traditions; Wimee, who sparked our creativity for writer’s workshop; and Mrs. Haas, who helped us learn to sing Silent Night in German.

What a joy it was for our heroes to share their learning with their families for the portfolio reviews. They were so excited to show off all their hard work to mommies and daddies. And what a blessing to witness all the love our families have poured out on our heroes and helping them find their calling. As our heroes made their own videos to express their gratitude, one hero expressed her heartfelt gratitude saying, “ Journey Academy is my favorite school. Thank you for putting me in this school!”