The order matters…

  I just finished a summer marathon: VBS, Science Camp, and two weeks of Faith Camp.  Now I’m trying to rough in lessons for the anatomy class this fall.  Do you know what is important when planning lessons, whether it is for a camp or class?   One key aspect is to determine the order of topics, labs, or activities.  We played suitcase relay the last day of Faith Camp—not the first!  We smashed open geodes outside the last day of Science Camp—not the first day my husband suggested.  Why?  When you do something that fun, you have to top it.  Instead, build a crescendo.  The same goes for class.  Many families teach math first thing in the morning.  One, the kiddos are fresh; two, math is hard.  After you get math out of the way, the other subjects aren’t as daunting. 

 Rule one is to do the worst first.  I start class with a review or introduction, usually for about ten minutes.  After we launch into activities, the labs or projects are tiered from least fun to most fun.  We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I’m more likely to schedule lab on Thursday to get kids to finish work on Tuesday before starting lab.  

Rule two is to combine tedious assignments.   For example, viewing and sketching slides is dull.  We stack a few sections together and get it out of the way.  Let your kiddo do a week’s worth of geography on Monday.  Make Tuesday spelling and vocabulary day.

Rule Three is to inject a fun or novel event as a motivator.  At VBS we paint with tape on Friday.  I used tiny peg dolls mini kits as motivation for Faith Camp.  (We bring sharpies and hot glue guns to elevate Camp.  They paint and Modge-Podge, too.) Let the kiddos know that Friday they’re making ice-cream in a bag or in our case, edible aquifers.  Do I use candy labs?  Absolutely!  Cutting up gummy bears to learn anatomical positions and directions gives kids a little lift.  Remember to do the fun lab, craft, or activity last!

Mini Grottos

 We make clamshell grottos.  The little grotto closes up for transport home.  I bought a pack of 6 x 6 clam shell containers.  The plastic ones are harder to  paint or decorate.  We put up an image of St.Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes’ grotto.  The kids use Sculpey to make clay figures of Our Lady.  We use a little shred to hold the figure in the clam shell.  The kids painted the clam shells and  sculpted the figures.  They bake quickly.  We went through any number of adhesive jewels and mini flowers.

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Armor of God

 Arrrgggh!  I didn’t get one photo of a completed shield!  When we do Armor of God, we keep it simple.  I read from the Bible, put up a poster, dress up a kid, and make shields.  You could top it off with The Lord’s Army song below.  I bought a new set of armor; my sword had walked off.  (I also bought two extra swords.)  Prices for armor are high.  Five Below has a sword and shield for $6, though.  We use cereal boxes to make shields.  The cardboard is thin enough to cut easily.  You could paint them.  My husband, Rob, limits painting to one day of Camp.  We let the kids use sharpies; they were happy to glue on construction paper. 

Spiritual Bouquet

 One activity we did this year at Faith Camp was to create a spiritual bouquet for each of our three priests. When I introduced this activity last year at Faith Camp, my husband thought I had lost my mind.  He was very surprised how much the kids like to make tissue flowers.   I like for the kids to write thank-you letters to our priests.  I reviewed a spiritual bouquet, which can be any number of prayers, sacrifices, or little acts of charity.  We made sure we prayed for our priests.  Then, we made tissue paper flowers wrapped in simple, paper doily cones. I think kiddos like this so much is because it’s both inexpensive and easy to replicate at home.  They made several to take home, with a few extras for our priests, along with their little notes.  What a hit!

Noah and the Ark: Camp Version

 The first day of Faith Camp, we went over Noah and the Ark.  I have the Veggietales Ark with a few characters and Fisher Price animals.  We have a Noah Cadence call (below), too.  The kids made I Spy Noah’s Ark bottles.  (There is an inspiration screenshot below.)  We used plastic water bottles, bird seed, and small animal beads, erasers, etc.  Everyone got a tiny rainbow and dove.  We made mini Noah’s Arks, too.  My strategy is to saturate them with a theme.

Noah’s Chant

Noah with his wife and kids

Heard the Lord and did what God bid

All the animals followed in pairs

‘Til the world was free of the flood scare

Each line is a call back.  Follow up with Sound off, Round, off, and Cadence Call.

Joseph and his Colorful Coat

 During Faith Camp, we taught Joseph’s story.  First we reviewed the family history and reviewed the Bible story surrounding Joseph’s life.  On the whiteboard, I assigned Jacob’s twelve sons (twelve tribes of Israel) to their respective mothers.  Basically, I explained that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son from his favorite wife.  All of us could easily imagine how the other brothers felt about Joseph.  

 We have a few chants we do as Cadence calls, including the one below.  After the Bible Story, we did the chant, made paper bag colorful coats, and then played suitcase relay.  I bought two Hawaiian shirts to represent Joseph’s colorful coats.  I use two large shopping bags; in addition to the Hawaiian shirts, I put in large t-shirts, pants, and a robe.  Kiddos love suit-case relay.  I like to do several activities, crafts, or games to reinforce a lesson.  

Chant:

Joseph and his colorful coat

Got him tossed into a moat

Then one day he ran the show

And his brothers home they did not know

Sound Off, One, Two!

Round Off, Three, Four!

Cadence Call: One, Tow, Three, Four, One, Two, Three, Four!

Sacrifice Beads

 Let me start to share some of the details from Faith Camp.  First are sacrifice beads.  We use large, pony beads and cotton, crochet thread.  The kids struggle with yarn.  St. Therese de Liseaux used sacrifice beads.  We talked about little sacrifices kiddos could make, such as washing the dishes unbidden—and picking up mom off the floor when you do anything without asking.  I bought crosses and miraculous metals for the children to put on their beads.

Faith Camp: Day Ten

 After daily Mass, we finished sacrifice beads, listened to several Bible stories, made Joseph’s colorful coat, played suitcase relay, and finally jeopardy.  Here is the jeopardy game Dom, one of the teens, made.  I go over details from Faith Camp soon.

Faith Camp: Day Nine

 First, we pray and do a few chants.  We wrote letters to our three priests and created spiritual bouquets, complete with tissue flowers. We made simple doily cones for the flowers.   After we met with Father for an hour in church for a tour and explanation of the brown scapular.  After Snack, we played Catholic Lingo Bingo and started to chalk outside.  Most of the parents were already waiting; we didn’t get to chalk very much.