J. is a 13 year old enthusiast of the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. When J. decided to "home school" 8th grade we thought it would be fun to create a themed curriculumn based very loosely on "Camp Halfblood". We tossed around possible names for our creation: Camp Olympus, Percy J.'s School for DemiGods, Camp P.J.,etc. For purposes of this blog we are calling it "Project Percy".
Should we incorporate badges and advancements into the program? Should we create Core Requirements? We wanted to create something that would be duplicatable but could also be easily modified to any teen's particular interests.
We wanted some accountability to be built into the program.
We decided upon weekly documentations such as powerpoint presentations, brochures, essays, narrations, and oral presentations on topics of choice. We decided on beads vs badges.
We want to host gatherings on the winter and summer solstices and on the fall and spring equinoxes.
We want our "camp" to be a "safe-house" or "refuge" as well as a training center.
We like the models created by LEMI http://lemimentortraining.com/
and by the Thomas Jefferson Education authors Oliver and Rachel DeMille http://tjedonline.com/.
We also like the pentagonal person model found in our own family tradition. Imagine a house (or pentagon) with a floor, outside walls, and a roof. Label each side with one of our five "f's"--Faith (spiritual)--the foundation, fiscal(education, etc) and physical fitness(health & wellness)--the walls, friends (social) and feelings (emotional)--the roof. Put "functional" (discipline, forms, structure)--a house of order-- in the center. Whatever we create must in some way incorporate all these six "f's".
