A Note From the Founder – Shipping Increase!
Kerry Cordy – Founder
As of July 13, 2025, USPS dramatically raised their shipping rates—and unfortunately, it’s hitting small businesses like ours hard. The cheapest package I can now send starts at $6.80, and if you live back east (I’m in California), that base price jumps to $7.90. Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate envelopes have also gone up from $10.85 to $12.00.
These are big increases—especially when you’re just ordering a badge or two. Unfortunately, even a single badge has to ship as a package because it’s too thick to go through USPS’s automatic sorter.
So here’s my heartfelt request: please don’t order one or two badges at a time. I feel awful charging so much shipping on such a tiny item. Try to plan ahead and bundle your badge and uniform orders. Better yet, if you’re part of a troop or club, combine your order with another family to save even more.
I’ll always do my best to keep prices fair and shipping fast—but I appreciate your help in navigating this increase as we head into the busy fall season.
Automatic Renewals: Expired Cards Don’t Always Cancel Subscriptions
In today’s world of automated billing, banks are working hard to keep your subscriptions running—even when your credit card changes.
Some banks, though not all, now automatically send updated credit card info (including expiration dates, new numbers, and CVVs) to businesses you’ve subscribed to. So even if your old card expired, was lost, or was stolen, unless the transaction is flagged as fraud, your payment may still go through.
That means:
- Don’t rely on a card expiring to cancel your subscription.
- Double check your monthly statements.
- Always cancel subscriptions directly with the company if you no longer want them.
To make things easier on yourself, try to use the same email address for all your subscriptions and make sure that reminders don’t get sent to spam.
Class Wallet Reminder
Did you know? Class Wallet funds can be used to purchase Curiosity Untamed memberships and badges.
If you are ordering Frontier Girls or Quest memberships, be sure to purchase them through Curiosity Untamed in the Class Wallet system. This allows us to correctly process your membership and provide access to both program resources and badge tracking.
Need help? Just reach out—we’re happy to walk you through it.
New Badges This Month
Stained Glass – Discover the history, science, and craftsmanship of stained glass. From cathedral windows to DIY faux-glass art, this badge is full of hands-on potential.
Island Nations – Explore geography, climate, and cultures shaped by life surrounded by water. Great for world studies or pairing with Earth science units.
Aquaponics – Dive into sustainable farming! Learn how fish and plants support each other in closed-loop systems and try building a mini model at home.
✨ Badge of the Month: Stained Glass
Stained glass has a way of stopping you in your tracks. The way light filters through the colors, casting patterns that dance across the floor—it’s pure magic. But there’s so much more to it than pretty windows. This month, we’re bringing that magic into your home or club meeting with a full Stained Glass Unit Study—to help you earn your Stained Glass Badge.
Whether you’re looking for a ready-made club meeting plan or a hands-on homeschool unit, this members-only blog post has everything you need to start earning the Stained Glass badge from Preschool through Level 5.
Inside the lesson plan, you’ll find:
- A kid-friendly intro to stained glass—what it is, how it’s made, and where it came from
- A Search & Find coloring activity that hides objects within stained glass designs for younger students
- Two faux stained glass craft tutorials—one with tissue paper and contact paper, the other with glue and watercolor paint
- A timeline activity with 15 major events in stained glass history (and tips for making it colorful and hands-on)
- A vocabulary game where kids build their own “window” as they master stained glass terms
- Field trip suggestions and video links so kids can see a glass artist in action—even if you can’t leave the house
Best of all, it’s flexible. Use the full unit for a deep dive, or pick just one or two activities to learn something new. It also pairs beautifully with other badges like Mosaics, Art, or Glass Art if you want to build a themed learning series.
👉 Click here to access the Stained Glass Lesson Plans
Whether you’re working with a troop, a co-op, or your own curious learner, this unit will have your kids seeing the world in a whole new light—literally.
🛠 Printable Resource of the Month: Stained Glass Search & Find
If your kids are working on the Stained Glass badge, this is a perfect place to start. I created these black-and-white printable coloring pages to help them slow down and really look at how stained glass designs come together.
Each image is filled with hidden objects tucked into the stained glass patterns—kind of like a visual treasure hunt. There’s a simpler version for younger kids and a more detailed one for older students or adults, so you can use them with any age group.
As they search for the hidden items, they’ll also get to experiment with color choices—just like real stained glass artists do. How does changing one color affect the whole design? What happens when you put two bold colors next to each other?
Print out the pages, grab some colored pencils or markers, and let your kids explore both the art and the observation sides of stained glass. It’s a fun, low-prep way to meet badge requirements while encouraging thoughtful creativity.
📸 We’d Love to Feature YOU!
My favorite part of running Curiosity Untamed? Seeing what you create.
Every week, I hear amazing stories—from faux stained glass windows taped to bedroom windows to clubs who’ve turned their meetings into full-blown art studios. Whether it’s messy, magical, funny, or flat-out brilliant, we want to see it!
If your kids have:
- Tried any of the Stained Glass badge activities
- Earned five or more badges on one topic and created a themed display
- Turned their badge work into a service project
- Completed a higher award like the Make a Difference or Discovery Award
- Designed their own badge-related project you think others should see
…send us photos, a short story, or even just a quote from your kids about what they learned or loved. We’re looking for real moments from real families, clubs, and kids that show how Curiosity Untamed comes to life.
You don’t need a fancy camera or perfect lighting. Snap a few pics, jot down a sentence or two, and email them to: kerry@curiosityuntamed.com. We may feature your crew in our next newsletter, on our blog, or on social media (with your permission, of course).
Let your story inspire someone else—and celebrate the creativity, curiosity, and courage it took to get there.
