A Note From the Founder – Working Together
I absolutely love our membership. In the last 14 years, this program has grown from one tiny troop of girls in rural Northern California to a co-ed educational program used nationwide. Why? Because our members all pitch in and help. I love the grassroots community we have built. Rather than wait for me to develop every badge or resource, we have incredibly talented members all over the country who take the lead and share badges they have written and resources they have developed in order to make the program better for everyone involved.
Just this week a member of the forum asked if there was a list of science badges for the S.T.E.A.M. award to help them decide which would count toward the life science or physical science requirements. Within 24 hours two other members, Alena Pierce and Elisabeth Simmons, had upload lists they had made as well as emailed them to me to add to the website. If it were not for these proactive generous members, this request would have ended up in my to-do list and it would probably be months before I finally had time to get around to it. Instead, the person who asked the question had the resources they needed within 24 hours. In less than a week those resources are now listed on our website as well all thanks to our generous members.
If you are not already a part of the Curiosity Untamed/Quest Clubs Forum group on Facebook, please join us!
S.T.E.A.M. Award Resources
In response to a request on our Facebook forum, Alena Pierce and Elisabeth Simmons were kind enough to put together a resource for those working on their S.T.E.A.M. award. Part of the award requires that you earn two life science badges and two physical science badges. A list was requested to choose from to make it a bit easier to identify those badges. Alena and Elisabeth were both quick to share the lists they had already made for their own kids. Those lists have now been combined and are available on the website.
S.T.E.A.M. RESOURCES
New Badge Posted
Thank you to Deborah Header and Jessica Williams for coming up with the Eyes badge.
May the 4th Be With You!
May the 4th be with you!! May 4th is National Star Wars Day and we put together a unit study to help you earn your Learn About Star Wars badge. As part of the unit study, we also created a post on how to throw a Star Wars party for those who just wish to celebrate the day without fully immersing themselves in learning about the Star Wars franchise.
How to Throw a Star Wars Party
Star Wars Unit Study
Never Too Old To Learn
Katie Lundquist has been one of our most active Frontier Girls/Quest Club leaders for nearly 10 years and she just earned her 8th WOW! award as a troop/club leader and her 6th WOW! award for earning badges herself at the adult level. She is an amazing inspiration and we asked her to share her story.
“I’ve always been curious by nature, and I love to dive into research for fun. I also never do things “by halves” and jump into things with both feet! It’s just who I am.
I’ve been a Frontier Girls troop leader since November 2011, and in that time I have taught countless badges to girls of all ages! I make sure my girls have the opportunity to earn their Discovery Award at each level, and since we have new families every year that means I plan from all 9 Areas of Discovery every year. I also seem to have a knack for dovetailing badges with similar requirements so we get more “bang for our buck”. On average, I teach 30-35 badges each year. Quite a few of those are repeats, but I only count them the first time.
On top of that, I’m a homeschooling mom to 11 great kiddos who are all equally curious about the world around them! This gives me plenty of opportunity to teach multiple badges – whether I am interested in the topic or not! Several of my children are profoundly or severely dyslexic which means a lot more teaching and input from me to help them achieve their goals.
In addition, my boys are part of a Quest Club which often earns badges separately from the girls. Although I was just the co-leader for several years, I still did a significant amount of the teaching for each badge. And now that I am leading them for a time, I teach even more!
For years, I never gave a thought to earning badges myself. But as my kids grew to adulthood and continued learning and earning, I knew I wanted to set an example that you never come to the end of your education. So I went back through all the badges I had taught and did the extra requirements to earn them at the adult level. And then I kept going! Now I make a point to just add on the extra requirements for myself for any badge that interests me.
Some ideas for earning badges as a adult:
Travel! One of my mottos that I’ve passed on to my kids is “Go to all the places, Do all the things!” For me, this means grab any opportunity within your means to enjoy every experience that comes your way. I’ve been inspired by the stories about Sandy Yearwood (the inspiration behind this program) to never pass up a chance to see/do something new, or go on an adventure to new places. We’ve only got one go ’round in this life – make it count!
Cook! One of the best ways to learn about a culture is to enjoy their food! I am fortunate in that I have a love of cooking and many eager helpers. We often extend a study of people and places by sampling their traditional dishes while listening to their music.
Read! There are so many things you can learn just by reading about them! Travel books, historical fiction, devotionals… it doesn’t matter WHAT you read, just find something you love and learn!
To date, I’ve earned 800 badges as a Leader, and over 600 at the adult level. I hope I can inspire others to get out there and never. stop. learning!”
Earth Day Adventures
Cyndie Lyons organized a group of kids from Ohio who got together and spent 3 weeks in April learning about Earth Day.
They started with interviewing each other about what Earth day is and what they think people should do to help save the planet. Then they made Earth day T shirts to wear to spread awareness in their local community. (Which was a lot of fun!) They made airplanes out of water bottles and brainstormed what other toys they could make from an empty water bottle.
They ended their unit with cleaning up litter from the local park. The kids filled 21 shopping bags full of trash!
Cyndie Lyons and her daughter, age 9, also combined with Lisa Evers and her 6 year old son to host and come up with ideas for their unit to share with friends in the local stem club.
Troop #449 Awarded Donor of the Year by Soldiers’ Angels
by Cathy Cameron
In October 2020 we started raising money with bake sales and collecting items to fill stockings for soldiers. These stockings were donated to āStockings for Heroesā through Soldiersā Angels. We donated a total of 31 filled stockings to the cause. In February 2021 we made āValentineās for Veteransā. Some of these cards were donated to Soldiersā Angels and some were given locally.
Additionally in January 2021 we started sending monthly care packages to a female service member through āLadies of Libertyā with Soldiersā Angels. We also joined Soldiersā Angels Cards Plus team and send several cards each month. These cards are for special occasions like birthdays, and welcome home. We just sent a donation of 140 pairs of socks to Soldiersā Angels for āWarm Feet for Warriorsā.
Soldiersā Angels is a nonprofit organization to support both active and veteran military members. These military members are both deployed and here at home.
All members of our troop have a family member that is a military veteran. That makes this project a little more personal and makes this award more special.
Girls of the Future Hosts Egg Hunt
One of our Quest Clubs, Girls of the Future in New York, hosted an amazing egg hunt for their community for Easter. The turnout was fantastic! Great job girls!
(photography courtesy of MARCELLA LAUSE PHOTOGRAPHY)
