Any Junior Girl Scout leaders? Need some advice

[KarenNC]

I'm co-leading a homeschool troop of Junior Girl Scouts and we are working on the Journey book related to recycling and energy conservation (Get Moving). Is anyone else doing this? If so, how have you handled the "investigate" portion?

 

It seems to me to be inappropriate to expect the girls to do a very detailed energy audit of a place of business then make recommendations on energy conservation to the business. I can see doing one on their home, I could see going to tour a business or community building to look at examples of energy conservation, but the activity as outlined seems inappropriate for 4th and 5th graders. There's no way at least my girls are actually understanding (based on what they have learned in the first part of the Journey book) all the things they are supposed to ask about and then plug into a computer program to generate suggestions.

 

So, if you are doing this Journey book, how have you handled this activity with your girls? Did you do it as written, modify it or substitute something else? Frankly, I am really not very happy with these Journey books. I simply couldn't wrap my head around the first one, so this book is my first experience with the process.

[The Girls' Mom]

The Journey books are horrible, imho. When I was helping out with our troop, it was all beginning to change over. We ended up just doing our own thing most of the time :glare:

 

Do you feel like you HAVE to do the investigate as written? I don't see a problem at all with letting them do it on their homes instead.

[KarenNC]

The Journey books are horrible, imho. When I was helping out with our troop, it was all beginning to change over. We ended up just doing our own thing most of the time :glare:

 

Do you feel like you HAVE to do the investigate as written? I don't see a problem at all with letting them do it on their homes instead.

 

They do do one on their homes as part of it, this is going beyond that. I had a fellow leader (though she does Cadettes) suggest that we go to a virtual website like Energyhog.org and let them do that as a substitute. We'll see.

 

I hate that the new Bronze requirements make them have to do a Journey (though my older girls can get through within the time frame allowed for the old requirements, I have a couple coming up next year who won't).

[Maisy]

:iagree:

 

I think the new Bronze requirements are a little advanced for the junior age. My first thought was, a typical junior girl would have no idea how to begin this daunting task or would become quickly frustrated. My next thought was, wow, there would have to be so much adult guidance (I realize that they do need some of this) that the girls may feel no ownership of their actual project.

 

(Shhh, don't tell, but our troop has been guilty of substituting an activity that was more in line with what our girls wanted, or needed).

[ChrissySC]

We are doing the same Journey book now. I have Juniors from hs and ps. We are not being quite as detailed and strict with the requirements.

 

However, we meet at the Y, and we are fortunate enough to have engineer dads to help the girls out. Also, we had a rep from Duke Power come and visit the girls too. Perhaps you should look out towards the community for help. Call your electrical company.

 

Remember, you do not need to go so far beyond what is asked in the book. We fulfill exactly what is asked in plain English, keeping in mind the age of the girls and their ability to interpret. Keep in mind too that this is to be girl led and girl investigated. It is not the leader's idea of what the project result should be. The girls ultimately will lead and investigate. This is the point of GS'ing. Relax and go with the flow! Let them have at it (so to speak)!

[Luckymama]

My youngest's troop just started the same Journey book. The leader is really good at finding substitutions that make sense for these 4th graders.

 

My older daughter (9th grade) has been in the same troop with the same leader since kindergarten Daisies :) Her leader has ALWAYS substituted activities for badge work, awards and so on. The girls are doing their own Journey for the Gold Award pre-requisites and I'm sure some substitution is happening there, as well.

 

I feel that as long as the intent/purpose/results of a substitution line up with the original printed material, then it works. Then again, I think our council is a little bit more relaxed than some others!

[KarenNC]

My youngest's troop just started the same Journey book. The leader is really good at finding substitutions that make sense for these 4th graders.

 

My older daughter (9th grade) has been in the same troop with the same leader since kindergarten Daisies :) Her leader has ALWAYS substituted activities for badge work, awards and so on. The girls are doing their own Journey for the Gold Award pre-requisites and I'm sure some substitution is happening there, as well.

 

I feel that as long as the intent/purpose/results of a substitution line up with the original printed material, then it works. Then again, I think our council is a little bit more relaxed than some others!

 

I would love to hear what others have used for substitutions. I have done a bit of substituting for some of the badge work (usually because our homeschool group has gone on a field trip that is very relevant to the topic of a particular badge but the activity may not be *exactly* as written).

 

To me, the important intent of the activity for girls to see how some of these things play out in a larger building, so looking around at a building and identifying features that help conserve energy would seem reasonable to me. Playing some of the online games aimed at modifications to conserve energy also seems reasonable.

[Kari C in SC]

This is exactly why I am not doing the Journey books with my girls. We have been using the Juniors Badge book and next year we will be moving onto the Interest Projects book for ages 11-17. I have always modified badges when I couldn't do exactly what it asked.