ADVENTURER CURRICULUM Gen Taylor August 2014

OBJECTIVES & GOALS Adventurer Program Adventurer Goal The Curriculum Designed to support parents and caregivers in leading and encouraging children to a loving relationship with Jesus. Adventurer Goal Children will give their lives to Christ. Children will acquire habits needed to live a life for Christ. The Curriculum foundation of the Adventurer program turns the goals of the Adventurer program into fun and practical activities Adventurers will enjoy based on an active learning approach rather than just learning facts Helps Adventurers learn to apply these concepts to their lives.

OVERVIEW – Adventurer Ministry 6 Levels/Classes by grade PreK-4 to 4th grade Little Lamb Eager Beaver Busy Bee Sunbeam Builder Helping Hand Helping Hand Advanced* 5 Tracks in each level Basic Requirements My God My Self My Family My World

Tracks Basic Requirements My God My Self My Family My World ensures that the Adventurer has the background necessary to receive the maximum benefit of the program My God To develop the growing relationship between the Adventurer and Christ My Self To encourage the Adventurers to care for and appreciate the individual God created them to be My Family Helps the Adventurers realize that they are an important part of the family God gave them, and that they have a part in making it a happy productive family. My World Helps the Adventurer encounter God’s world with confidence and compassion.

Working with the Curriculum Read through the Curriculum Plan a calendar Assess your resources Get Creative Prepare for Challenges – be flexible Have Fun

READ Read through the entire curriculum for your class(es) This will help you plan out how you will cover each topic *New NAD manual still in the works

PLAN Successful completion of the Adventurer Curriculum requires staff and parents work together. NAD Manual breaks it into a 9 month calendar, including what requirements will be accomplished during club meetings and which the parent and Adventurer should do at home. Parent sign-off sheets can be found for each month for each class on pages 363-442.

Plan - Working with a church school many of the requirements are included in the school curriculum. See pages 297-316 of the Adventurer Club Manual

Plan What information you really want the Adventurer to learn? Look for improvement not perfection Who will teach requirement? parent, class instructor, school teacher, guest When and where? Club meeting, home, school, field trip, church/community event How will you/others teach this requirement?

USING THE CURRICULUM Catch the interest of the Adventurers Present an interesting object or story about what they are going to learn during that meeting Present the information Use a variety of methods – pictures, films, discussions, demonstrations, etc Practice what you just learned Use active experiences to re-enforce the information Apply it to their life Evaluate what they did Did they complete the requirement and reached it’s objective? Remember not to look for perfection but improvement.

Assess Resources & Needs What information you really want the Adventurer to learn? Look for improvement not perfection Who will teach requirement? parent, class instructor, school teacher, guest When and where? Club meeting, home, school, field trip, church/community event How will you/others teach this requirement?

RESOURCES

Activity Books Great for holding record of all work done in the year. You can see what a child missed during periodic reviews. Helpful if someone needs to fill in or your creative gene left for the day CAUTION: Avoid just coloring and filling in Plan lessons beyond worksheets If it feels too much like school work you may loose their interest

More resources Internet Craft catalogs & websites Enchantedlearning.com Search engines – Google, ask, etc. Craft catalogs & websites Oriental Trading Company www.orientaltrading.com US Toys Discount School Supplies Family Fun www.familyfun.com Coloring & Activity Books Become BEST FRIENDS with your Dollar Store MANY online FREE coloring page sites Many types of businesses have activity books available (ie: realtors, supermarkets, dentists, insurance agents, etc.) Pastor, church members, community helpers Be clear about the information you want to be share, the help they will have and the time commitment. Time is usually the greatest concern followed by “I don’t know how to deal with little kids syndrome”  Having the requirements for a specific topic to share helps them prepare

Conference Events FUN CRAFTS Guest Presenters

Be Creative Activity books are just a starting point Varied presentation styles Guest presenters My God – Church Elders, Pastor, Older Youth Myself - Health professionals My Family – homemakers, Home service professionals (wouldn’t you want to learn to clean from Field trips in community Can your local weather team help with the Weather Awards? Ask, they might say yes. Local Coop gardener or farmer Active Lessons involving crafts, Group & Individual Work Healthy Competition

Challenges Challenges happen Be prepared. Permanent – Adventurer or Staff with special needs or a regular place for meetings Temporary – speaker or counselor a no-show or missing supplies Be prepared. “just in case” projects or games that teach part of the Adventurer program. (Thankful chip, Being Happy is Fun Award, Bible Story Telling award) Knowing the curriculum will assist you in navigating challenges successfully.

Challenges – Multiple Levels 6 Adventurer levels & less counselors Knowing the curriculum helps you plan how material will be presented Example – The My God Unit – Topic: Time with God This for Sunbeam – prayer journal, talk about how & why we pray. Little Lambs talk about prayer and get examples of prayers. Example – My Self Unit – Topic – caring for your body Helping Hands learn about Hygiene, Eager Beaver about their body parts, Little Lambs about getting properly dressed

Gen Taylor Jax Southpoint SDA southpointadventurers@gmail.com