So Much to Say

I keep thinking of things I need to blog about on here, and then when I go to actually write, it all escapes me. I can't believe we're just three weeks away from starting Unit 4. That means we're almost done with our first year of Bridge 45! We've learned so much. I'm going to have to set aside time this summer to go back and make revisions to what we wrote.

So what are some of the changes I'd make?

-While our kids LOVED making videos of themselves (which we did in Unit 1), they might not be ready for the responsibility of it at the beginning of the school year. It was hard to get them to focus and actually present a worthwhile message. Unless you have a leader who's willing to strongly guide their group, the final product may not be what you expect. The end of the school year would be better.

-Small group based weeks have been the favorites of boys and girls alike. However, the leaders are finding it's helpful to have simple things to occupy the kids' hands while they talk. Some girl leaders have had their girls work on beading projects during their discussions. For Unit 4 (which we just planned), we gave suggestions for girl groups, and suggestions for boy groups. For example, the week the kids talk about how they fit into the church, the boy groups will be given a project to build out of K'nex. While they may not even realize it, they'll all play a part in the construction project as they talk about the role they play in the church.

-We need to write in fun. The students have a lot of fun during activity station time. And while we hoped that fun would naturally flow through the rest of the service, it can easily be forgotten. We now will write icebreakers into the curriculum, so the division leader doesn't have to come up with something on the spot.

-Our original plan for Unit 3 was to have the groups do service projects at our local Women & Children's shelter. After watching our kids, we realized that they weren't ready for this task. We had to change the activity before starting the unit. As much as we'd like to see our kids grow faster, that is one thing that can be saved for the middle school years. That's not to say they can't do other service projects, just not the one we originally thought of.

-When we looked at our scope and sequence, we realized that our plan for Unit 4 was also beyond our kids. Our original plan was to look at "Who I am in Christ," by helping them realize the value in growing up the church and understand that their testimony is still great even if they don't have a dramatic conversion moment. Since working with our 4th & 5th graders apart from the younger grades, we found that this topic was also too "middle school." Instead, we're taking the approach of being able to look back on situations in their lives and realize that God was with them. Then, to look forward to what kind of situations they'll face as they enter middle school and be prepared to take a stand for Christ. I'll have to blog more about this!

So those are my thoughts about where we've been and what I'd change. I am very pleased with how this year has gone. I'm excited to see how this program keeps growing, and the outreach that can be done through it.