This week—only three days of Acton Academy spread between two days of public holidays gives limited time for preparation for next week’s camping. The Eagles looked forward to the first camp. Exciting times!
This week was all about camping and exhibition preparation. I will let the picture do most of the talking. Even with limited time, we do not provide answers. Scroll down to the end of this post to see why!
- Preparation for Exhibition
- Preparation for Camping
- Why no spoonfeeding of a Packing List
Preparation for Exhibition
Eagles are going to exhibit various skills and “teach” parents during next week’s exhibition. First aid, fire, foraging, cooking, making water filters, edible plants, shelter and so on. Every Eagle was scrambling around prepping for the exhibition.
After a five weeks raining spell, we finally had some sunny weather. Eagles took the opportunity to create fire using a magnifying glass! It was also a time to revisit other fire methods, such as flint and steel.
Preparation for Camping
Usually, most camps come with a packing list. But not for us.
Eagles started with a blank list, and they had to figure out what to bring to the Camp. By doing this exercise, they recalled how the campsite looked like and discussed what is needed. They researched various sources and found their own conclusions.
There was plenty of exchanges of possibilities during this phase, as well as some wise advice.
“Can we help build everyone’s tents?”
“We are super excited to share what we have.”
“Guys, bring your swimming gear and a plastic bag for your wet clothes.”
“We need to bring some healthy snacks too to balance out all the junk food.”
The Middle School (MS) Eagles took their planning further, by having color-coded schedule, car seating arrangements, packing list and so on.
The Elementary School (ES) Eagles also planned for cooking their Camp Day 2’s breakfast. They were delighted!
“How many eggs do we need?”
“Who is bringing a bowl and a whisk?”
“I can cook! We practiced cooking scrambled egg during Cooking and Chemistry sprint!”
The Eagles were almost ready for the first camping trip!
Why no spoonfeeding of a Packing List
Why do the Eagles have to figure their packing list from scratch? Why not give them a packing list and ask them: follow the list and pack that!
Here’s the answer. Acton Academy focuses on process over results. There is much learning to think from first principles, and thinking of various scenarios during the camp. We would challenge the Eagles with questions and scenarios, but never give them the list. It is slower, but it is the nature of learning.
A coach can’t keep on giving instruction to a rock climber on where to put his foot next. The rock climber has to figure out, and practice repeatedly until it becomes an art. The only interventions are the occasional coaching for corrections.
Still, that’s not enough. One has to push further, such as making deliberate limitations and focus to hone certain skills. For rock climbing, blindfold climbing is one way to build trust, intuition, and courage.
It is not easy.
“This is so scary. I don’t want to do it.” “Can I not climb with the blindfold?”
But with patience, one step at a time, the Eagle will find the courage to grow.
When that happens, we heard different words of a different tone.
“We did it!!! Can we do it again?”
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