Homeschoolers Living the Dream
Tomorrow I help launch an experiment. The idea is to train a small group of Christ-following leaders to be the change the world needs. We’ve recruited 13 graduating homeschoolers for three months. They’ve just gone through two exciting weeks of training camp.
Tomorrow they fly to Spain. I’ll be joining them as they hike the Camino de Santiago for two weeks. After that, they go serve one of five ministry options they’ve been praying about – refugee ministries in Paris, Greece or Romania need help. Or there are partners in Albania and Spain. Or, we’d love to go serve a ministry in Portugal, but we don’t have a partner there yet (anybody have any ideas? let me know!)
Along the way, the students are working on Personal Development Plans. We help them work with a tool we call the “Sweet Spot” that helps them understand and lead themselves. Every day, they get to practice developing the skills they need to expand their sweet spot so that they can begin making a difference in the world.
We’ve seen that life lived with God is a journey and can be a great adventure. We want to give students a taste of this life. We’re calling this experiment Adventures Journey School. It’s for students who understand that the best learning happens outside the classroom.
To give the process structure, we connect students to mentors who regularly help them work on their Sweet Spot.
The crazy thing is that the though the adventure of hiking the Camino and serving while learning seems extravagant, it costs half the price of a semester in a traditional college in America! We can do this because our mentors and leaders believe in and feel called to develop young people as a part of their Sweet Spot.
The possibilities for young people are much greater than they’ve been led to believe. In the future, students could stay on campus in America or sail the Caribbean while studying sustainability issues.
Eventually, some will apprentice in software startups. Some may spend a semester in Africa studying permaculture. All will live in community and dive deeper into faith as they explore where their dreams may take them.
College used to be about imparting information and degrees. Now the information is available for free on the web. There is no reason that students should be graduating college as they currently do with debt loads that weigh them down and limit their capacity to find their Sweet Spot.
AI-augmented learning plans now allow us to deeply customize the learning experience. The future is galloping in our direction and we need to understand the possibilities and dangers it holds. My dream is that Journey School would add the soft tissue of Identity in Christ, Community, and Involvement in kingdom projects leading to a life calling.
I’ve been working on this dream for eight years now, partnering with multiple colleges and learning about how to pioneer a new model. I’ve seen that innovation is difficult given regulations and paradigms based on high cost commitments to campuses and tenured professors. Along the way, I’ve seen that curiosity-based learning is far more effective than lectures and memorizing facts for tests.
When Karen and I were raising our five kids, sometimes we homeschooled them and sometimes we sent them to public schools. But we always looked at them as individuals with specific interests and skills. We always sought to marry book learning with experiential learning.
Do you have children or students who are friends you deeply care about and want to see flourish? They deserve better. They deserve an education that sets them up to thrive. They deserve a connection to a network of mentors that love to disciple and encourage them. The world needs young leaders who are motivated to address it’s greatest problems and students deserve to have the chance to follow God in making the world a better place.
We’ll let you know how it goes. Follow the team’s adventures here.
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As a homeschool mom this is exciting to read! Praying as they go out, leading, teaching, and growing 🙏
Sarah – it’s been 18 years since you went on the original pilot project for the World Race! And here we are with another pilot project. I’d love to see you help us with it.
This is a really exciting new adaptation to the Kingdom Journeys and pumped to see where it ends up!
It is, Hugh. I learned about the Camino and using international projects to train and disciple young people like yourselves with you in 2012. And now you are all thriving. It’ll be good to see how this builds on our experience.
Literally what I was thinking, Hugh.
This is an exciting development to see!!
Sounds awesome! Im sure you’ve connected with Excel school to let them be aware of that college opportunity once they finish their add
Adventures!
“My dream is that Journey School would add the soft tissue of Identity in Christ, Community, and Involvement in kingdom projects leading to a life calling.”
This is Spirit-led and prescient. I’ll look forward to interacting on this when we are next together. I’ve lived by the maxim, “You can’t manage what cannot be measured.” But then again, “Who knows which ways the wind blows.” Thanks, Seth.
Butch, I love this:
“‘You can’t manage what cannot be measured.’ But then again, ‘Who knows which ways the wind blows.’”
That fabulous marriage of structure and freedom!
Seth, as you know, my life is in transition at the moment. “The Sweet Spot” looks like a very practical way to use the most helpful bits of the Ikigai model and then pose questions for the Holy Spirit. I’m going to give this a try and report back. Thanks, Seth!
Seth – Im honored to be on this journey with you my friend.
This…
“It’s for students who understand that the best learning happens outside the classroom.”
Yes!