Doing a Journey in a Day was not something I had thought about until I came across Jen's awesome post about her experience with this same Journey. After reading her post several times, I thought it was a great idea!
I had several reasons for wanting to do this:
- Our first Junior Journey took us a whole year to do!
- There are so many other things the girls want to do - there's never enough time!
- Several of my 5th grade Juniors needed to earn their 3rd Journey in order to earn the Junior Summit Award before bridging to Cadettes.
The Place:
I secured a location that would allow the girls move around inside without being too cramped and with outside space to let them get the wiggles out. My Service Unit is lucky enough to have an old house donated by the awesome owners for Girl Scout use. We call it the Girl Scout Mansion - although it is far from a mansion. I believe the house was built sometime mid-1900s. The Mansion has several rooms to use, two bathrooms, and a kitchen.The Date:
I chose a Saturday because, after reading Jen's post, I knew it would take all day to accomplish everything we needed to do. (I was right!) I scheduled the Mansion 9am to 6pm. As it turned out, we finished by 5pm! Yay!!The Journey Guide and Girl Book:
I ended up not using the Girl Book except for reading a couple of stories about roles for women. I gathered ideas from several sources:
- Jen's aMuse Journey in a Day
- River Valley Girl Scouts aMuse ideas
- Pinterest (I love Pinterest) - snack ideas
The Parts:
Speak Out - Learning about stereotypes and how to bust them.
Try Out - Exploring what beauty means to them, how they see themselves, and how healthy bodies support them in taking on roles.
The Day:
Opening:
I began by going over "house rules" and posted a schedule of the day so they knew what to expect.We began with a discussion about self-esteem. We talked about the "Five Senses" of self-esteem: Security, Belonging, Competence, Identity, and Purpose. They wrote about these in a Journal book I made with my Cricut. I made the inner pages using instructions from Dinah Zike's Big Book of Books and Activities (see below). Note: I've had this book for years and use it often in our homeschooling adventures.
Next, we talked about how to gain self-esteem and made a list of positive ways to do that. Then, I had them write in their journal 5 natural strengths they felt they had. 
Hand Tracing Activity:
"Give ourselves a hand!" Each girl traced and then cut out her hand. She wrote her name on her paper hand. We passed each hand to the girl on the right who would write something positive about that girl. We passed until each girl had her own paper hand back and then we read all the cool things they said about each other!
Total Time: 1 hour
Reach Out - the first award in the Journey
We talked about preconceived notions of women. I showed the girls some photos I had cut from magazines or printed out of women in "traditional" roles (secretary, maid, housewife) and then introduced them to other roles of women they may not have considered (Mayor, welder, race car drive, etc.).Role Play: we used dress up props (things borrowed from our Troop parents) and used the Character Cards. Got this idea from Jen!
Dream Boards: I got this idea from Jen, too, and loved it so much I copied everything but the color of the canvas! I went with blue as opposed to her teal color. ;) Each girl was to choose a phrase: "I Am..." "I Can..." "I will..." However, they had their own ideas and actually wrote them out along with cutting out pictures and phrases from magazines (donated by parents).
Total Time: 1 hour
Morning Snack: 15 minutes. Muffins!!! Yum!Speak Out - 2nd award in the Journey
Mini Skits:
Next, the girls used dress up props and split into 3 groups of two. Each group chose a stereotype and were given about 30 minutes to come up with a skit that would demonstrate how to break that stereotype.
Lunch: 1 hour. By this time, the girls were "STARVING!" I incorporated an hour for lunch into the day so they could eat and just be outside to chill and relax.... or run around, as was the case.
Try Out - 3rd award in the Journey
The girls explore what beauty means to them, how they see themselves, and how healthy bodies are important in order to support the roles they take on.Who I am Now: the girls drew self-portraits by looking into a mirror. (I was surprised at how accurately they drew themselves!)
Healthy Bodies: the girls did mini facials on each other. I brought in a small crockpot and kept some damp washcloths on warm. We used makeup remover wipes, a moisturizer, and of course, cucumbers. We put on some soft music, and.....
This was a great activity and the girls learned some things about themselves! Some learned that they had trouble relaxing, some found they had no trouble at all, some enjoyed the feel of a rolled blanket beneath their knees, some were ok with a cloth over their face while others were a little fearful of that.
Dream Roles: we discussed some potential roles the girls might think of for themselves in the future. I encouraged them to step outside of what they thought they would be right now (a vet, a zoologist, etc) and to think of something completely different. Not surprisingly, they were very adamant in what they wanted to be. They drew "future portraits" of themselves. It was quite aMusing to see how they wanted to look in the future - some edgy hairstyles came out! (Sorry - I didn't take pics of this activity.)
Total Time: 2 hours
Afternoon Snack: 15 minutes. Apple Cookies!
