At Acton our mission is simple, for every child, parent, or person that enters our doors to find a calling and change the world. This is a tall order but we believe that changing the world can happen with tiny steps and these steps can have big impacts for our community, a friend, and ourselves. As a parent you may agree with us that our mission is pretty cool but it’s a whole other order to see it in action and to witness the effect our school environment can have on a learner even at the young age of 5. I’d like to share a heavy and beautiful moment that both surprised and reminded me why our work here at Acton is so meaningful.

At Acton, we choose public exhibitions over exams. Instead of a test, our Owls are challenged to demonstrate their knowledge and their quest for information through a creative event for an audience of their peers, parents, and expert professionals. Exhibitions can be an original theater production, a rocket launch, garden tour, or chess tournament. It’s important to know that unlike Core Skills where learners demonstrate mastery of math and reading, Quest work is a place for them to explore, collaborate, fail, try again, and ultimately have the freedom to discover their gifts and talents. Due to Covid, we haven’t held public exhibitions but today with more safety and joy we present our first Acton Academy Oshkosh Spark Studio Exhibition of Chess, the world of Acton Chesslandia. Since we are experiencing a first together I thought it fitting to share how Guides and learners have been reflecting this week and share how you might talk to your child to go deeper after the Exhibition.

Learning manners is hard! When you are under the age of 7 and your tummy is growling, setting a table, using kind words, arranging your food on your plate, and having patience for everyone around you to be ready to eat before you dive in is a Ninja Master level of difficulty. So, why do we have manners? Why do manners matter?

This week we explored these questions, practiced our top notch manners during lunch (and throughout the day), and learned hands-on how we might feel different when using manners every day. How did we “do” our manners? Well, of course we asked our learners to source ideas and come up with a list of what manners we most need during lunch. Of course, learners were spot-on!

The arduous journey of developing systems and community seems magically timed with this session’s Chess Quest. Developing Acton studio rules, climbing studio privilege levels, voting of peace keepers, and supporting friends with kind reminders have all been steps preparing learners for this week’s ceremonious event, the Acton Knight oath.

This week in Acton Chesslandia learners received the call to knighthood. The knight chess piece moves forward two spaces and then to the side “gallup, gallup, step to the side” (a fun new dance move for many). As we began learning about knights, their moves, their shields, and the qualities of a knight’s bravery, I felt stumped by why only the knights move in this interesting way. All other chess pieces either move straight or diagonally but the knights are complex. Then, my answer was found in the studio with our learners!

Being 5, 7, or even 37 is hard. It’s tough when things don’t go your way or when you can’t quite pinpoint your feeling or find the words to express yourself. Big emotions can be overwhelming but big emotions matriculate in to big passion, big drive, and big hearts. All qualities that make a beautiful and successful adult. Our owl heroes have been exploring their big emotions these past few weeks. They’ve been sharing their calming strategies with one another and have been experimenting with how they can calm, communicate, and make different choices when things don’t go their way and when their emotion volcanoes start to erupt.

One of the most powerful shifts this week was when an erupting owl gained perspective. During the morning work period two friends were like butterflies enjoying their flutter of distractions throughout the studio.

The world of Acton Chesslandia is a place of storytelling, concentration, and fun. As we began our chess quest we learned all about the KING. The King moves one square at a time and can move in any direction. We recalled the stories of our two kings, the white king, King Chomper, was passionate about food and the black king, King Shaky, was passionate about jewels. Their crowns were designed and decorated with what they loved and perfectly reflected who they are. So, we asked learners some important questions and set them off on their mini king quest.

If you were a king, what would you be passionate about? What would make you venture out onto the Chesslandia chess board? How would your crown reflect who you are and what you care about?

Mulan, Nemo, Kung Fu Panda, Moana, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and yes our beloved sisters Elsa and Anna. The story may seem different but each of these heroes is on a journey of adventure, identity, and life meaning. The reason we get hooked and root for these heroes is because they all share the same story, the story that American professor of literature Joseph Campbell refers to as the “monomyth” or the Hero’s Journey. We root for these heroes because we see ourselves in them, they are a mirror, a reminder that life is for living, exploring, failing, and most of all trying!

Albert Einstein said “It’s not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” Questions are truly the key and we know you’ve felt the beautiful and sometimes overwhelming laundry list of your learner’s curiosity. Questions asked by learners this week were “what makes moon craters, how do we create strawberry milk, why is it so muddy outside, what does responsibility mean, how do you spell scientist?” and the list goes on!

Questions are inspired by curiosity, and curiosity is a learner’s super power! Curiosity leads to questions, which lead to interest, which lead to deep discovery, exploration, grit, and eventually accomplished learning. Curiosity is the start of it all but how do we as parents cultivate curiosity?

Maybe it’s the echo, the privacy, the calm stillness of “me” time, or maybe it’s pure creative magic that transforms our Acton bathrooms into full-on musicals!

Every day I have the pleasure of hearing learners belt their little hearts outs while caring for their bodies. There are top 40 songs with interesting lyrics, new compositions, and personal songs about the sun, the moon, or this one “my heart, my heart, beats…forever…(sung with deep feeling)”.

Learning to live in an Acton community is hard but with vulnerability and time comes amazing rewards. I am not only an Acton leader but I’m a fellow parent. I know too well the feeling of watching my own daughter fail, not quite pass that reading level, and I know the feeling of worrying if she’ll make the right choices. It’s hard, but as hard as it is for me it’s ten fold worth it when I step back and allow her to fail because when she picks herself up and tries again and finally reaches her goal she holds greater pride in her independence and honors her journey of learning to learn.

“Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to build an obstacle course and have each hero complete the course. You must not be detected by the evil owl eyes and you must complete the mission on time.” - Carmen SanOshkosh

This week, Spark Studio heroes received this top secret mission and experienced the journey of failure. Day 1, after receiving their mission, learners jumped with bursts of excitement and began their journey.

The smell, the crunchy sound and soft touch, the warmth of freshly baked bread…there is nothing like this carb happy experience. What’s better? Having your hand in baking bread and the pride and joy of sharing the bread you made with friends.

All week we have been baking bread with learners in pairs. Why? Besides it being delicious, recipes are science (this session’s theme) and our bread making recipe offers learners practice in completing measurements and patience throughout the day and patience with their baking partner.

What happens when you give learners free time and ask open ended questions? Creative gifts are revealed, democracy unfolds, and learners practice the process of improvisation. Improvisation isn’t just for jazz musicians, it is the act of making or doing something with whatever is available at the time, it is unrehearsed and unplanned.

So, how do we improvise at Acton? Simply, we provide space and time, materials, and as much trust as we can muster. Trust is the trickiest ingredient but honestly holds all the magic!

Is a paperclip just for holding papers or is a ball of dough only for baking? With an artist frame of mind any object has endless possibilities!

This week learners continued their creative and artistic journeys with music and visual art. To start the week we continued exploring music and storytelling. If we close our eyes and listen our imagination can take us anywhere! The music tells a story and may inspire a battle of soldiers, a magical fairyland, or even a nice walk on the beach. It was amazing to watch learners dive into an artist frame of mind; their eyes laser focused, voices joyfully humming, bodies bursting with excitement, and eyes wide with possibility.

What does it mean to be creative? Where does inspiration come from? How can we cultivate great ideas? These are some of the questions learners have been exploring as they journey through our Winter Camp theme of Creativity and the Arts. Our answer to these questions is simple, PLAY!

The power of play is vital. Play is how we spark ideas, uncover mysteries, learn from a friend, develop social skills, try something new, overcome challenges, and regain or release energy. This is why play is the primary way that Spark learners learn in the studio and why we are invested in play and it’s link to creativity this Winter Camp session.

All session learners have been exploring traditions around the world in our very own Spark Studio. We practiced traditions of France, Israel, China, Mexico, and even Minnesota (many learners reminded us of the Viking rival in Packer country). Globe Trot Scott sent us amazing and generous gifts. And yes, if your learner asks, Globe Trot Scott is real! Who else would have sent these packages?

During our travels we had many conversations about our family traditions and how our celebrations may be similar or different. The studio has been bursting with stories and joy this week as learners share their family traditions.

Opening day in our new Acton home warmed our hearts and also our bellies as we drank hot cocoa and topped our celebration with beloved marshmallows! It’s funny how such a small, squishy, and innocent delight had bountiful inspiration for our learners. When realizing that our feet made quite the rumble on the studio floor we began to imagine “what if our feet were marshmallows?” “could we be marshmallow ninjas?”.

And so began the development of marshmallow moments.

These past few months it has been amazing to watch learners develop their independent learning skills and practice setting academic goals. Often, learners choose work that is interesting and challenging balanced by easier work for a brain break. Continuously staying on task and working to achieve goals is tough (even for us adults). What if there was a way to feel encouraged and held accountable for your work? What if a friend could give us this tough-minded and warm-hearted support?

Enter………RUNNING PARTNERS!

The beautiful thing about Acton is learners create their own rules and have 100% stake in their learning environment. The hard part, following rules and holding yourself and others accountable so everyone learns safely and joyfully with friends.

As learners struggled through the process of holding one another accountable for rule breaking they began their individual and tribe’s journey of feeling privilege and setting goals. The first lesson learners discovered was information-learning is one of the greatest privileges.