The Five F’s for Learning and Teaching
Fun – Friendship – Focus – Fly your spirit – Finish your goalFun is the human shortcut to quality learning. Children at play are our model for this as we see them joyfully discover through exploration. As adults we’re supposed to “quit playing around” and enjoy accomplishment for its own sake. We still light up and learn much faster when it feels like a game, though. When our work feels like play we relax, we’re creative, we’re experimental. In Summer Camp we create games that build the physical, mental, and social skills we want the kids to have. Because they’re playing, the hundreds of repetitions build skill without feeling like work.

Friendship is key for long term practice. Building friendships with other students also builds consistency in training since we show up for both the skill and the friendship. It builds momentum since we don’t want to fall behind our friends. It also builds support, since our class has a common history and while individuals struggle at different times, the group balances out its members. In Camp we want to make sure that the kids have plenty of creative, social, group activities that help them create new friendships and develop those they already have. Whether they’re using legos to solve a structural challenge, playing laser tag or dodge ball in teams, or practicing the martial arts curriculum, we want to make sure they are practicing listening to, negotiating with, and understanding the kids around them.

Focus doesn’t sound like a camp priority, but since the campers are learning and developing through a martial arts curriculum, focus is built into our activities. The kids have goals for strength, speed, coordination, balance, flexibility, and learning. Making progress requires them to stay focused on their goals and the practice that improves them.

Fly your spirit means to find your physical, mental, and social potential, and launch it! We really want to find the strengths in each kid by having a variety of activities to challenge all of their many aspects and motivating them to make breakthroughs. We want kids to leave each day exhausted and energized at the same time, excited to find more ways to improve!

Finish your goal is about not giving up and not lowering the bar. The kids make goals that highlight their strengths but also that help them work towards balancing out the areas that challenge them the most.

It all comes together to make a camp where kids have fun with their friends being focused on flying their spirits and finishing their goals!