Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Aotearoa Region GirlGuides

This term we had a lot of things planned, a month of holidays with the Papa, down the bach (where we can still homeschool early in the mornings or in the afternoons when it's too hot for the beach), and then a month over in Melbourne, Australia with my folks, whilst the poor Papa stayed behind to look after the livestock.

Sitting out on the bach deck playing cards in summer.
 
As the girls love their GirlGuides and I didn't fancy paying for a full term for the couple of weeks that they could attend, I transferred them to Aotearea Region GirlGuides (formerly Lones in NZ). Aotearoa Region is a section of Guiding for girls who cannot make a weekly unit meeting due to location, the unit currently being full, it's simply it's not on the right night, no transport and so on. Essentially it's like doing GirlGuides by correspondence.

By the way, the word Aotearoa means 'Land of the Long White Cloud' which is what the Maori's called New Zealand way before the before Pakeha (Europeans) settled here.



Working on some badge work




Making  "Biscuit (Ginger) bread Houses"

 


Making and blowing bubbles

The participants work on their badges at home, they receive either a pack at the beginning of the term, to work on throughout the term, as does the Guide age level, or if they were a Brownie they'd receive a badge to work on every fortnight from one of the Brownie AR leaders (I am one of AR Brownie Leader although on leave until May). The leaders touch base via email or sometimes phone the girls to see how they are doing.

Each AR GirlGuide is assigned to a nearby unit and whenever there is a camp, special activity, or special day, etc. they also receive invites to participate with that group so they are still having new experiences and participating with groups at special events.



Selling GirlGuide biscuits with the local GG unit, in 2014

Whilst they have enjoyed their AR packs, they have very much missed catching up with their friends at the local unit but, what a great opportunity for them to try something new and yet being able to continue working on their badges in their spare time. No "I'm bored, what can I do?" is ever heard around here!

Many other countries also offer a similar alternative to AR Guides (could still be called Lones in your country) so if your child simply can't make one more evening out, or there's no unit (troop) in your area, etc. look into it. The girls still get to go on camps and attend all kinds of fun stuff and earn badges at the same time.







10 comments :

  1. Lisa,

    Guides by correspondence? Oh this sounds so interesting. I didn't know about this kind of guides. You're coming home for a holiday soon? That is so exciting. I remember how you've been pining for the bush. Enjoy!

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    1. Our holiday was supposed to have been this month but due to some unforeseen expenses (our washing machine died, my lap top died and two of us needed new glasses) it has been deferred. I will get there though, just not as soon as I had hoped to.

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  2. What are girl guides? My daughter and I do a keepers of the faith (formerly keepers at home) group where they earn badges for completing projects. Is this something similar?

    Thanks for visiting my blog and have fun with the challenge!

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    1. Hi Jacqui, It would be similar to your Girl Scouts in the US. We have a couple of groups here in NZ, that are similar to your Keepers of the Faith, they are called Girls Brigade and Girls Rally. My girls used to attend Rally but they meet quite late at night and it got a bit much for them especially in the winter.

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  3. In this part of the world, such things were not very popular few years back, when I was still in school. I do not know the status now.. It is great that the girls could enjoy without being have to present there..

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    1. Unfortunately as the girls get older, it is not quite so "cool" to be in Guides which is really sad. I remember one girl leaving our group, despite loving it, as she was being teased at high school. It is never to late you know ... you could become a leader and motivate wee girls. The kids adore young leaders. ;)

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  4. Sounds a lot like Girl Scouts here in the US. What a great way to fill the "I'm bored" times and work towards something worthwhile! Great post! :)

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    1. There is a group called WAGGGS and it stands for Worldwide Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, so we are in fact all sisters. :) Thanks so much for dropping by and commenting Phoenix.

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  5. That is so cool! I'm in the States so I was a part of the Girl Scouts, but I've never heard of the correspondence type thing. I wish we'd known about it (if it's even a thing over here) back then because our Girl Scout group (my mom was scout leader) split up from lack of participation. I would have loved to that the correspondence thing. So cool! I was also homeschooled so I'm looking forward to reading your blog and learning more about how it's done in your country. :D

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    1. I never was a GirlGuide/Scout as a girl and I am just blown away by the experiences that available to young girls and even young leaders. I once read that many of your female senators all belonged to GirlScouts at one time, so it is more empowering than I think people realise. :)
      I so love that you were homeschooled, that is really cool. I have two friends in the US who are homeschoolers who were homeschooled also!

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