Reflections on camp - part one

Well, I'm back from a week long church camp experience. Every year we try to go down to Tahlequah, Oklahoma for this one specific 6th grade camp. WHY?? Partly because we're crazy (but, hey, we like it that way!) and mostly because it's such a great camp. The staff is diverse, friendly, intelligent, and good at what they do. The 6th grade camp curriculum for the OK Conference is called "God in our Midst" and was put together very well - giving lots of ideas and plenty of room for flexibility (which if you've ever worked with 6th graders is a MUST).

I know after working this camp, that I was not cut out to be a teacher - but it is clear to me why some people would love to take that job. Watching kids figure things and learn how to do things for the first time is an incredible thing to witness, especially when they start putting things together about nature, God and life. By the end of the week, I was completely warn out and running low on patience (how do they manage to all ask the same questions over and over??) but satisfied that is was a week of vacation well spent. Most of the kids are from the burbs or the Tulsa metro area and haven't ever done a lot of stuff in the outdoors that isn't their back yards. Teaching them how to play in a creek and catch crawdads, or how to build a charcoal fire and prepare their own dinner is a major highlight in my year. I'll try to put up pictures in the next couple of days and form the rest of my thoughts into cohesive posts....