The foundation of Arrow Kids Academy is learning together. We work to provide an environment for the students to build friendships and give them opportunities to share with each other what they are learning. We don't want our students to just sit and listen to lectures or do busy work just to show they have learned something. We want them to develop a life pattern of learning with others and wrestling through difficult things together.
This approach to learning comes from the Hebrew concept known as Havering.
Haver (ha· ver) is a Hebrew word that means friend; comrade; companion. It’s the practice of grappling in twos or threes over Scripture and talking about how to live it out together. It is the belief that we learn best in community and all of us have something to offer to the conversation.
Our Mentor Monday's are designed around this concept of havering. Our western perspective often thinks of mentoring as a one directional relationship where an older individual, "the mentor," imparts their wisdom to someone younger whom they are mentoring. When we approach mentoring from the perspective of havering, it becomes a mutual relationship between 2-4 people who each have a chance to study together and share what they are learning.
We are inviting both students and adults to join our Mentor Mondays to be a part of a havruta, which is kind of a mouthful for kids, so we call it a disciplemaking learning community or DLC for short. This monthly DLC will give time for students to be paired with an adult and to spend time studying God's word together as well as for the students to share with the adult what they have been learning academically throughout the month. Instead of their being an adult mentor and a student being mentored, we are approaching this time as though both the student and the adult are mentors. The goal is to develop disciplemaking friendships and give the students opportunities to learn with an adult that is not their parent, as well as for the adults to learn from the students.
To participate with us this spring, we ask that both students and adults commit to joining us once a month February-May. In order to build disciplemaking friendships, we need to have consistent time together. Mentor Monday will be held at Ridgewood Church on Monday February 20th, March 13th, April 10th and May 8th from 10:00am-noon.
We encourage mentors of all ages to join us, toddlers through senior citizens. Depending on how many individuals register, we will divide participants into pairs or groups up to 4. These groups will meet together each week and have activities to do to get to know each other and learn together. These activities will vary based on the age of the student mentors and will help to foster the building of a disciplemaking friendship.
This is not a drop off learning experience. We ask that adults register as adult mentors. We ask that you register all your students, including toddlers and infants so that we have age appropriate activities for everyone who attends. We are asking for a $10 donation per student and $10 per adult to help cover some of the expenses. (Infants need to be registered, but there is no cost for infant registration.) If your family is planning to attend a number of our learning experiences this year, we encourage you to consider signing up for an Arrow Kids Membership. By choosing to make a monthly donation to support Arrow Kids Academy, you will receive free registrations for all of our learning experiences. Learn more about the Arrow Kids Academy Memberships here.
If this is your first time joining us for a learning experience, we ask that all families register as an Arrow Kids Family. You can learn more about Arrow Kids Academy and register your family here.
Comments