It may come as a surprise to families and chanichim (campers) alike the amount of actual
learning that goes on here. It's not that we try to hide it by any means, we just get that every opportunity is a learning opportunity, and just like we expression we throw around the...office: chinuch (education) is kef (fun). Though it may seem easier to find an interesting article, make copies, and distribute them to an entire shicvah (age group) to read and then talk about, it definitely isn't the most effective way to get a message across.
Around these parts, we call ourselves "informal educators" regardless of the tafkid (job) an individual holds. We plan peulot (programs) each day that teach a lesson related to the themes and the process of the summer during
peulat shicvah (a program by age group), which we refer to as pish. During this time, aside from the method of the peulah, there is also a latent learning function where the kids in each shicvah bond with one another by sharing in the same learning frame and process. Today, the Sayarim (post 6th graders) went on a scavenger hunt to familiarize themselves with the locations at machaneh and find their "missing kvutzah (group) member" to recognize the contribution of each individual to the group. And in a similar vein, the Bonim (post 8th grade) discussed inequality through exploring varying access to resources by breaking the chanichim into groups and giving each group different amounts of materials to make a raft that floats.
We learn by learning together. See, chinuch is kef!
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M.C. SHMOLLY
I keep having horrible recurring dreams of visiting Galil and finding that it's become like one of those Spoiled Rich Kid camps where facilities are more important than bonding, improvising activities, roughing it, etc. The dream almost invariably has a canteen, a soda machine, sometimes even fast food, and something like an arcade or water park. Don't get me wrong-- that stuff is all fun in appropriate context... ;) Glad to hear Galil is keeping on its old tradition. :)
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