Keepers of the Home

Not really sure where I first heard about the Keepers of the Faith clubs, but I'm sure it was from blogs. A good friend was also aware of them, having some real life friends in another state who had participated in them. This last fall we decided to start a club for our (collective) 6 girls.

The boys' club is called "Contenders of the Faith" and the girls' club is called "Keepers at Home." The different thing about these clubs is they are parent-run. There is no national or local organization over you. They are completely autonomous. Very appealing to me! You know we did homeschool Girl Scouts for one year. Shudder. And thought seriously about doing American Heritage Girls. While I was a fan of the IDEA of AHG, we weren't a fan of sending our 4th grader (at the time) off on multiple camping trips away from us. Families, just like in GS, were not invited and I have a problem with that.

We kicked our club off in October. There are SO many badges the girls can earn. And that was Sweetheart's favorite part of GS--earning those badges! The great thing about Keepers is that it is for girls ages 4-18. So everyone can participate together. We decided since our families were going camping anyway, we might as well have the girls earn their camping badges.

We had them meet the requirements (setting up a tent, planning meals, helping pack, unpack, and clean up camp) and they were having so much fun it didn't even seem like work. (the 6th child was only 1 1/2 on this trip so she isn't an "official" club member. But try telling her that!)

From there, the other mom and I just got together periodically and planned badges that the girls could meet requirements for quickly. I'm pregnant and we didn't have a lot of time to plan before we started so we were all about getting them some easy badges this year! We found a few they had already met requirements for (hers, because they participate in a music co-op and ours for pet care) and presented all their earned badges in December at a special ceremony.

We mostly worked on crafty-type badges this year (plastic canvas, rubber stamping, etc.) but there are SO MANY other kinds of badges I want to explore next year. There are personal goal badges like organization, Bible study badges, skills (first aid, etc.)...all kinds of things!

We ordered the sashes this year and presented them with their year end badges last week at a restaurant. It was really neat to have the Dads there to pray over them and affirm how hard they have worked on learning skills that will help them as wives and mothers.

I'm excited about next year with this club. We will most likely have some new members. We will definitely be better planned. We did a good job this year, but we learned a lot along the way. These clubs have so much potential and you can just take them in any direction you want to--focusing on what is most needed for your children and family.

Here is the website if you are interested!