Brownie Global Action 2017

Maya completed the Global Action 2017 (the requirements are the same as the 2016, in case you are having a hard time finding them).  This goes hand in hand with her recent reading and current role model of Malala Yousafzai.   The theme for this year’s Global Action Award is “Increasing Girls’ Access  to Education.

Although you need only complete 1 requirements, Maya selected to do #1, #3, a variation on #5, and #6.

#1: Talk to the girls in your troop about how each one of you gets to school. Maybe some girls walk with a parent or older sibling, and some ride the bus. Or maybe some girls are home-schooled and don’t need to travel at all! Can you think of ideas for ways  to help get girls to school safely in places that don’t have school buses?
Maya and the girls in her troop are all homeschooled.  She noted that girls can school anytime, anywhere, even in their pajamas or while laying in bed!  She loves the idea that we can go everywhere or nowhere at all.  We contrasted this to the other ways girls school in this area (public or private) and how they get there (walk, ride in a car, bussed).

#3: Interview a woman in your life—it could be your mom, another relative, or a family friend—about what it was like to be a girl in school when she was young. Were girls treated differently than boys? Were they encouraged to move on to study the same kinds of subjects? Were they encouraged to pursue the same kinds of careers? Does she think things have changed since then? If so, how? Are there other things that you think still need to change?
Maya and I talked about school when I was a little girl.  I told her that, especially with sports and clubs, girls and boys were treated differently.  There were sports that girls were not allowed to try out for (like Football and Wrestling) and that had no equivalent (as in baseball AND softball both being offered).  Girls were encouraged to focus our studies on the arts and humanities, while boys were directed more towards science and math.  Although this was the case, I do remember being encouraged to pursue whatever career or vocation I wanted, regardless of it's educational background.  Things have definitely changed, now that girls have significant access to STEM programs and classes.  That being said, I think that our educational system is flawed because we should offer opportunities and focus to all students while teaching to their strengths and weaknesses, regardless of gender or ability.

#5: (Variation)  Did you know that girls face challenges related to education in many countries around the world, including the United States? Read a book that focuses on girls’ education in the United States, and talk about it with your Girl Scout friends.  You might look at Also Known As Harper by Ann Haywood Leal, or choose a book  of your own.
Maya is currently reading and loving her biography on Malala Yousafzai.

#6: What if, as girls, you were not allowed to go to school? What would your life be like now? What would you do with your time? What might your life be like in the future?
Maya drew a picture that showed all of the things she wants to pursue (being a lifeguard, a police officer, and a doctor), and then how she would feel if she were not allowed to learn and do those things. 

Need the requirements?  Click here.

Brownie My Promise, My Faith Year 2

Because Maya began her Brownie Journey while her Daisy 2 year was still completing, this is her technical second year, even though she has been a Brownie less than 12 months.  Due to her grade level, she will be bridging to Juniors in the fall, and she wanted to make sure that she completed everything in the 16 months she would be a Brownie.  So her My Promise, My Faith Year 1 was completed in 2016 and her Year 2 was just completed!

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My Promise, My  Faith:  2^nd Year Brownie Pin.

1.        Choose a line from the GS Law.  Find a story about that law and apply it to your own life.

a.       Be Responsible for What I Say and Do, Honest and Fair

b.       Maya read a biography about Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.  Malala risked her life because she wouldn’t back down about her beliefs that girls had a right to be educated.  As Maya read this story, she continued to say how much she and this girl had in common: that they both loved their faith (even though they share different ones), that they both believed in education, and that everyone should be treated fairly.  She was deeply disturbed by the notion that people want to kill others for believing differently from what they believe.

c.        Section completed: 1/15/17

2.       Find a woman in your own or another faith community and ask her how she tries to use the GS Law in her life.

a.       Maya contact Malala Yousafzai through her website to find out how she uses the GS Law in her own life.   (I’ll update this once/if we get a response, but we did go through the Law and come up with ideas.)

                                                               i.      honest and fair: she wanted equal education for girls

                                                             ii.      friendly and helpful: she tried to make sure girls had access to school

                                                            iii.      considerate and caring: she cared for other girls

                                                            iv.      courageous and strong: she stood up for what she believed and even was almost murdered because of it

                                                              v.      responsible for what I say and do: she never tried to hide what she was doing or lie about it

                                                            vi.      respect myself and others: she respected herself because she wanted an education and respected other girls because she fought for their rights, too

                                                          vii.      respect authority: she stood up against an oppressive government for the rights of her people

                                                         viii.      use resources wisely: she used everything she could around her for her cause.

                                                            ix.      make the world a better place: she fought for equal education

                                                              x.      be a sister to every Girl Scout: she fought for her fellow girls

b.       Section completed: 1/16/17

3.        Gather at least 3 inspirational quotes by women that fit a line of the GS Law.

a.       Maya completed this at the annual Catholic Girl Scout Retreat, where she learned about Miriam and St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta.  She selected quotes by Mother Theresa and crafted a handout to remind her of these quotes and how they help her to live the Girl Scout Law.

b.       Section completed: 12/10/16

4.        Make something to remind you of what you’ve learned.

a.       Maya made a Mother Theresa peg doll at the Catholic Girl Scout Retreat that she keeps on her bedside table, near our quotes jar from her My Promise, My Faith part 1.

b.       Section completed: 12/10/16

5.        Keep the connection strong.

a.       At the conclusion of the Catholic Girl Scout Retreat, Maya shared what she had learned with her Girl Scout sisters and listened while they shared as well.

b.       Section completed: 12/10/16

Pin Completed: 1/16/17

Brownie Making Games Badge

There are five parts to earning the Brownie Making Games badge.  They are:

1. Try a Scavenger Hunt.
2. Make up a Mystery Game.
3. Create a party game.
4. Change the rules
5. Invent a whole new sport.

1. Try a Scavenger Hunt:  This part of the badge was earned at Brownie Explorer in the fall, when the girls completed a scavenger hunt.

2. Make up a Mystery Game.  The girls played a variety of mystery and figure out that cookie games at the 2017 Cookie Rally.

3. Create a party game.  This part of the badge was earned at our 2016 JGL Halloween Birthday Bash, which Maya helped organize.  She created a pin the boo on the ghost game.

4. Change the rules.  This part of the badge was earned at our 2016 JGL Halloween Birthday Bash, which Maya helped organize.  She changed the rules to Duck Duck Goose to create Ghost Ghost Boo!

5. Invent a whole new sport.  The kids created a combination of basketball and baseball and played together.

Brownie Meet My Customers Badge

There are 5 steps to the Brownie Meet My Customers badge.  They are:

1.  Find out where your customers area.
2.  Talk to some customers.
3.  Practice handling money and making change.
4.  Role play good customer relations.
5.  Thank your customers.


1.  Find out where your customers area: Talk to your family or friends about who might want to buy GS cookies.
Maya created a list of people to contact: long distance family via email and social media, local family through meetings and phone calls, neighbors within our block that we know well (3 families) by walking over and visiting in person, and church family (through a church cookie booth.)

2.  Talk to some customers: Practice telling customers about the cookies you are selling.
After a run through talking to her little brothers, Maya practiced talking to her grandmothers (in person and on the phone) about the different cookies we are selling.  This skill was reinforced at the 2017 Cookie Rally.

3.  Practice handling money and making change: practice making change.
As part of her homeschool math assignment, we have been using cookies as our math problems and focusing on adding, subtraction, and multiplication.

4.  Role play good customer relations: role play what to do when a customer asks for advice about which cookies to buy, a customer tells you she used to be a GS, and a customer says she will return to buy cookies.
While talking to her grandmothers and mom, Maya role played these scenarios.

5.  Thank your customers.  Write a thank you note!
This section was completed at the 2017 Cookie Rally, when girls wrote thank you notes, specifically to our OCFH troop members.

Brownie Dancer Badge

This badge was earned as part of a troop badge earning experience.

There are five parts to earning the Brownie Dancer badge.  They are:

1. Warm up and get moving.
2. Try a new dance.
3. Take to the floor like a dancer.
4. Make up your own dance.
5. Show your moves.


1. Warm up and get moving: Get flexible.
Girls had a 10 minute yoga session that went over flexibility and stretching, as well as the Sun Salutation.

2. Try a new dance: Try "dancersize".
Girls learned a 3 minute Zumba routine.  They practiced it multiple times before performing it like pros!

3. Take to the floor like a dancer: Pretend you're a Girl Scout in the 1930s.
Girls learned the following activities: a curtsy, a deep curtsy, proper carriage in walking, and the correct standing position.

4. Make up your own dance: Use dance to tell a story.
Girls each chose a story to tell.  They were given music and then told their stories through dance and movement.

5. Show your moves: Throw a dance party.
Girls learned the Macarena, The Twist, and Conga, as they danced their way into a new badge!

Here are our girls in action!  Unfortunately, because we were all in action, there aren't too many pics of every step.

Brownie WOW Journey (part 1)

Maya will also be re-earning this as part of our Service Unit's Journey in a Day program in late April, but we did the self paced WOW program provided by the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, and she had a great time.  To be honest, I thought the Academy was awesome, but found the WOW program a bit lacking.  It was educational and fun- no doubt about that- but it seemed like pieces were missing.  That being said, all of my kids learned something, and Maya will redo the journey as part of a Brownie group at our JIAD program, so whatever it seems like was missed, she will get.  Overall, I highly recommend it.

Brownie DINE Badge (special interest badge)

Because we come from a tribal family (Maya's maternal grandmother is of the Cherokee Nation), we integrate a lot of tribal learning into our homeschooling.  When Maya and I discovered that the Girl Scouts of Western OK had a badge that was tribal in nature, we knew that we had to do it!  We did adapt it to reflect the tribes of Pennsylvania (instead of Oklahoma) but it was a wonderful and fun learning experience about something that is important to our family.

The full requirements for completing the DINE badge can be found here.   The four activities that Maya selected to earn this badge were:

#1: On a map of the state of Pennsylvania, show the tribes that originally inhabited the territory that is now PA and the tribes that are presently represented by large concentrations in PA.

#6: Learn about the food eaten by the tribal peoples in PA, past and present.  Prepare one of the foods.

#8.  Learn about the crafts done by tribal people in day to day living.  Pick one of these (leather, beading, pottery, basketry, etc) and learn how to do it.

#9:  Learn about the differences in the dress and homes of PA tribal peoples.


We took a trip to the Reading Museum to complete the majority of these requirements and to supplement our learning experience.

For #1, Maya used her research skills to find information online about the tribes native to Pennsylvania. We learned about the earliest tribes and who still remains.  In our area, the Lenape people still hold programs and meetings.  This area was traditionally home to the Erie tribe, Iroquois tribes (Seneca and Oneida), Lenape tribe, Munsee tribe, Shawnee tribe, Susquehannock tribe and later the Nanticoke tribe.

http://www.native-languages.org/pennsylvania.htm

For #6, we chatted about how the different tribes would have different food tastes based on where they lived, what was common in the area, etc.  What is a common food amongst tribes throughout North America, are corn cakes.  These simple cakes are made from stone ground meal, fat, and liquid.  For our recipe, we used stone ground cornmeal, buttermilk (although a more traditional choice would have been water or buffalo milk, or, possibly, after European settlers, sheep or cattle), chicken egg (a traditional source would have been duck eggs), and some PA honey.  Traditionally, animal or fish fat would have greased a hot stone and they would have been quickly fried on either side. We used a hot griddle to symbolize the stone and oil to replace the animal fat.

#8, and #9, we learned about food, culture, and homes of PA tribal peoples at the Reading Museum. As part of (what appeared to be) a permanent exhibit on world cultures, there was a great learning segment on the different tribes of North America, with some PA specific items, that included things about food, dress, culture, crafts, and homebuilding.  It was a well rounded and great experience.

Are you interested in earning the DINE badge?  Get yours here!