MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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My older daughter's class did the John Muir Discovery Award last year, as a school outing. She's just done her DoE silver, and (parents') intention is she'll go on to do the gold in a couple of years.
Has anyone's kiddos (or themselves) done the JM award levels, and have any comments or reactions to share? In particular, is there anything between the DoE and JM activities that can count towards each?
The kids are quite active outdoors already - having been on a number of bothy and camping trips with me - so just trying to figure out if with a bit extra effort we can have them participating in something interesting, self-fulfilling, and useful.
The volunteering section of DofE and JMA often overlap. You can volunteer at local wildlife/TCV etc
They also both overlap/are included in BB Queens Badge.
My son did JMA discover, then explore. I’d say the explore was an excellent foundation for then going on to do DOE. (Indeed if these things were run by the same group a DoE practice might actually fulfil the explore requirements). He didn’t move on to Conserve as the centre he did them with doesn’t offer it. Actually the volunteering he is doing for DOE could probably count toward Conserve.
he’ll get some scouting badge in parallel to the DOE, but I’m not sure what real advantage collecting two certificates for the “price” of one brings? Is this doing stuff for CV boosting reasons? A DOE is an interesting thing on a young person’s CV - but as an employer mostly it gives me a tool to open a discussion. I’ve done that with people who showed no passion for the things they did, and who endured the process rather than embracing it. I suspect most employers would need you to explain what a JMA is.