Oh you guys. This is such a fun class at our homeschool co-op! Last week the girls earned their Fitness Fun patch, made their achievement necklaces (they earn two beads before earning their patch), and made neckerchief slides for their red bandanas.
We had our first solemn opening ceremony – complete with a color guard and a pledge of allegiance – learned our Sparrow Girls sign, recited the Promise & the Law (see below), and passed out their uniform bits (sash, neckerchief, and bead necklace).
They were so earnest and sweet and… well, calm, which was a very different experience after years in Cub Scouting!
Here’s Miss K, serious as a heart attack, trying on her uniform the day before:
When all the girls were outfitted, I could hear them whispering solemnly to each other, “We look so official.” I died, they were so cute.
Here’s a cruddy photo of all the patches they’ll earn, photographed on top of one of the 11 sashes I made:
Here’s the awesome flag stand my husband made for me… it could use a coat of paint I guess, but it works! You can’t tell in the photo, but he trimmed the Sparrow Girls flag down a bit so that the American flag is taller.
I whipped up the Sparrow Girls Flag with some wool felt and a hemmed rectangle of left-over sash fabric – one of the leaves is hiding my sad, messed up attempt at stitching bird legs:
Tomorrow we’ll be working on our Arts & Crafts patch by tooling some leather rounds. Can’t wait! I’ll leave you with some of our awesome Sparrow Girls stuff — the song is very short, I stole the tune from a sorority song from my days as a Lambda Delta Sigma, and the promise & law are heavily inspired by those found in my 1980s Brownie Scout handbook :)
Sparrow Girls Promise
Oh my honor, I will try
to serve God,
my country, my family,
and to live by the Sparrow Girls Law.
Sparrow Girls Law
I will do my best:
to be honest
to be fair
to help where I am needed
to be cheerful
to be friendly
to be kind
to show respect for myself and others
and to be a sister to every Sparrow Girl.
Sparrow Girls Song
As Sparrow Girls we gather, sisters we are true.
To fly the flag of Sparrow, in green, and brown and blue.
Sparrow Girls Areas of Achievement
To earn each patch, two sub-levels of achievement must be completed. They receive a bead for their necklace for each sub-level item.
Fitness Fun Patch
– Healthy Eating
– Physical Fitness
Arts & Crafts Patch
– Sewing
– Painting
Make a Difference Patch
– Manners (tea party)
– Act of Service
Fun in Nature Patch
– Plant identification
– Conservation
Learning is Fun Patch
– Science
– Math
Fun & Games Patch
– Classic games
– Never Bored / Adventuring
Girl Power Patch
- Knife skills (Pocket knife safety)
- Shooting safety (Bow & arrow shooting / targets)
Oh. My. Goodness. This is beyond adorable! I really love everything about the Sparrow Girls program – congratulations on a job well done! I’m sure the girls are going to have a blast earning their badges. :)
Great job!!! I love the Sparrow Girls…..wish I had a daughter to do it with her. Keep up the great work!!
As a lifetime Girl Scout… why not Girl Scouts? The promise and law are cribbed verbatim from Girl Scouts (except saying Sparrow Girls instead of GS, obv), and with GS you get the national support, camping and travel opportunities, and the shared bond with Girl Scouts in your community and around the world.
That said, I’m all for organizations for girls in whatever form, so… yay! How sweet!
Oh it’s not verbatim in my Brownie handbook from the 80s, I changed a few lines. But yes, completely and unabashedly borrowed. I loved Brownie scouts as a girl, and have longed to get my daughter involved.
I’ve been trying to get in touch with the Girl Scouts near us for months. No reply whatsoever, I don’t know if the troops near us just aren’t active or if we live to far away, or what. So we just started a little something we could do in a twelve week course at our homeschool co-op :o)
Gotcha. :) I didn’t realize it was just for the co-op course. In that case, that was a ton of work! (And now I see that you said that in your post, duh. Sorry!)
I’m sorry to hear that your GS council hasn’t responded! :(
Have fun! Sounds like they’re loving it already!
Also, if you couldn’t tell, I was totally convinced that this was a national spin-off organization. Everything looks so professional! Well done!
No problem – thanks! I’ve even looked into starting our own GS troop, but can’t get through to anyone. I think this corner of ID, the council is disorganized.
I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m wondering if you’re having a big issue over the 13 dollars from Evan Moor, how you can afford the fabric, patches and crafts for Sparrow Girls?
Not a problem, I probably should have clarified. Once one goes public with financial stress, it kind of puts everything else under the microscope. I get it.
Each girl paid $65 for the twelve week course. Monies were carefully collected and used for their sash material, patches, bandanas, and the craft supplies we will be using. I’m also using things I already owned like beads and necklace laces, but also bow and arrows / targets, games, homeschool supplies etc.
My original plans included gem snaps that I could apply right to their sashes for the two sub-level things they pass off prior to earning a patch, but sadly I couldn’t find any that fit within the budget.
This makes me sad that you were asked to answer this. Everyone is allowed to choose where they spend their money, what’s important to their lives, what matters.
Aw, thanks Lisa. I was braced for it… ;o)
These girls are going to have so much fun. Preciousness!
Lambda Delta Sigma! I haven’t thought of that in a while! I love the program you have come up with. It reminds me of my Bluebird troop when I was a kid.
I also had a lot of trouble getting my daughter into a Girl Scouts troop. Maybe because we’re homeschoolers? They always wanted to know what school my daughter attended. Anyway, once I got the name of a nearby school and went to a meeting, I got plugged in and now I’m actually a troop leader. If you can keep at it, one of these days someone should call you back. You’d think though, that they wouldn’t make it so hard. I think part of it is, at least where I am, Council gives your name to a troop leader and the leader is supposed to call you back. So if the leader isn’t exactly on the ball, you might never hear anything. Anyway, the Sparrow Girls is super cute! Love that you did your own thing since you couldn’t get hooked into GSUSA.
What a crazy run around! In the Cub Scouts, we’re practically begging boys to join!
That is so cute! My daughter has begged to be in Girls Scouts for years. I was a Girl Scout for 7 or 8 years and loved it. However, I have tried in several places we have lived (Florida and Utah) to get her in a troop and have had a hard time getting anyone to help me find a troop or give me any information. I thought it was weird that they were recruiting at the little fair at our park but then the troops were full and, even when I offered to be a leader, they STILL didn’t get back to me. I guess I’m not the only one having that problem. Way to jump in and create your own thing. :)
Good to know I am not alone! Hope I can get it sorted out for next year though… otherwise we’ll see about continuing Sparrow Girls.
It must be a regional thing. Starting and maintaining our troop was pretty painless. You only need 6 girls to be considered a troop and be given a number. Also is Juliettes- Girl Scouts (or maybe this is just my age group, I lead 1st grade Daisy) that are not formally in a troop but still do the book and badge work with their parents- they have special pins but everything else is the same.
You should check out the new Brownie program- their patches are whimsical and cute. Right up your alley.
FWIW- the Sparrow girls looks adorable.
They had a display at the library celebrating the anniversary… of Girl Scouts? or just Brownies, I can’t remember. But the new stuff is ADORABLE. I hope we can get it sorted… our district here seems really quiet & unresponsive.
From someone who attends our awesome homeschool group with Jess…Sparrow Girls is awesome! These girls are so proud of their sashes and are learning such cool stuff.
My only sadness? My little girl is too young to be blessed by Jess’s fab club!
Aw, thanks!