The Daily Quest: An Update

I've had a few requests to talk about The Daily Quest. Jenn would like to know some tips on using the The Quest with younger kids say ages seven and five so that they can remain independent and Cindy would like to know more about what content I choose for The Daily Quest.

I have mentioned the quest before here on my blog and in an article over at Heart of the Matter called The Daily Quest. So clever! Both the post and the article explain where The Quest came from and how we got started. It also tells how it morphed into what it is currently.

My friend Cindy made this form for me...some of the lines are not showing up nicely, but it's a simple form. I put the assignment or quest in the box and the kids write their answer below. I fold up the paper and put it in our box each day we do a quest.

So, what do I use for The Daily Quest? Typically, they are items from our curriculum areas that I want the kids to look up on their own. Some examples:

• Questions from the Mystery of History or Story of the World lesson
• Trail Blazing assignments from our Trail Guide to US and World Geography
• Items to explore from the child's current unit study
• A Handwriting page for J5 (who is not reading entirely on his own yet...I usually just put an activity in there for him so he can get his paper out of the box too and work on it while the others work on theirs!)
• A question that comes up that we can't answer right away- usually relating to a topic of study or a conversation.
• Math Challenges- that may require some research
• Something interesting the student might enjoy that I will not take the time to cover specifically

Daily Quest Form

The idea of The Daily Quest is to give the kids some independent work that they report on at the dinner table. Sometimes I still do them together, but as my kids have differing skills and abilities I found that the dominant sibling would take over and get most of the job done. I try to include one each day, but sometimes we don't do it.