How do I know if my kid is on track? 

Check the Quest Timeline

How do I know whETHER Their idea is a Quest?

Check the Quest Rubric: Is it Big? Is it Self-Directed? Is it Uncertain?

WHERE CAN I SEE EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS QUESTS?

Check the PAST QUESTS tab

• Be the Cheerleader and Logistics Support ... but let them drive

  • Be there for them when they get stuck.  Lend a sympathetic ear and be a sounding board.  

    • "What are your ideas for Quest?"  "What are you stuck on?"  "What are you worried about?"

  • Be logistics support as needed (transportation, etc), but also encourage them to try figuring it out themselves first.

    • "Happy to drive but you'll need to tell me when and where", "That's a great idea! Do you need money/time/space for that?", "If you have a sense of what type of help you need, I can ask around..."

  • Let them be creative and messy, don't worry about creating a shiny product

    • "I've really enjoyed seeing you figure this stuff out yourself!", "Hey, it's okay as long as you learned something from the process", "Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect for Quest Expo"

• Help them carve out time and space for Quest

  • Give it an extracurricular slot -- remind them not fill every extra moment

  • It's probably about ~10 hours per month

  • Check in with their Quest needs before scheduling family vacations

• Help students connect with the larger community

  • Encourage them to ask for help when they get stuck

    • "Is there anyone you can talk to about this?", "Have you considered asking ..."

  • Help them practice reaching out politely and professionally to people they don't know

  • Join the Quest Database to be a resource for Questies

Parents, thank you for stopping by here to learn more about the Quest program and how you can support your student's Quest at home. 🙏🏼

Quest is about curiosity and exploration, not product. Quest is a space for your kid to experiment without worrying about grades or failure, a place to try something new and get messy, a place to pursue interests outside of the academic.  They don't need to have some shiny, finished, polished product to show off by Quest Expo in April.  Instead, this process helps them learn how to start with a vague idea and make it concrete and actionable and organize a long-term project.  Quest is where we want students to be able to gain practice with "learning how to learn" and dealing with the frustrations of not having clear paths laid out for them. Whatever they go on to do beyond their time at Nueva, the world they are entering is incredibly complex and full of thorny, ambiguous, and frustrating problems. Though their four years of "Questing", we hope they will begin to feel more comfortable navigating ambiguity and figuring what strategies work for them for staying motivated, even when the path ahead seems super murky, muddy, and frustrating.  Let them learn by doing.

Part of this is also letting go, as parents, traditional ideas of "useful" or "productive" projects.  A student can practice these larger life skills whether they are learning Esperanto and then trying translate a children's book into their newly acquired language 📖, or figuring out how to turn their crochet hobby into a vehicle for climate change activism 🧶, or attempting to design an escape room for hamsters 🐹.  Let your kids be creative and messy.

Try to think of Quest as a student-driven extra-curricular.  Let them take lead on this -- be there as a sounding board, encourage exploration, and help them carve out time and space for Quest.  You are the cheerleader and the logistics support!  And, hard as it may be to sit in the passenger seat of a student driver, give them space to struggle.