LOGISTICS

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+ GETTING STARTED

Parents can book as many weeks of Hero's Journey that they'd like this summer by clicking here.

Given the focus on helping children develop a plan and track their progress, Hero's Journey can only be purchased in one-week increments.

+ FLEXIBLE TIMES

When booking online you'll be reserving a time-slot for your child to participate in the Dungeons & Dragons portion of Hero's Journey with us.

You can choose between a morning slot (10:00am until 1:00pm, M-F) or an afternoon slot (3:00pm until 6:00pm, M-F). Pick whatever best fits your schedule and your child's needs. If you register your child for both sessions, they will still have just one check-in with a Brooklyn Game Lab coach.

+ YOUR INTAKE CALLS

Once you've booked your weeks, we’ll send you an email with a brief survey to learn about your child's strengths and areas for growth - as well as your personal pain points (to see how your son or daughter might step up around the house).

After the intake is complete, a familiar face from the Brooklyn Game Lab team will work directly with your child to generate the visual, high-fantasy map they'll be referencing throughout the week (or summer). If they need a D&D character sheet - no problem - we can knock that out, too.

Keep in mind their intake survey will need to be completed the week before they begin Hero's Journey. By the time Monday morning rolls around, they're ready to create their maps and start their adventures!

+ DAILY CHECK-INS

While your child is enrolled in Hero's Journey, they can expect a daily check-in during their D&D session every day (Monday thru Friday). Parents do not need to be on these calls (this is about making less work for you, not more).

During these 15 minute check-ins, we’ll drill down into what tasks your child has completed, reflect on their experience, and look ahead to what's coming up next in their week.

How do we get kids excited about taking on more personal responsibility, being more organized, and helping out around the house? During each daily check-in, we'll be awarding them gold, magic items, and spells which will make them more powerful in their next dungeon crawl!

+ PROGRESS UPDATES

We've structured this program so that - after the initial survey to learn about your child - there’s no additional work, oversite, or contact required from parents. But we will keep you informed, sending regular updates indicating which goals your child has accomplished. If you notice anything amiss or that was not accomplished in reality - please feel free to quickly let us know so we can address it at our next check-in ;)

PROGRAMMING

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+ Dungeons & Dragons

Brooklyn Game Lab has run tens of thousands of Dungeons & Dragons sessions. Our Dungeon Masters (DMs) give young questers a wondrous experience every day. But what we're most proud of is our methodology to run campaigns with any child of any age at any experience level. Whether it's your child’s first time playing or 1000th, we make sure it's engaging and welcoming.

In Dungeons & Dragons, kids create a fantasy character and then participate in a narrative story-telling exercise in groups of 3 to 6 kids. As a team, they work together to overcome whatever challenges our instructors throw their way. We’ve been able to use the experience of our staff and existing resources to create fantastic maps, characters, and - yes - even digital dice throws!

+ Executive functioning

Executive Functioning (EF) refers to an interrelated set of cognitive processes that govern goal-directed behaviors and enable us to effectively manage everyday activities.

Many key academic abilities generally rely on EF: planning ahead, keeping track of materials/tasks, managing time, effectively processing information, maintaining focus, organizing thoughts, adapting knowledge for particular situations, screening for errors, and managing frustration. The skills kids will hone through their Hero's Journey are tremendously important inside and outside the classroom.

+ Coaches

Brooklyn Game Lab has hundreds of thousands of hours of experience supporting kids in fun and productive ways. The Lab was founded on encouraging and rewarding kids for their creative and logistical thinking, collaboration skills, and emotional regulation. Our staff love working with and guiding kids, and some of our strongest staff members are ready to help your child(ren) approach and navigate thru their summer.

Brooklyn Game Lab Coaches have:

• Experience in thoughtfully using rewards to inspire kids’ achievements
• Worked effectively as Hero’s Journey coaches since program’s inception
• Deep knowledge of how to harness Dungeons & Dragons to encourage goal achievement

+ ONLINE MERITS

Positive reinforcement and recognizing accomplishments is one of our key tenants. We’ve worked hard to not only bring our programming online but our system of merits, too.

Each child joining us this summer will accrue merits just as they would in the Lab. Their virtual folders allow students and parents to track progress during the summer. Once we return to the brick-and-mortar Lab, we’ll apply all awarded merits to kids' folders!