Report From the Field

[Bruno]

Another Ontario-an chiming in, my grade school went 1-8, highschool went 9-13. 7-8 was referred to as "Junior High" sometimes, and at grade 7 we started having different teachers for different subjects, which is more like highschool. I'm used to "Middle school" being a UK term. The recent resurgence of use in the USA is a little disorienting.

I think where the grade 7-9 kids end up mostly depends on local building capacity.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Another Ontario-an chiming in, my grade school went 1-8, highschool went 9-13. 7-8 was referred to as "Junior High" sometimes, and at grade 7 we started having different teachers for different subjects, which is more like highschool. I'm used to "Middle school" being a UK term. The recent resurgence of use in the USA is a little disorienting.

I think where the grade 7-9 kids end up mostly depends on local building capacity.

Interesting. My dad taught grades 4-6 and the teachers shared students. Basically it was treated as one pool of students and each teacher would teach 2 or 3 subjects to all of the students (separate classes for the different grades). So, for example, my dad would teach 3 math classes and 3 science classes.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I think where the grade 7-9 kids end up mostly depends on local building capacity.

I think this really is the key. Growing up my home town stuck all of the fifth graders in a single building, stuck all of the 6-7 graders in another and called it "middle school", called the 8-9 building "junior high", and then 10-12 building "high school". Despite this, we legally started high school halfway through the junior high building.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by mstlaurent

So, my sons were relating a story to me this morning. They were at lunch at our homeschool coop, and they started a conversation about GURPS. Apparently tons of kids were interested, and one kid in particular (who has never played role-playing games ever) had a lot of ideas and was very interested in GMing a campaign. So, they were trying to talk him down off the ledge, "Well, why don't you try starting with something a little easier, like The Fantasy Trip?"

This is great! I have found the DFRPG boxed set to be a great entrée into GURPS for young folks. At my middle school (grades 6-8, ages 11-14), I've offered an annual extracurricular DFRPG activity. The school owns four boxed sets and we generally have 12-20 students join the activity. I teach them the basics of the game and they play it. The great thing about DFRPG is that it all fits in a box. The books are accessible (and glossy) and I don't have to mess around with printing out PDFs or figuring out a way to legally share them digitally. Plus, some parents have been thrilled to buy a copy for their kids for a birthday or other holiday.

A number of my former charges have moved on to run full GURPS campaigns in high school.

Last summer a colleague and I offered a week-long paid "summer camp" for DFRPG. It would have run from 9AM-3PM for five days with 16 kids. Alas, COVID nixed it, but we're hoping to do it again this summer. We have nine folks registered thus far.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Dalin

At my middle school (grades 6-8, ages 11-14), I've offered an annual extracurricular DFRPG activity. The school owns four boxed sets and we generally have 12-20 students join the activity.

Sometimes I really hate having grown up in the Bible Belt.

[Mercurae]

Originally Posted by Dalin

This is great! I have found the DFRPG boxed set to be a great entrée into GURPS for young folks. At my middle school (grades 6-8, ages 11-14), I've offered an annual extracurricular DFRPG activity. The school owns four boxed sets and we generally have 12-20 students join the activity. I teach them the basics of the game and they play it. The great thing about DFRPG is that it all fits in a box. The books are accessible (and glossy) and I don't have to mess around with printing out PDFs or figuring out a way to legally share them digitally. Plus, some parents have been thrilled to buy a copy for their kids for a birthday or other holiday.

A number of my former charges have moved on to run full GURPS campaigns in high school.

Last summer a colleague and I offered a week-long paid "summer camp" for DFRPG. It would have run from 9AM-3PM for five days with 16 kids. Alas, COVID nixed it, but we're hoping to do it again this summer. We have nine folks registered thus far.

Awesome, keep up the good work! I wish I had something like that in Middle School. I started to get into RPGs and boardgames in highschool. I just had to check my FLGS calendars for TTRPG events, show up, and shop around for a group that was willing to try something other than D&D5e.

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Sometimes I really hate having grown up in the Bible Belt.

I went to high school in one of the most liberal cities in America and we couldn't get approval for a D&D club. Breaks my heart too, Varsity Jackets had just released a 20-sided die Letterman patch that year.