- 3 to 6 Months Before High Seas Expedition
- 2 to 3 Months Before High Seas Expedition
- 8 Weeks Before High Seas Expedition
- 4 Weeks Before High Seas Expedition
- 2 Weeks Before High Seas Expedition
- 1 Week Before High Seas Expedition
- During High Seas Expedition
- After Your High Seas Expedition
2 to 3 Months Before High Seas Expedition
Plan High Seas Expedition publicity.
Decide how you'll promote High Seas Expedition in your parish and community. Refer to the Publicity section in the Director Go-To Guide for publicity ideas and resources.
Set up your High Seas Expedition parish website using the VBS P.R.O.
Follow the easy steps to set up a website for your church's High Seas Expedition.
Encourage preregistration.
With VBS P.R.O., families can register online from the comfort and convenience of their homes. Once your High Seas Expedition website is up, paste your URL (that's the Web address at the top
of the screen) into your publicity items. Families can access your site and register, and staff members can fill out staff applications. And VBS P.R.O. makes it easy for you to place kids into
Crews when they sign up.
Begin recruiting Station Leaders.
Use the recruiting helps detailed in the Recruiting section of the Ultimate Go-To Director Guide to catch your High Seas Expedition volunteers. The Recruiting section also includes bonus ideas
that will captivate people's hearts and minds while allowing you to flex those creative muscles (in an easy way—with great results). And the photocopiable job descriptions, handouts, and bulletin
inserts make your job a breeze.
Estimate your High Seas Expedition enrollment.
Use figures from your parish’s religious education program or figures from last year's summer program. Once you've estimated how many children will attend, figure out how many Crew
Leaders you'll need. You'll need one Crew Leader for every five children, including preschoolers. Be sure to have extra Crew Leaders ready when you need to form Crews for last-minute registrants.
Order High Seas Expedition materials.
If you purchased the High Seas Expedition Starter Kit, you already have a leader pack for every station and all the multimedia components you need. You may want to order additional
leader packs for team teaching—and a copy of each leader pack for yourself, if you'd like. This year we have also included the High Seas Expedition Clip Art & Resources CD set,
which includes customizable forms, decorating outlines, song lyrics with chord charts, and more than 200 pieces of clip art.
| for every elementary-age child, order 1 of these items | for every preschooler, order 1 of these items |
for every Crew Leader, order 1 of these items |
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| Bible Point craft items: | Bible Point craft items: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Even if you're planning a late-summer program, it's not too early to order materials. As you update your registration count, you can order additional student supplies as needed.
Explore your parish facilities.
You'll want to be deliberate in selecting your station areas. If your plans involve more than 150 children, run two or more simultaneous stations. For more information on how to do this,
see "Stations" in the Ultimate Go-To Director Guide. You'll need to set up a separate room or area for each station. Use the guidelines in the director guide.
Plan and schedule a staff training meeting using the "Staff Training Meeting" guidelines in the Ultimate Director Go-To Guide.
This outline incorporates the Set Sail DVD, which contains clips from the High Seas Expedition field test. Your Station Leaders will enjoy seeing High Seas Expedition in action. Be sure to
include Crew Leaders in your training so they can better understand their role. The DVD is filled with helpful, practical tips to make Station Leaders and Crew Leaders the best staff around.
Plan to meet for at least two hours.