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How Quest was Born: Christine and Nora’s Story
About Christine
In 2000, an eager 20-year-old, Christine Renaud begins her bachelor’s degree in education. When she notices how the Quebec education system teaches children, she isn’t impressed. Shortly thereafter, she develops an interest in non-traditional educational approaches, such as project-based, self-directed, peer, and creative learning. When she earns her master’s degree at the age of 27 from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she flirts with the idea of one day starting her very own school.
However, she first founds e180, a certified Benefit Corporation with Alexandre Spaeth in 2010. The company specializes in collaborative and self-directed learning, thanks to advances in technology. With that in mind, in 2011 she and her team launch Braindate, an application that allows people from all walks of life to meet in-person or virtually and learn about one another through a “knowledge sharing conversation that participants can have one-on-one or in a group, on a topic of their choice.”
A few years after the launch of e180, Christine felt the need to make a connection between the professional development of employees and the values of the company. She also wanted to create a collaborative, self-directed program anchored in meaningful projects. The idea for Quests came after a full-team creation retreat in 2015. Now the team members have full control of their training at e180.
Christine and her husband, Martin, have their first daughter, Nora, in 2015. The new mother already knows that she won’t be sending her child to a traditional educational establishment. The idea of founding an “alternative” school, where Nora—and later her sister Alba—could truly flourish, resurfaces.
Founding La Cabane
In 2020, her dream finally comes true. With her friend Sophie Duchastel de Montrouge—a social entrepreneur, mother, and teacher— Christine opens La Cabane up to families that homeschool their children. Just like that, she fulfills her dream of creating the very first school of its kind, one that would bring families and community centers from around the world together. The “Family Makeshop” encourages children to learn by doing, alongside their families and community. Finally, the team developed a project-based curriculum, based on Mitchel Resnick’s creative learning approach, “the 4 P’s”: Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play.
To further promote their vision, La Cabane develops educational experiences for parents, which allows them to reclaim their role as the first educator of their children.
During the first year—and despite the pandemic—La Cabane’s 20 families:
- Cooked nearly 1000 dishes for their remote community meals;
- Completed 10 community challenges, on the themes of, among other things, isolation of the elderly; biodiversity of birds, homeless people; welcoming new immigrants; a safe Halloween for all;
- Performed nearly 50 personal quests.
In September 2020, after 5 years of Quest prototypes at e180, Christine and Sophie invited the young students of La Cabane to experience their first series of personal learning projects. This was the beginning of “Quests” at La Cabane. These special projects were exciting to the children and encouraged them to push their limits. Through observation of the students and their families embarking on these ambitious projects, the La Cabane and e180 teams developed a support process fully adapted to the Quest dynamic.
Nora's very first Quest
The 6-years-old Nora and her mother Christine start their first Quest.
Before going off on an adventure, you need a plan. First step: Identify and define your goal. Nora loves snacks. That’s a good starting point for her project, but it needs to be presented to her in a more structured way. They brainstorm and select a single goal: to transform a “forbidden snack”, high in sugar and other additives, into a healthy and delicious snack.
The little girl’s first idea is to make a recipe book, but that particular challenge would not be appropriate for a child only just starting to read and write. They have another spark of genius: why not produce a cooking show?!
An adventurer is never alone. Nora turns to her village, her community, for assistance. She is guided in her journey by her mother, Christine, and Sophie from La Cabane. Over the course of her Quest, the little girl invites her best friends Jeanne and Olivia to join her on the adventure.
Nora the adventurer does her research. She asked thorny questions….
“What are bad ingredients?”
“What are good ingredients?”
“How do I cook the snacks by myself?”
“How do I take out the sugar?”
….and she finds the answers!
- Christine and Nora meet with a nutritionist and put together a list of nutritional information.
- The mother and daughter make a poster with healthy foods on one side and ingredients to avoid on the other.
- The little girl learns about the effects of sugar on the body.
By playing music, one becomes a musician, and by cooking one becomes a chef! Nora begins to, literally and figuratively, get her hands dirty.
She begins by making a preliminary list of snacks: chocolate dip, cookies, cupcakes, gummy bears, chocolate cake… With her mother and Sophie by her side, Nora begins experimenting in front of the stove. She tries two recipes: gummy bears and sour candies, like Sour Patch Kids. The little girl is more or less successful, and the Sour Patch Kids make some of the tasters pucker!
A huge fan of the culinary show Waffles+Mochi, the aspiring cooking star does a few dry-runs with her partner Taco Divertido, a marionette made by her friend Olivia and handled by Jeanne.
For her final project, Nora decides to make and present a recipe for a sort of Doritos chip. To prepare the chips, she draws inspiration from a vegetarian Zesty Nacho recipe.
Chef Nora also works very hard on her script.
In a studio, once the script is all set, she films her special episode with the help of her mother, Sophie, and her assistants Taco and Jeanne; who are right by her side.
The special episode with Chef Nora has just premiered! The cooking star screens her show to the families at La Cabane during a “Learn Out Loud” session, where a couple of the children present the results of their Quest. Chef Nora is a natural! We pop champagne (and apple juice) and celebrate as a community.
From La Cabane's quests to Quest
After a few adjustments, La Cabane’s Quests have become tremendously successful. Christine is especially impressed by the children’s progress and she is thrilled with their enthusiasm, as well as that of the parents. Still, they wishes that all families could have the opportunity to share in this experience…
That is when she has the idea for Quest, an educational platform that allows children to take on projects, or “Quests”, that fit their interests while leaning on their family and friends, or “guides”, for assistance. Quest helps parents structure the independent learning project for their kids and allows them to consolidate all of the elements of their children’s education on a single platform. The platform also encourages the young adventurers to pursue their passions by getting them to unlock new levels:
- A “village” to assemble;
- A “backpack” to fill with their finding;
- A “lab” in which to experiment;
- A “studio” in which they can prepare their final project;
- And a “stage” to celebrate the village’s successful quest.
In September 2021, Quest sees the day. Continue Quest’s story and jump into a family adventure. Fill the form below to receive your free early access to Quest.
