Dewberry Farm

Mimi and Boppa treated us to a day at Dewberry Farm.

Cousins.

Corn maze.

We never solved it, but the kids loved it anyway.

Rolling inside a tube, first one way...

...And then the other.

Jumping in the hay.

Spinning Swings.

Bouncing.

Riding the cow train.

Isaac had a blast racing the pedal cars.

Abby didn't quite get the hang of it.

The day ended with a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch.

Lily fell in love with the biggest pumpkin she could carry.

Everyone else found a smaller treasure.

Thank you for the fun day, Mimi and Boppa.

Halloween Craftiness

Our friend Celeste sent Connor over to play with a bat headband for each of the kids.

So Isaac designed some bat-wings to go with them.

Thanks for the inspiration, Connor!

School Pride

If you want to read my whole post, please do, and then come back to the top and watch this link for "School Pride."  If you don't feel like reading, just go to the link.  It really speaks for itself.

As a former teacher, and a teacher at heart, I am really excited about the new reality show "School Pride" premiering tonight on NBC.  I'm excited because it is targeting something dear to my heart.

The show is in the line of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," except that this show is about finding schools in need and uniting the community to renovate the schools and solve the problems the students face every day as they struggle to learn.

The few years that I was a teacher, it was in a low-income, inner city K-8th grade school.  I taught K-8 drama and 8th grade language arts.  Because the school had no gym, every rainy day, the PE teachers would bring their students to the small theater we had and I would have to bring my 40 drama students to my English class that seated 32 students.  What a mess!  And how do you teach drama from an over-crowded classroom with no textbooks or resources other than your own brain?  I loved it, but it was a challenge.

When I toured Isaac's new school, I was slack-jawed at the amazing facilities.  Get this: they have an art room that was actually designed to be an art room with art tables, a kiln, and plenty of supply storage; they have a music room that was designed to be a music room with instrument storage, and risers for the students.  There are two computer labs, a fantastic library, a large cafeteria and an indoor gym.  It's amazing to me considering my previous school experience.  The art and music rooms at the school where I taught were regular classrooms, "made to work" as best as the teacher could manage for the new intended purposes.

I have been so happy to be able to provide for my child a school that is so well-designed and cared for, and teachers that are well-trained and community-supported.  But my experience at a school of another kind has made this experience bitter-sweet.  It's not fair.  It's not fair that my child should be able to have the world at his fingertips while other kids in our country have to refuse to go to the restroom all day because a trip there would be either dangerous or futile because the facilities don't work.  I am very excited that someone has noticed and work has begun, however slowly, to draw attention to this problem, and provide solutions.

The producer of "School Pride," Cheryl Hines, has actually been doing these kinds of school renovations for the past four years before she decided to make a reality show out of it.  I'm excited for the show because I hope and pray that the exposure will help the movement gain enthusiasm and support.  This is one reality show where copycats will be most welcome!

Money, Money, Money: Part 2

Adel and I have been attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University this past month.  We really liked one of the ideas he has for teaching kids to be responsible with money.  For any money that the kids receive or earn, Ramsey recommends dividing it into three separate envelopes or containers: Spending, Saving, and, Giving.*

I liked this because I feel like we've done a good job teaching the kids about saving, but not about spending or giving.  Up until now, if they gave, it was our money, not their own, and when they received money, it tended to go straight into savings and nowhere else.  While saving is good, on its own it doesn't teach them the value of money or how to handle it.

After the last chore chart I made (in the first "Money, Money, Money" post), I realized that I am not up for checking daily chore assignments.

We still keep the chart so the kids can opt to earn extra money here and there, but this time we aimed to try for one larger, weekly chore for the kids to do to earn their money (supervised for now, but training them to one day work independently).  For now we're going to try having the kids help out with whatever Adel and I are working on in a particular week.  For example, this weekend we did yard work.  We had the kids do 30 minutes of weeding to earn their pay.  

Isaac was actually genuinely helpful while Abby needed a lot more directing: "Over here, Abby.  Here's a weed.  Stop playing around Abby.  Come get this weed.  Right here.  It's right here.  I've been trying to show you for the past five minutes.  Come pull this weed.  Good girl!"  Needless to say, I chose to pay Isaac a bit more than his sister.  Next weekend we may wash the car and get them to help.  And so on.

Once they were done with the work, we introduced the three containers and showed them how we wanted to divide up their pay.

Later in the week, when they were along with me on a shopping trip, we brought their spending money so the kids could put our plan in action.  The shock of value was a good lesson for them.  Here they are looking at big toys they could not afford to buy with their first pay check:

While I encouraged them to save up their Spending money for bigger purchases, the allure of the power to buy was too strong for them and they lowered their expectations to items of more appropriate value for their budget (no surprise, Abby got candy!).

And we'll work to make it a habit to bring their Giving money at church on a monthly basis.


*Side Note: Ramsey advocates paying kids for chores as long as they have the understanding that there are other things we do for our family just because we're part of the family (ie: you don't have to pay them for everything they do to help out!)


**Update from Oct 17:  The following weekend, the kids helped us wash the car, inside and out.

Isaac was again genuinely helpful, but for some reason I have no pictures of Abby actually working.

But isn't she cute?  

Isaac got paid more than double her earnings this time!  And this time, he decided to save it up for something he really wanted, rather than waste it on a cheap toy.  They're learning!

Respect Award

This month, Isaac won a reward at the school assembly for showing Respect.

 Proud little guy.

Our friend Calli performed a rap with her friends that they wrote about Respect.

So for the next month, we get to post this sign in our front yard.

Pretty cool.

After School Snacks

Since Isaac has started school our time after school has become very special.  After I pick up Isaac and our friend Calli, we come home to make snacks.  I always try to have something healthy but also with a little mix of fun and a treat as well, so we're all happy with it (believe it or not, the oldest child is also the pickiest!).  Here are some of our favorites so far:

Make your own Cheerios necklace.

We've made these apple treats before (see my Apple Critters Post).

This time Isaac made an apple jet.

And Calli made a 3D Person.  Cool!

My only requirement with this snack is that they have to eat the apple when there done.  Wouldn't want them to only eat the toppings and then run!

Calli was not a fan of this one, but my kids liked the veggies swords.

And, yes, I considered their safety by clipping off the sharp edge of the skewer before handing it to them!

Calli taught us how to make our own juice pops. 

Pouring in the orange juice.

After wrapping the ice cube tray in wax paper, they poked a toothpick through each one as a popsicle stick (the wax paper holds the sticks in place).

The next day they they got to enjoy their juice popsicles.

I am really enjoying this new phase of parenting school-age kids and we are all enjoying Calli's company.  

Long Awaited Milestone

Abby has been, since she was old enough to sit on the tricycle, a passive bike rider.  She has always needed to be pushed or pulled along, not because of any lack of strength or skill, but mostly just because she is generally a sit-back-and-let-others-tote-me-around-kind-of-girl.

But this afternoon, Abby finally learned the thrill of being a real bike rider.  The look of pride on her face can melt a momma's heart.

MOPs Talk

This is just a quick follow up on my previous post.  I feel really pleased with how the talk went this time.  I feel like I was able to use my book, my writing, and my creativity as tools for pointing to God, rather than as the focus of the talk.  I got some really good feedback and a positive response and overall, I was so excited to be able to share my joy in the Lord and how good God is.  

Even in the face of a victory, no matter how small, it is humbling to note that without the Lord, there would have been none.  This was not of my doing.  If left to my own devices, I probably would have spent the time drawing attention to Megan instead of God (and who wants to sit for half an hour and listen to someone talk about herself?!).  By God's patient guidance and good grace, He has been using the past months to grow me into a vessel that can be used for His glory.  

He  has also been using my sisters in Christ (including, literally, my sister!) to pray me up for that very moment.  It has been an awesome journey, one of complete dependence on God.  It has been a journey with God that I hope to experience again!