Kids Using Chore Money to Serve Others

                                   

                                   
                                         Using Chore Money to Serve Others

One Sunday a missionary visited our church to speak about the work he was doing in another country. At the end of his lesson, my children looked at me and said, "Mom, would you give us some money to give the missionary?"

On another Sunday, an announcement was made that a children's home needed food and household supplies. My children looked at me and said, "Mom, can you give us some money so we can buy something at the store to help?"

Their questions got me thinking. What are some ways that they could earn their own money to help others?

I decided to print chore cards.

 

I cut the cards out and separated them between their normal daily chores and extra chores they could do to earn donation money. I covered the cards with contact paper, punched a hole in them, and put them on a ring. I printed the tickets that can be found on the page linked above. Then I bought colored pocket pouches. The left pouch contains all of their tickets.

 

Every time they complete an extra chore they move a ticket from the left pouch to the right pouch. At the end of the week they get 10 cents for every ticket they have in the right pouch. 

                                

          They put their money in special jars that they decorated for the donation money.

Every week when they get the church bulletin, they see if there is a need at church or in the community. They write down what they would like to buy or give for that need .

Sometimes they put their money together and sometimes they donate to different things individually.

 The amount of money they get is not a lot; but, it is enough for them to know they are working for their own money in order to help others.

*They were getting $1 a week prior to this. But they had already designated that money to church contribution, savings, a charity, and spending money. Their $1 a week is now used to teach about money management.

Cooking like Laura Ingalls

We are blessed to live in an area with lots of great resources. Although our town is pretty small, we have a lot of wonderful state parks and farms. Most of our activities and field trips this year have been free. These resources have been especially helpful this year because they cover what we are working on in Prairie Primer.

 I have been behind in sharing all of the fun activities we have done this year. For the next few weeks I am going to share with you these activities. I encourage you to look around your town and see if there are resources that you might be missing.

Cooking like Laura Ingalls

We live right down the street from an historic state park. We are able to participate in many of the great programs that they offer. One day we were able to try new teas that were made with plants found in our area. We were also able to make soup and biscuits in the same way and using the same ingredients they would have in Laura Ingalls' time.  A bonus for us on this day was getting to work with a camera crew who will be updating the Historic Washington State Park website. They are including a 360 degree tour on the website.

Excited to start the day.

Trying a variety of teas. Sassafras was by far the favorite!

 

Making sure the fire is ready.

Scraping the carrots.

Stiring the soup.

Cutting the biscuits.

Putting the biscuits in the Dutch oven.

Soup and biscuits are almost ready!

His favorite part was making biscuits.

Crushing the herbs to add to the soup.

Yummy!!!

Meeting and working with the camera crew.

Me, A Treasure?

                                               

                                                      Me, A Treasure?

We can see many verses in the Bible that talk about the importance for a man to find a good wife. 

 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,
But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones ( Proverbs 12:4 NASB).   

The wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands ( Proverbs 14:1 NASB).

He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord (Proverbs 18:22 NASB).

A foolish son is destruction to his father,
And the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping.

 House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers,
But a prudent wife is from the Lord (Proverbs 19:13-14 NASB) .

 But Proverbs 31 has always seemed the most intimidating. 

 An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels (Proverbs 31:10 NASB).

It seems like a lot of women look at this first verse and stop trying. But, have you ever turned this verse around on yourself and considered what a treasure you actually are? Have you thought about how important and valuable you are for your husband? Or if you are yet to be married, how valuable you will be?  Have you thought about yourself as a rare treasure that is hard to find?

As we continue the next few weeks, we will discover that it is not going to be an

effortless task to be the “excellent wife”, but it is an obtainable goal. We don’t have to be perfect by any means, but excellence should be something we are striving toward and something that is well worth the effort we put into it!

I want this study to be interactive. Every week I will ask a question. I would like for you to either comment on my blog or on my Facebook page ,  https://www.facebook.com/LookAtWhatYouAreSeeing , so that others can follow along and we can talk about this together. 

This week’s discussion questions:   Do you think you are an “excellent wife”? Why or Why not?

And for those who are not married, do you think you will be an “excellent wife”? Why or Why not?

Hearing your comments will help us as women gain a lot from this study.

Learning About Indians

                                                         

We are blessed to live in an area with lots of great resources. Although our town is pretty small, we have a lot of wonderful state parks and farms. Most of our activities and field trips this year have been free. These resources have been especially helpful this year because they cover what we are working on in Prairie Primer.

 I have been behind in sharing all of the fun activities we have done this year. For the next few weeks I am going to share with you these activities. I encourage you to look around your town and see if there are resources that you might be missing.

Learning About Indians

           We visited  Rick Evans Grandview Prairie, where we learned about Indians.

 

 The teacher is helping us make an Indian lapbook.  

We also made a plant press.

We learned that Indians used rocks to hit other rocks into the shape of an arrow.

Nothing is more fun than hitting a rock!

Because there was so much planned on the field trip, we had to finish some things at home. 

We whittled soap into various shapes. 

With the soap we had left we made reconstituted soap*. I let the children pick various essential oils to use for smell. As you can tell, they turned their soap into snowmen.

*You can make soap by putting soap gratings in a bowl and pouring a little hot water over the soap. The hot water will melt the soap and make it almost like a dough. At this point you can add essential oils or herbs if you would like to do so. You can form the soap into a shape or even use cookie cutters. It makes a really nice gift.

Yes, You Can Be the “Excellent Wife”

        

                                    Yes, You Can Be the “Excellent Wife”   

This Wednesday, I will start a series on Proverbs 31 entitled, “Yes, You Can Be the ‘Excellent Wife.’”

This is a topic I have been studying a great deal lately since I am also helping to teach it in a girls’ class on Sunday afternoons.

I have noticed by talking with various women and reading numerous books that the Proverbs 31 woman always seems to be put on a pedestal. She is thought to be on a higher level than a normal woman can attain. 

I disagree!

I have re-read all of Proverbs 31 with different glasses. I have looked at each verse from the perspective of my modern day life and realized some things that I do are like the Proverbs 31 woman. I also discovered some things that could easily be my goals for the new year. So I hope you will join me in this study, “Yes, You Can Be the ‘Excellent Wife.”

Guest Post

          I am so honored and excited to be guest posting at Teach Beside Me today!!

          From Closet to a Homeschool Room

                                                    

             Click here to read!

I Am The Avocado Mom

I read an article this week in which a mom felt judged by another mom who was feeding her child an avocado at the mall. http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/07/quit-pointing-avocado/

As I read the article I started thinking that a lot of people probably think of me as the avocado mom. Our family chooses to do things the more natural way. We are trying to take out foods from our diets that contain artificial additives and dyes.  I also make my own cleaning products and we use essential oils for various reasons. 

 But…. that is what we as a family choose to do.  

I promise I am not judging your choices and I really do not care if you feed your children pizza at the mall. 

However, I have been on the other end of “the look.”  I have been criticized by the “pizza mom.”  I have heard her say, “Give those poor children candy.  They are just children.  Don’t be so strict.”

My children are very sensitive to red dye.  We have just recently found out they are sensitive to other dyes as well. We have to be very strict with what they eat. There was a time when I could just let them have M&Ms for a fun treat. But recently my 10 year old came to me and said that he can tell he feels horrible when he eats food dyes and would like to find alternatives. 

I remember the first time that we were going to make alternate arrangements. We were going to an activity and I bought the kids organic juice to take with them. I was afraid to let them take it because I did not want people to think we were trying to be special. I even asked my husband if I should make them drink it in the kitchen so no one else could see them. He told me not to be silly and that it would be fine.  I will admit I spent most of the time trying to get them to hurry, while I worried about who would see them.  Although no one said anything, I still felt uncomfortable. The point I want to make is that I felt I was going to be judged because of my choices. I guess no matter what side you are on, you will feel judged.

I post things on Facebook about red dye, essential oils, and natural homemade cleaners. I am not doing that to judge the choices that you are making. I do that to defend the choices I am making. I believe if people read what I post, they will see there are reasons for my choices and maybe they won’t think I am strange. 

I think we as moms are just trying to do the best we know how to do with the special set of circumstances we are given for our particular families.