The First Week of “VBS”

by sara

Sorry we have not posted in a while. Between the first week of the new schedule, and the two of us getting sick (the stomach bug has been making its rounds) we were super busy….or. well….occupied ;0)  But are now both feeling a lot better and things are staring to settle down a little.

Last Friday we finished our first full week of summer schedule which is basically a 9-5 schedule of activities and a little tutoring. It has been chaotic for all the summer staff -trying to get every where they need to be for each class, but it gets a little easier every day.

Me and Shelya

We start each day with devotion time in each of the bedrooms. All the kids are learning about prayer. We sing, practice a Bible verse, talk about different kinds of prayer, and then have the kids pray with us.

The morning is mostly academic type classes (reading, math/computer, basic skills for the little kids) and therapy time with the babies and toddlers. In the afternoons we do big group activities and outings as well as more arts and crafts and music. Normally we split the kids up by age group, but this summer we also wanted to give the kids a little more of a say in what activities they did. During one of the afternoon sessions we come up with three different activities and the kids can choose whichever activity they want.

The kids have settled into the new routine quickly. Their favorite activities so far have been swimming trips, fishing, crafts, free play with board and card games, and getting stamps on their reading charts (more about reading later).

All of the staff members are finding creative ways to teach the more academic sessions, and the kids have been responding well. In the older girls math class they are learning about money and making a budget. Last weekend they went on a field trip to a local supermarket to price out the ingredients for a meal, and this Saturday they will all be coming to our house to prepare and eat the meal (Followed by some movie watching and girly activities of course).

Working as the organizers for the summer staff has definitely changed our focus while we have been here. While we have gotten to do quite a bit with the kids, between training new staff members, and working on the daily scheduling and logistics we have had less time with them. Erin and I are working on finding the balance between taking care of the admin responsibilities and doing the things that we really want to do with the kids.

We will try to post more picture blogs soon of some of the activities where we remembered to pull out our camera.