Friday, March 26, 2010
Please sign up as a follower!
Now that I know there are at least 5 of you following my sporatic blogs, I would like to request that you sign up as a "follower" up at the top right. I was able to sign up, so it should be working. If I know you're reading, I'll be more inspired to post-hopefully shorter updates more often instead of these long posts every 2 months! Thanks for being interested! Thanks for commenting!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Young enterprising entrepreneurs
Okay, I know I never post and then I write a whole ton...but I have to write it down or I'll forget it! So if you're a Birthday buyer and you'd like some ideas for Levi & Eden, don't miss the post below with a few ideas.
I wrote all about this a while back and then it was deleted. So now that I have a minute with the Littles with Nana & Papa, I'll take advantage!
I have been teaching the kids the value of money. They have the opportunity to earn $1 a day if they do their morning habits without being asked. I think that's a pretty good wage, but then they do a whole lot of jobs. Then they are forced into the 10-10-80 plan where they give away 10%, save 10% in their 'forever savings' and have 80% for spending. I think I'm actually saving money since I now get them to use their own money for pretty well everything. Okay, I still buy them food and I'm not nearly as bad as some people I know who charge their 8 & 10 year old Room & Board! (I can't promise I won't do it however!) So what I seem to have created is a bunch of enterprising entrepreneurs. Acacia has a collection of quick drawings that she keeps in a portfolio so she can whip it out and sell artwork to any visitors! (Mostly we limit her to grandparents, don't worry) They're thrilled that we have people around the property working and renting from us-for them, it spells OPPORTUNITY! They try to sell all manner of things to earn money-artwork, lemonaid, ants for your private ant collection, worms, in case you're fishing...but the latest was my favourite!
Uncle Jeff gave the kids a home improvement video for Christmas where it shows you how they do a renovation. It even goes into how they make tiles, what sod is, it takes you to a lab where they're studying termites and shows you each step of a home reno from start to finish. For our kids, this is a dangerous thing. I'm starting to realize that the downfall with homeschooling is that they want to put everything into practice immediately and they have time and brain-power to do it! Caleb, Acacia & Levi watched this video and then bolted outside as soon as it was done. This concerns me.
I went out a while later and found them-sawing up the grass under their treefort! I noticed they had a large section of the grass marked out with sticks pounded into the ground. There was already a roll or two of rolled up lawn neatly stacked in the fort. When I asked them what on earth they were doing, they told me they were making sod and were planning to sell our lawn! I guess they figured their treefort area is theirs to do with what they will! So Bill, if you drive by and see signs up, advertising anything-like our living room couch or dining room table, IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
Coming Soon: Caleb & Acacia's Pig Farm! Now that they can read and print, they've been devouring pig books from the library. They know all about the breeds, what they eat, how much they cost, how long they need to be raised before slaughtering and they've lined up Grandpa to be the slaughterer (they have no problem with this slaughtering-which also concerns me!) I find scraps of paper around with labeled diagrams of pig pens. I often come upon Caleb with pen & paper & calculator, just calculating! Wonder where he got that from?
I wrote all about this a while back and then it was deleted. So now that I have a minute with the Littles with Nana & Papa, I'll take advantage!
I have been teaching the kids the value of money. They have the opportunity to earn $1 a day if they do their morning habits without being asked. I think that's a pretty good wage, but then they do a whole lot of jobs. Then they are forced into the 10-10-80 plan where they give away 10%, save 10% in their 'forever savings' and have 80% for spending. I think I'm actually saving money since I now get them to use their own money for pretty well everything. Okay, I still buy them food and I'm not nearly as bad as some people I know who charge their 8 & 10 year old Room & Board! (I can't promise I won't do it however!) So what I seem to have created is a bunch of enterprising entrepreneurs. Acacia has a collection of quick drawings that she keeps in a portfolio so she can whip it out and sell artwork to any visitors! (Mostly we limit her to grandparents, don't worry) They're thrilled that we have people around the property working and renting from us-for them, it spells OPPORTUNITY! They try to sell all manner of things to earn money-artwork, lemonaid, ants for your private ant collection, worms, in case you're fishing...but the latest was my favourite!
Uncle Jeff gave the kids a home improvement video for Christmas where it shows you how they do a renovation. It even goes into how they make tiles, what sod is, it takes you to a lab where they're studying termites and shows you each step of a home reno from start to finish. For our kids, this is a dangerous thing. I'm starting to realize that the downfall with homeschooling is that they want to put everything into practice immediately and they have time and brain-power to do it! Caleb, Acacia & Levi watched this video and then bolted outside as soon as it was done. This concerns me.
I went out a while later and found them-sawing up the grass under their treefort! I noticed they had a large section of the grass marked out with sticks pounded into the ground. There was already a roll or two of rolled up lawn neatly stacked in the fort. When I asked them what on earth they were doing, they told me they were making sod and were planning to sell our lawn! I guess they figured their treefort area is theirs to do with what they will! So Bill, if you drive by and see signs up, advertising anything-like our living room couch or dining room table, IT'S NOT FOR SALE!
Coming Soon: Caleb & Acacia's Pig Farm! Now that they can read and print, they've been devouring pig books from the library. They know all about the breeds, what they eat, how much they cost, how long they need to be raised before slaughtering and they've lined up Grandpa to be the slaughterer (they have no problem with this slaughtering-which also concerns me!) I find scraps of paper around with labeled diagrams of pig pens. I often come upon Caleb with pen & paper & calculator, just calculating! Wonder where he got that from?
Post to Birthday Buyers-Levi & Eden
Nana asked for suggestions for the kid's birthdays since I've been such a tyrant with gifts. Thanks to the family who understands that 5 kids continually having birthdays adds up to a lot of stuff, so I really appreciate you who buy for our kids and take it into consideration-but not half as much as my kids appreciate the birthday buyers!
Levi's birthday is coming up on April 13-and he's going to be 5! Wow-that means we've been in this house for 5 years + the 2 weeks I was pregnant-remember how thankful I was that he was late and didn't appear on April Fool's Day?
These are just a couple of suggestions for Mr Levi Everett Manning Scott. Please let me know if you do get something on this list that he would only need 1 of, so I can take it off so he doesn't get duplicates! Thanks!
--a pair of jeans or camoflague pants-extra tough since all of his pants seem to get holes and rips in the knees
-a suction-cup bow & arrow-he saw this in a Dollar store in the States but he had already spent his money so he just talked about it all the way home-how he would shoot the roof and suction to it and hoist himself up. I fear he'll be disappointed when he does get it, but he will be thilled beyond anything to get this! -Nana is going to look for this one
-anything cowboy-he's still our cowboy! He has a few straw cowboy hats, but if you happen to see cowboy boots in size 1, I think that would give him some room to grow into them-these can be expensive, so I'd buy used if I found some good ones. He also might like Cowboy songs on CD.
(-he's still a big fan of Roy Rogers-even though no other 4 year old around knows who Roy Rogers is! If you find Roy Rogers videos, check with me because he does have a 20-video pack, so you may want to go with another cowboy video-for kids, please! Not ready for adult-Western videos just yet! He hasn't seen the Dale Evans & Roy Rogers Show though, so if you see any DVDs of these, he would love them! -Nana has some Annie Okley videos)
-a snorkel or swimming fins-Caleb has bought him a mask, but he'd love a snorkel & fins
-a nice sweater for church-he seems to have grown out of all his sweaters
-Lamplighter Audio Books on CD-these are always a good idea for our family. Levi is starting to really enjoy listening to Audio books. You get these through the Lamplighter website http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/sirmalcolm.html. We also love other Audio books-especially the classics, but check with me first as we have a few.
That's all I can think of for Levi-It is just meant to give you some ideas! Please don't go out and buy the whole list! We often buy second-hand and our kids think that's just great-a better product for less money!
Eden Christine-turning 3 on April 23rd (Finally Free we say, as none of them could say "th"ree when they were 3!)
-Playdoh is always a great thing for Eden, although she now hopefully knows that we don't take it into the bedroom and mix it with water and smooth the whole gooey mess into our hair, or the carpet or the table & chair & toys!
-Eden loves to wear dresses, and is growing out of many of hers, so she would love a pretty dress
-if you see a little trike that can be pushed but is low to the ground, she is riding her old plastic one where the pedals have broken off-but please be careful as she is a real dare-devel and loves to ride down our side hill from the middle shop all the way down-so I don't think a tall trike would be a good idea. This it the girl who tried to ride her trike down our back stairs last year onto the concrete below and was mad that 3 year-old Levi happened upon her and stopped her with his arm and hollered for me. In fact, she tried to bite him so he would move his arm and stop wrecking her fun...again, I thank God for protecting us! I was so proud of my cowboy for stopping her! Where was I? Just inside the kitchen-only steps away, but she's fast and she knows when I'm busy taking care of the baby!
-some of these ideas for Eden are more on the expensive side, so again, if you would like to donate towards it, that would be appreciated, and we love second-hand!
Levi's birthday is coming up on April 13-and he's going to be 5! Wow-that means we've been in this house for 5 years + the 2 weeks I was pregnant-remember how thankful I was that he was late and didn't appear on April Fool's Day?
These are just a couple of suggestions for Mr Levi Everett Manning Scott. Please let me know if you do get something on this list that he would only need 1 of, so I can take it off so he doesn't get duplicates! Thanks!
--a pair of jeans or camoflague pants-extra tough since all of his pants seem to get holes and rips in the knees
-a suction-cup bow & arrow-he saw this in a Dollar store in the States but he had already spent his money so he just talked about it all the way home-how he would shoot the roof and suction to it and hoist himself up. I fear he'll be disappointed when he does get it, but he will be thilled beyond anything to get this! -Nana is going to look for this one
-anything cowboy-he's still our cowboy! He has a few straw cowboy hats, but if you happen to see cowboy boots in size 1, I think that would give him some room to grow into them-these can be expensive, so I'd buy used if I found some good ones. He also might like Cowboy songs on CD.
(-he's still a big fan of Roy Rogers-even though no other 4 year old around knows who Roy Rogers is! If you find Roy Rogers videos, check with me because he does have a 20-video pack, so you may want to go with another cowboy video-for kids, please! Not ready for adult-Western videos just yet! He hasn't seen the Dale Evans & Roy Rogers Show though, so if you see any DVDs of these, he would love them! -Nana has some Annie Okley videos)
-a snorkel or swimming fins-Caleb has bought him a mask, but he'd love a snorkel & fins
-a nice sweater for church-he seems to have grown out of all his sweaters
-Lamplighter Audio Books on CD-these are always a good idea for our family. Levi is starting to really enjoy listening to Audio books. You get these through the Lamplighter website http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/sirmalcolm.html. We also love other Audio books-especially the classics, but check with me first as we have a few.
That's all I can think of for Levi-It is just meant to give you some ideas! Please don't go out and buy the whole list! We often buy second-hand and our kids think that's just great-a better product for less money!
Eden Christine-turning 3 on April 23rd (Finally Free we say, as none of them could say "th"ree when they were 3!)
-Playdoh is always a great thing for Eden, although she now hopefully knows that we don't take it into the bedroom and mix it with water and smooth the whole gooey mess into our hair, or the carpet or the table & chair & toys!
-Eden loves to wear dresses, and is growing out of many of hers, so she would love a pretty dress
-if you see a little trike that can be pushed but is low to the ground, she is riding her old plastic one where the pedals have broken off-but please be careful as she is a real dare-devel and loves to ride down our side hill from the middle shop all the way down-so I don't think a tall trike would be a good idea. This it the girl who tried to ride her trike down our back stairs last year onto the concrete below and was mad that 3 year-old Levi happened upon her and stopped her with his arm and hollered for me. In fact, she tried to bite him so he would move his arm and stop wrecking her fun...again, I thank God for protecting us! I was so proud of my cowboy for stopping her! Where was I? Just inside the kitchen-only steps away, but she's fast and she knows when I'm busy taking care of the baby!
-some of these ideas for Eden are more on the expensive side, so again, if you would like to donate towards it, that would be appreciated, and we love second-hand!
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