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?