Things I learned from VBS

This year for Vacation Bible School (VBS), I volunteered to teach the second graders. Boy I tell ya, I think I learned more than they did when it comes to how they view the world.  Below are some of the things I learned while “teaching”

• I had at most 8 kids a day for all five days and my heart literally went out to each and every one of them.  Some were my instant favorites, while others became my “helpers” so I could keep a better eye on them.  Interacting with these kids just reaffirmed in my heart the reasons I will continue to homeschool.  Sadly, there are things that no 8 or 9 year should even be privy too. Never in my life did I have to tell a child that it is okay to say that another girl is pretty.  While sitting in the sanctuary, a few girls were on stage and one of the little girls leans over and says to me, “I think the girl on the end is really pretty, but not in a gay way.” WHAT? Why on earth would a little girl have to say that? I also learned patience and try to not argue with a little one as she blatantly lied all week long about things, including what other kids were saying to her as I sat among them.  I often wonder if God looks down and just chuckles as we are just as obstinate in how we behave too.

Silly Bandz are like crack to kids. If you do not know what Silly Bandz are, then you are sadly not “with it” Rubber band bracelets in the shapes of animals, people, and things. And all they wanted to do was trade with their friends. So you’d hear things like, “I’ll trade you a car for a monkey.” And “Those aren’t the good bands, they break too easily.” Oh yes, there are Silly Bandz snobs out there. No matter the brand, they all tend to break pretty easily, cause uh, they’re just rubber bands.

My kids (and myself) are not immune to this addiction. In fact, Jayson kept trying to tell me all about them and I finally looked them up on e-bay.  We ended up getting a couple online, then we found some Disney ones at Wal-Mart, we got the Toy Story ones and the classic Disney characters.  Myself I have a glow-in-the-dark monkey — reminds me of my favorite band 100 Monkeys. Hee hee

See, we really like our Silly Bandz!!

Jorja quite proud of her collection of bandz.

Below are some pictures from VBS.  Our theme this year was western.

The kids proudly wearing their shirts.  Jayson was a helper for the recreation time.  He helped the kids play the games.

On the last day of VBS, they had the kids from different grades come up and sing the songs they had learned during the week.

All week long Jorja would not participate in either the music session or during recreation. She usually sat with one of the girls during music, but then at home she would show me all the motions.  During music time, the 1st and 2nd graders were together, so I actually was there to witness her not doing the motions. However, by the end of the week, they had the kids practice on stage during music and my little turkey did all the moves without fear or anything.  As you can see, she did fine.

There’s my Cauner, front and center!!!  Now this one has no fear.  His teacher said Cauner is very vocal and has no problem expressing himself.  Which she said she was glad to hear that I wasn’t discouraging him from expressing himself. This age group was the quietest one on stage, you could barely hear them and most would barely do the motions.  But not Cauner, he sang out loud and proud. I need to get this boy into drama!!

All in all, VBS was a very crazy hectic week that flew by.  I am so thankful for the girls who helped, Nikki and Brandi, Tammy and I  teach, supervise, and ultimately not strangle these little ones. There were times that that is exactly what I wanted to do. *sigh* In the end, I had fun and I know the kids did too.