Kindergarten Get-Away
The weekend before Caroline started school we created a little get-away for her, Daddy and Mommy. Jason and I wanted to spend some uninterrupted time with her for several reasons, one being we had a few things we wanted to discuss before she started kindergarten.
Mother made it possible for us to stay in one of the cabins at Berry College and we had such a special 24 hours.
The following is the notes Jason and I created for our time. We were able to touch on each of these 10 things in a non-structured way that flowed without her realizing we were trying to have specific "lessons". She really responded so well to everything and it is defiantly going to become a Flowers tradition!
These are not necessarily in the order we did them over the weekend. We didn't want to tell her that the purpose of the weekend is to go through 10 lessons because we didn't want her focused on waiting for the next thing as it would take over her attention---just trying to figure out what we are planning next. Rather, we wanted to just spend some good quality time playing and talking with her. Each item happened during a walk or during some activity we had planned at a natural pace so that it just feels like an ongoing and open discussion between the three of us.
(These were notes created for the weekend so it isn't past tense.)
1. Jesus is always with you.
We are going to go on a walk and play with our shadows, which we will lead into a discussion about how our shadows don’t leave us just as Jesus never leaves us.
2. Daddy and Mommy love you and your family is ALWAYS your safety net and will be there for you.
We are going to go to a large space (lawn or parking lot) and have Caroline stand still. I have printed a picture of Jason, myself, Doster, and a baby in 5x7 prints. We are going to create a circle around Caroline with the pictures on the ground. This will be the first part of the lesson, her seeing how her family circles her completely. We want to reiterate the importance of that circle and that it will always be there for her. Then we are going to place a larger circle outside the initial one with pictures of each aunt, uncle, and grandparent (all 5x7 prints) and explain that, again, this circle of family surrounds her and her family as a support network that will always be there for her. We are also going to take the card that Daddy wrote for her when she was born telling her that her Grandpas and Uncles are the warriors surrounding her at all times, willing to fight for her.
3. You can talk to Daddy and Mommy about everything and anything – and we will listen.
Saturday evening dinner – we are going to go school supply shopping and then out to a nice dinner all dressed up. Throughout dinner we are going to ask her several questions about how she feels about certain things, what she thinks about different topics. The dinner will be focused on allowing her to express herself verbally to us. Towards the end, we will tie it all in by explaining and emphasizing the importance of communication and the safety she has in communicating with us. We are also going to take three pieces of construction paper and a small pair of scissors to trace each of our hands in different colors. Then we are going to put those hands together and glue them with her hand in between Jason and mine. We will then put it in a Ziploc bag for the front pocket of her backpack for her to look at anytime she is feeling the need to be reminded of her Daddy and Mommy’s love for her.
4. Bullying/Compassion for others.
We found a verbal lesson plan about bullying that we are tailor making for Caroline. We will go through it, giving her examples of bullying and explaining what it is, as she doesn’t know. Then we will explain some examples of the opposite, showing compassion. This is a gift of Caroline’s so we will talk through her ability to let Jesus show himself through her by showing compassion and standing against bullying.
5. Being a Helper.
We are going to go to the horse barns and enjoy watching the horses. We hope to see some of the people working in the barn, seeing them do the things necessary to take care of the horses and prompt a discussion around being a helper and finding things to do to help out, not allowing everything to be done for you.
6. Always do your best – work hard.
At home, she is allowed to get out of bed at 7:00 and color or play quietly in her room until we get Doster and her up for breakfast. We will tell her the same applies for Sunday morning and leave two worksheets for her and some markers. One is of a big and basic apple, the other is a much more detailed picture of a horse with flowing mane. So when we go in to get her up in the morning, we are going to look at her two pictures and if she has just scribbled in the apple and taken her time with the horse we will be able to talk to her about how she needs to do a good job and work hard even when something is easy for her or not as interesting as other things. If she has taken her time with both we will be able to reiterate the point by praising her for taking her time and working hard on both, even when one isn’t as exciting as the other.
7. Let Jesus shine through you.
At bedtime we are going to tuck her in and talk to her about letting Jesus shine through her because He lives inside her. I have decorated a mason jar to look like Caroline by placing a little colored gingerbread girl on the front of the jar and a votive is inside the jar. Through our conversation we will light the flame on the votive and show her how Jesus can shine inside her and the light will glow out of her. We also want to sing You Are My Sunshine to her before she falls asleep.
8. Safety.
We are going to go on a bike ride, wearing her helmet and she will need to be listening to us closely as we help guide her with safety along the roads around the campus. Then we want to end up by the creek or pond and sit and talk to her about how important it is to remember safety and following rules. We are going to take her Safety Kids book to use as some guidance since she is so familiar with the verbiage. We want to touch on the following topics: bad/good touching, strangers, getting lost, following the teachers rules and directions, etc.
9. Responsibility.
We are going to go over a chore chart we’ve created for her for each evening when she gets home which includes emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, and clearing the table. Monday mornings she’ll collect the laundry and Tuesday mornings she’ll collect the trash cans.We are also going to start an allowance of 4 quarters each week. We are going to take the milk bottle banks that Ben gave her when she was little and show her how one quarter goes to tithe, one quarter goes to savings and the rest is for her.
10. Sunday morning we want to have a late breakfast at The House of Dreams. This will be a “recap” of the weekend and us explaining how important she is to us and how excited we are for her big next step in life. We also want to end the weekend reiterating to her #1, #2, and #3 in that “at the end of the day” you always have Jesus with you, you always come home to Daddy, Mommy and her family who are open and willing to talk and listen about all the big and little occurrences in her day.
Mother made it possible for us to stay in one of the cabins at Berry College and we had such a special 24 hours.
The following is the notes Jason and I created for our time. We were able to touch on each of these 10 things in a non-structured way that flowed without her realizing we were trying to have specific "lessons". She really responded so well to everything and it is defiantly going to become a Flowers tradition!
These are not necessarily in the order we did them over the weekend. We didn't want to tell her that the purpose of the weekend is to go through 10 lessons because we didn't want her focused on waiting for the next thing as it would take over her attention---just trying to figure out what we are planning next. Rather, we wanted to just spend some good quality time playing and talking with her. Each item happened during a walk or during some activity we had planned at a natural pace so that it just feels like an ongoing and open discussion between the three of us.
(These were notes created for the weekend so it isn't past tense.)
1. Jesus is always with you.
We are going to go on a walk and play with our shadows, which we will lead into a discussion about how our shadows don’t leave us just as Jesus never leaves us.
2. Daddy and Mommy love you and your family is ALWAYS your safety net and will be there for you.
We are going to go to a large space (lawn or parking lot) and have Caroline stand still. I have printed a picture of Jason, myself, Doster, and a baby in 5x7 prints. We are going to create a circle around Caroline with the pictures on the ground. This will be the first part of the lesson, her seeing how her family circles her completely. We want to reiterate the importance of that circle and that it will always be there for her. Then we are going to place a larger circle outside the initial one with pictures of each aunt, uncle, and grandparent (all 5x7 prints) and explain that, again, this circle of family surrounds her and her family as a support network that will always be there for her. We are also going to take the card that Daddy wrote for her when she was born telling her that her Grandpas and Uncles are the warriors surrounding her at all times, willing to fight for her.
3. You can talk to Daddy and Mommy about everything and anything – and we will listen.
Saturday evening dinner – we are going to go school supply shopping and then out to a nice dinner all dressed up. Throughout dinner we are going to ask her several questions about how she feels about certain things, what she thinks about different topics. The dinner will be focused on allowing her to express herself verbally to us. Towards the end, we will tie it all in by explaining and emphasizing the importance of communication and the safety she has in communicating with us. We are also going to take three pieces of construction paper and a small pair of scissors to trace each of our hands in different colors. Then we are going to put those hands together and glue them with her hand in between Jason and mine. We will then put it in a Ziploc bag for the front pocket of her backpack for her to look at anytime she is feeling the need to be reminded of her Daddy and Mommy’s love for her.
4. Bullying/Compassion for others.
We found a verbal lesson plan about bullying that we are tailor making for Caroline. We will go through it, giving her examples of bullying and explaining what it is, as she doesn’t know. Then we will explain some examples of the opposite, showing compassion. This is a gift of Caroline’s so we will talk through her ability to let Jesus show himself through her by showing compassion and standing against bullying.
5. Being a Helper.
We are going to go to the horse barns and enjoy watching the horses. We hope to see some of the people working in the barn, seeing them do the things necessary to take care of the horses and prompt a discussion around being a helper and finding things to do to help out, not allowing everything to be done for you.
6. Always do your best – work hard.
At home, she is allowed to get out of bed at 7:00 and color or play quietly in her room until we get Doster and her up for breakfast. We will tell her the same applies for Sunday morning and leave two worksheets for her and some markers. One is of a big and basic apple, the other is a much more detailed picture of a horse with flowing mane. So when we go in to get her up in the morning, we are going to look at her two pictures and if she has just scribbled in the apple and taken her time with the horse we will be able to talk to her about how she needs to do a good job and work hard even when something is easy for her or not as interesting as other things. If she has taken her time with both we will be able to reiterate the point by praising her for taking her time and working hard on both, even when one isn’t as exciting as the other.
7. Let Jesus shine through you.
At bedtime we are going to tuck her in and talk to her about letting Jesus shine through her because He lives inside her. I have decorated a mason jar to look like Caroline by placing a little colored gingerbread girl on the front of the jar and a votive is inside the jar. Through our conversation we will light the flame on the votive and show her how Jesus can shine inside her and the light will glow out of her. We also want to sing You Are My Sunshine to her before she falls asleep.
8. Safety.
We are going to go on a bike ride, wearing her helmet and she will need to be listening to us closely as we help guide her with safety along the roads around the campus. Then we want to end up by the creek or pond and sit and talk to her about how important it is to remember safety and following rules. We are going to take her Safety Kids book to use as some guidance since she is so familiar with the verbiage. We want to touch on the following topics: bad/good touching, strangers, getting lost, following the teachers rules and directions, etc.
9. Responsibility.
We are going to go over a chore chart we’ve created for her for each evening when she gets home which includes emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, and clearing the table. Monday mornings she’ll collect the laundry and Tuesday mornings she’ll collect the trash cans.We are also going to start an allowance of 4 quarters each week. We are going to take the milk bottle banks that Ben gave her when she was little and show her how one quarter goes to tithe, one quarter goes to savings and the rest is for her.
10. Sunday morning we want to have a late breakfast at The House of Dreams. This will be a “recap” of the weekend and us explaining how important she is to us and how excited we are for her big next step in life. We also want to end the weekend reiterating to her #1, #2, and #3 in that “at the end of the day” you always have Jesus with you, you always come home to Daddy, Mommy and her family who are open and willing to talk and listen about all the big and little occurrences in her day.
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