Don't you love homeschooling, that allows us to give our kids such rich experiences!!! I love it!
Blessings,
Lee

This is the perfect read for me today. I am trying to decide how to document an 11-day mission trip to Thailand. My 16-year-old daughter traveled there, meeting a team of strangers in Atlanta and taught English camp at a Buddhist school, then ministered in refugee villages at night.

This child also has one-year of employment as a preschool music teacher and is starting her second. She developed a comprehensive curriculum that supplemented a very dated (and boring) lesson plan. Reading the last posters comment has given me some ideas!

This is not eactly amazing, but....
Two years ago my daughter, 13, babysat weekly for a moms' group. There were typically 6-8 kids, from babies to preschoolers. They paid her $20 for the 2.5 hours which was okay as her first experience doing childcare. Then last year, the other sitter had to bow out so they asked me to do it. Well, I had to drive her and pick her up anyway, so staying wasn't a big deal. But, then they asked us to provide some kind of "lite" program for the kids too. Hmmm. That was her first year of high school and we had enough things going on but then I thought of what I did with her when she was little and remembered the Before Five In A Row program where you read a certain children's book each week and do learning activities related to the story. Then I thought it would be more worthwhile if SHE did it with the kids and I could count it has Early Childhood Education - so she did. She read all the info in the book, planned and carried out the lessons with my oversight and teaching help, gathered and packed supplies each week, incorporated ideas of her own, and it was great. I also bought a course on Early Childhood Education that she worked through at the same time and was able to study different views, notable styles like Montessori and others, and how young childen learn. All in all, we counted it as a one year course on "Career Exploration: Early Childhood Education" because she got the book work in along with the practical experience. And, she got paid at the same time, plus made some contacts for future babysitting work! The parents and the church's coordinator were thrilled with what we had done. I asked the coordinator to write a short letter of commendation at year's end including specific points about what my daughter did, her reliability, etc. so that it had some meat to it. It turned out great and nicely rounded out the course.

Gotta say, I did pat myself on the back for making the most of that!