Gearing Up

I've been making some plans for the new school year.

It's inevitable that some of my own money gets spent on my program, although they're great about reimbursing me. 
If I remember to turn in receipts. Ha.

But some of the things I've decided I really want at my program aren't necessities and I don't feel comfortable asking them to pay me back for everything. 

For example, I just spent almost 50 bucks on a half-size foosball table. 
Not necessary to run an effective program. 
It's an extra, which is important to the way I run things. 

Quite often kids don't want to know what's going on, they want to know what's next.

Haha, kind of like a man holding the remote. 
He doesn't care what's on, he wants to know what else is on.

I'll be designating a day every couple weeks as Fun Friday. 
We'll make it an event.

I slice one side of pool noodles, add some masking tape lines, pull out my ancient nerf puck and smackers and make a table hockey game. Works best on a medium table, but the table pictured is small and the one I have to use now is cafeteria-sized. I'd like that happy medium, but I work with what I have. 

The children pictured are at one of my old programs, in case you wondered.

I have a mini pool table, too.
We have ping pong paddles and balls.

I have a foot operated piano keyboard mat. It's annoying as hell, but the kids love it. So definitely something I don't want out every day, but getting it out makes it a special occasion.

I have slingshot hockey, too. That's another one of the things that annoy me because the pieces have a tendency to fly across the room because the kids get really excited when they play it, but it's fun for them.

Add in dance music and a limbo stick and it ends up being something the kids look forward to.

We'll be doing more science experiments than we did last year, too. 

I have a big assed calendar that I'll be writing our events on and posting, I would like to get at least September- December planned before school starts. I always have good intentions, of course.

(insert obligatory remark about the surface composition of the road leading to hell)

So the company I work for wants us to make plans in advance, turn them in for 'approval' and then if there's an issue, they let us know. But we're coming up on three years since I started working for them, and I haven't turned in activity plans yet. They really don't bother me, they just let me do my thing. Flattering.

Oh, we're doing stuff all the time. And the kids are having fun in program, and except for Mia's mom who complained to my manager because I wouldn't let her kid stand on top of the damn monkey bars, people seem happy with what I'm doing.

Of course we need to do more art projects. Never enough of them.

I purchased a few school supplies this week. Yes, the company furnishes things like water color paint and glue sticks, but it's crappy water color paint and substandard glue sticks. So I spent a little on Crayola brand paints and Elmer's glue sticks.

This and that. Bits. 

It does add up, but it's not a lot.
Makes my job a little easier, so I think it's worth it.

Had a couple people tell me I should make a wish list, but I think I've mostly caught up with stocking a site that is not just like the others. The first year I was at my current school, I did spend a bit more than I wanted, but quite a lot of it was on durable things like dollhouse stuff and art/other books. Things I won't have to replace. 

The company has asked me to help them come up with things I think every program should have, too. So that's on my agenda sometime in the next couple weeks.

I've said it more than once. All of us bring unique perspectives and good ideas to our individual locations. No one knows our kids the way we do, either. Our understanding of what they enjoy, what they really don't enjoy and ways of dealing with their particular idiosyncrasies is part of what makes us good at it. Or hopefully, anyway.

So I don't like standard programs.
But I do think we need program standards.

Every single program should have specific items on site. 

We should have a fall restock order delivered before our set up day in August. Most of our programs are very understocked. The kids get bored with what's there and make their own fun, which, because they're kids, involves hitting, chasing, yelling, generally acting like children.

 A lot of site directors try (and fail) to calm things down, so they close activity areas to 'encourage participation' in the daily art or craft or science experiment. I do it a little differently. I make sure they have a ton of good choices, all of them out where they can access them as they wish, then offer a craft or whatever as an extra. 

I have had a lot of kids who don't want to participate in those teacher-led projects. They'd rather dive into the LEGO bin or play checkers all afternoon. They should be able to do that if they want to. 

At least if we're respecting them properly, they should.

Here on my not-quite-famous blog I've touched on programming and how to do it a bit, having been asked (and not listened to) by former employers before. 

So it's mostly written down already. I just have to condense it a bit. Not as easy as it sounds, I like to use many words.

Stephen King calls the 'why use 10 words when 300 is more fun' philosophy literary elephantiasis, which seems rather apt.
And never fails to make me smile.

Okay, I've had a damn headache all weekend, had an aggravating fever since last night and I'm tired. 

Want to help me plan?
What's your favorite kid craft/science experiment?