Early this week, I REALLY needed to mow our lawn.
(Yes, I mow our lawn, even though Matt would gladly do it. I think it’s great exercise…and it’s exercise with a productive purpose…and I get good sunshine…and I would rather Matt spend his at-home time doing other things. I’m weird…but I like to mow.) (I also like it when I’m done mowing.)
So, I needed to mow, but after our long winter and after some really windy spring days, there were a TON of sticks all over the yard that made mowing impossible.
So I came up with this fun plan for the boys. I told them that I would pay them each a penny for each stick that they picked up. I figured it would be way more fun this way and that they would likely be way more motivated to pick up more sticks than they would be otherwise.
It seems that I was right.
I can’t believe how long they spent picking up sticks. They worked SUPER hard!
Elias ended up picking up 185 sticks….which of course meant that he earned $1.85. Great work for a six year old. (and great ability to count that high and pick up sticks at the same time)
Justus picked up 400 sticks…so he earned $4.00.
And Asa…my first born, oldest child, high achiever…picked up ONE THOUSAND sticks….earning himself a whopping 10 bucks.
So, I hadn’t counted on paying out almost 16 dollars…but I must say…it was SO worth it!! There were NO sticks left for the mower to accidentally chomp up and fling out…none! And I was so proud of them for being such hard workers. And they were quite proud of their accomplishments too!
Oh, and on another note not related to stick picking up….I made the boys a final list of school work that they needed to finish up in order to complete their school year. They finished this week (WOOHOO for ME!).
But I have to tell you, that when Asa finished his list and came in and anounced to me, “Mom! I finished my fifth grade work! I’m a sixth grader now! I’m in MIDDLE school!” I almost choked on my breakfast. Seriously, I can not possibly have a child this old.
;)
I just found your blog this week. I just saw a link to ‘make ahead meals’ and look forward to perusing through that. What I came to say, before getting distracted by that excitement, was that I remember the excitement it was to finish that last gradework and run upstairs to tell Mom. :) We always planned to start working ahead, but summer kinda got in the way somehow… :)
Ok, wow on the stick collecting! You really had a LOT of sticks! But, whoa… sixth grade? I just choked on my breakfast too! When did THAT happen?! And YAY for a summer break!
Wow already finished with school and it barely May. Thats one of the things I love about homeschooling! Good work!
I love mowing, too! I didn’t do any of it last year with an unpredictable tiny one, and I missed the sun and exercise. I’ve already mowed twice this year, once ahead of the *snow* 2 weeks ago and again before this week’s rain. I told hubby that if he got out his grandpa’s old push reel mower, I’d even give that a try. It helps that the not quite so tiny one sticks pretty closely to her 7 PM bedtime. :>)
Love the stick idea! I can’t believe I haven’t thought of it, because I nearly went broke last summer, after putting a ‘bounty’ on all poke bugs in my garden. My kids earned so much money catching bugs they were formerly completely scared of!! :)
~Brea
Great minds think alike. We’ve been paying our 7-year old daughter a penny per stick also. LOL We have the stipulation that the stick must be at least crayon-sized since Daddy saw her picking up rather small, itty-bitty, skinny sticks. She earned $5 in about two days though!
Whoo-hoo on your schoolwork! We’re almost done, but my girls came down with colds this week, so we’ve kind of taken it easy.