May 29, 2012

Memorial Day 2012

We had a great party for Memorial day.

It is fantastic to be able to have Quinn swim with all of her friends and not have to worry about her in the pool. She can swim, dive down, jump in the deep end, and be completely okay in the water. Fantastic!

Also, I think that she was so hungry and involved with her friends that not only did she eat a burger, but it was a spicy Tex Mex burger... This is hope!

Job 3: Event Planner

There was so much going on this week, that we needed Quinn to help by being an event planner. 

This week there was  
  • Monday: BAC Pool party and Gymnastics Showcase
  • Tues - rest
  • Wed: Graduation
  • Thurs - Messy day @ school and dance recital
  • Friday - Playing at Popo's and Shawn's Bday
The actions that Quinn took as event planner were
  • Drawing up on an hourly calendar all of the events for the week
  • Packing all of the outfits, bathing suits, and other clothing that she would need for the day
  • Deciding what meals and snacks would be

May 23, 2012

Pre-K Graduation

Quinn is super excited about her graduation today. She is talking about Kolter kindergarten for next year and how she is a big girl. I hope that all of her graduations have as much excitement for her.

May 21, 2012

Job 2: Dress Designer

Quinn was a dress designer this past week.

  • We designed a dress using Dress creator, where we talked about different necklines and dress types. 
  • Quinn particularly liked the sweetheart style
  • She spent lots of time coloring different style dresses. Greens for Daddy and oranges for Mommy.
  • We went to International Dance Design to look at different gowns and costumes and also the different types of fabrics.
  • Quinn even tried on a latin costume that was close to her size.  

May 16, 2012

Job 1: Picture Framer

Quinn's first allowance job was a picture framer.

  • We looked at many different pictures around the house. 
  • She identified that some were thick, and some thin. 
  • Some were decorated and some plain
  • Some had different color borders. We learned that these were called mattes
  • We also noticed that the corners of the frames had diagonals. 
  • Quinn drew a photo and then drew a matte and frame around it, making sure to add the diagonals in the corners
  • We visited a picture framer shop and got to choose several frames (pink and purple). Then we choose several mattes (green and orange). 
  • We talked about how the frames and mattes should be choosen with the photo in mind, so that they bring out certain colors from the picture. 
  • We also discovered that some frames are deeper, to allow for things like baseballs and bats to be framed. 
She was neutral about this career

Careers and Allowances

So we've started Quinn on an allowance. After doing some research, we didn't want to pay her for nothing. We also didn't want to pay her for normal expectations, like cleaning her room, or putting her dish in the sink. Furthermore it is difficult to do extraordinary things all of the time. Then we came upon the Earn it, Learn It approach.

This approach is basically get a career for a week and learn the different aspects of that career.

For us, we are at minimum having Quinn keep a journal. In this journal she needs to write the job title, date, draw / photocopy / create a picture of the career, and finally a happy, sad or neutral face for her impression of it.

She will be earning 2 dollars a week. A $1 bill, and $1 in coins. The intent of the bill is to be saved, and we will deposit it in the bank every month. The intent of the coins is for whatever she wants.

We will let her use the saved money after 3 months in the bank, but then she can only take out 1/2 of her savings. At least that is the going plan at the moment.

We are using the Earn it, Learn it book, as well as Would you like to Fly a Jet, Would you Like to Be a Vet for inspiration on what careers to choose.

The most challenging things at the moment, is keeping track of the coins, and not letting Brock play with them.