Chim chiminey, chim chiminey...

There was BIG excitement outside of our house last night.  HUGE!  Danny could hardly contain himself.

The STREET SWEEPER went down our street.  Yes, you heard me right.  We had an actual street sweeper on our road.  At about 5 p.m., I called the boys in for dinner.  I looked up the street and saw Danny sitting on a neighbors lawn watching the street sweeper move down the street.  I went out to him and said, "Whatchya doin' buddy?"  He looked up at me with big eyes and said, "Watching this big truck coming down our street!"

So, I explained what the truck was and what it was doing.  The man in the truck stopped the truck and said, "Bring him over here."  We got to look into the truck and see the dual steering wheels.  The man also explained why the sweeper sprayed water on the ground first and how the brooms worked with the vacuums to suck up all of the dirt from winter left behind on the road.

Danny and I walked all the way down our street, following the street sweeper and watching it do it's job.  Danny asked questions and predicted what was going to happen next when the sweeper reached certain objects and obstacles.  Overall, it was a very educational experience.

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, he said, "Mama, when I grow up, can I drive a street sweeper?"  I told him that he could if he did well in school and learned how to be very safe and careful.

He then said his prayers.  "Dear God, Thank you for this day.  Thank you for Mama, Joey and the street sweeper.  Please help the man who drives it not to hit any kids and if he does, help him not to suck them up inside the street sweeper.  In Jesus name, Amen."

So, driver of street sweeper 283, thank you for taking the time to teach my Danny about street sweeping and remember, be careful out there today. Try not to suck up any young children in your truck.

Money, money, money, money

One of the lessons of first grade math that most teachers, students and parents dread is the lesson on the almighty dollar or in particular, how to count the many confusing coins that we have in our american monetary system.  If you view the lesson like a 7 year old, it really doesn't make any sense that the dime is the smallest coin.  You'd think that the penny would be the smallest, followed by the nickel, the dime, the quarter, the half dollar and then the dollar coin.  However, that is simply not the case.  If you could sort by color, that would make sense also, but only the  penny is a different metal.  So, what's a mom to do when trying to teach the concept of money???

I was in the teacher's room at my school the other day and a fellow parent of another first grader was talking about the woes he was facing with this unit.  He and I commiserated for a while and then he mentioned to me that he was telling his son that any coins that were found were his if he could count them accurately.  Knowing my son's love of money, I figured that would be a great motivating factor as well, so I instituted the same policy at my house, however, I added a twist.  If he didn't count the money right the first time, it went into a "kitty" and once a day we would count the "kitty".  If he could count it accurately, he could keep it, if not, he had to wait until the end of the next day at which time there might be more money in it making the task even more difficult.  Joey soon learned to count the money accurately the first time.

So, Joey has spent the last several days counting money everywhere we find it.  When we go to the store, Joey can get the change (coins only).  If he counts them correctly, into his piggy bank they go, if not they go into the "kitty".  At Sam's club the other day, he just about tackled an elderly lady to get the dime under her foot.  Thank goodness she had a sense of humor.    He has been helping me with laundry and has cleaned out our couch about 10 times.  Counting money has turned into a game.  I think in his piggy bank, he probably has accumulated $3 or $4 so far.

Yesterday, we received a note home from school stating that the money unit was a relatively short unit time-wise, however, since most children were still struggling with many of the concepts, the teacher was going to extend the unit another week.  She asked if we would please review the concept with our children.  Attached to the note was our child's unit test over money so we could see how they did.  Well......, my little capitalist got a 100 on his test.  I was very proud of him as he has been working so hard.

I guess money does really make the world go round.   Next weekend, I will be teaching him how to give back.  I firmly believe to whom much is given, much is required.  We will be counting what is in his piggy bank and he will have to save 10% and donate 10%.  He was really good at making money, we shall see how good he is at giving it away.