See last week my church had Vacation Bible
School. It was not only my first time experiencing VBS at my new church but it
was also the first time I led something at my new church. Future Note to Self: don’t
dive in with both feet, sit back, help out but don’t lead that’s how the
pressure gets to you.
That’s not to say it wasn’t a GREAT week and the kids seemed to really enjoy it but the unknown of it almost did me in before we started. See this church uses a VBS kit which comes with ideas for Music, Crafts, Science, Bible Study, and themes for the week. We decided on Super Heroes for Christ which was right up my alley. Finally those DragonCon Tshirts were going to be put to use during the week not just on weekends as I run errands.
When flipping through the
pack I thought Science sounds cool. Another lady in the church said she’d help
me with it, I was like score let’s do it. Then life happened. Each group (3 varying
age groups for the kids, 1-5, 6-8, 8-10 or something like that – the piece of
paper is on the other side of the planet and I’m being lazy (AKA it’s it in the
other room) had a “leader” and 2 helpers in which one of the helpers was a
youth (aka too old for VBS but still wants to participate, but not quite old
enough to be a leader). We ended up being short 2 leaders so I lost my original
helper. I was assigned a new helper and she was …. Great … when she was there. Night 1 she brought her husband and a dice game that she was more interested in than helping (tho in her defense she didn't have a lot to help with (more on that in a minute), then night 2 when I really could have used her help she was sick, and night 3 she was very helpful, then night 4 she had bingo and didn't come, tho she had told me earlier in the week that would be the case. So at least there was that.
Our VBS was 4 days long, with the last day a “pizza
party” in which the parents got to see all that the kids did during the week. This
meant I needed 3 days of activities. This being my first time I decided on one
experiment a night that I could really practice and know how to do for all age
groups. This would be mistake #1. Future
Note to Self: Next year think about the age group you will be doing the
experiment with and then adjust accordingly.
Let’s start at the beginning shall we. I knew
VBS was coming, I had a plan, I checked in with the VBS leaders to make sure it
was a good plan and they all agreed that it was. I kept asking how many kids do
I need to plan for, they kept saying the year before they had over 30. I was
like um…ok….how does that work with each group, which is my largest one? How
long do I have to entertain them? What happens if they start to get on my
nerves? What happens if I ruin these kids for life? What if they hate me? What if they won't listen to me? What if they listen to closely and the adult in me says something only adults should hear? I worried that they wouldn’t be interested at all or that they would be too interested and ask questions I couldn't answer. My church had never done Science before as part of Bible School so really no one knew what to expect so not much advice for me. Could I deliver?
I was pretty sure I drove them all insane ... but I was scared ..... mostly of the unknown,
I kept telling myself I’d be fine after night one. Frankly, I was
doubting myself and part of me was hoping I’d break a leg, get in a wreck, and would
get out of it all together. I think I scared the preacher cause he kept
checking on me between groups, he could tell I was nervous, he could tell I was
freaked out, but he kept telling me I’d do great...relax.... which was oh so helpful. Don't tell someone having a panic attack to calm down that's not helpful at all and I was most definitely in panic attack mode on several occasions. To his credit he did spend a lot of time in my
room on day 1 but I think that was more moral support than fear I’d screw up
one of the kids. At least that’s my hope. I think he really likes me, I hope so
cause I think he and his family are fantastic. I’m really glad I found this
church, and I think they are glad I found them too, which is nice.
So the Friday before VBS started on Monday I ran
around town in a downpour buying my supplies, horrible rain would be a theme of the week I would learn. At one point there was talk of cancelling VBS for fear no one would come in the monsoon that settled over the City that week but they came, Gosh love them they came every night. A lot of what I needed I already
had at the house, that was by design as Marcy’s funds are low and I didn’t want
to beg the church for money cause I wanted their money to go to the other
groups. This being their first time with Science I didn't want to take away from what they normally do for this new thing. On that particular Friday I was also assigned a submittal that would have to
completed in less than a week with a PM who is notorious for not completing
things in a timely manner. Add to that another submittal (that goes in this
Tuesday) which I hadn’t really started yet, because of a different submittal/PM not deciding what he wanted yet, and it was
shaping up to be a really stressful week that would start before 6am and end
after 9pm with no lunch break which has made for a zombiefied Marcy this past
weekend. That being said I did go to lunch one day, well actually my friend forced me to have hearing that I hadn't eaten anything but popcorn for 3 days.
So Monday came, and I was physically ready, mentally was another can of worms. I had
a plan I just had to execute it. I left work about 4 because they wanted everyone
there early for registration and to make last minute plans. I had told my boss
about this and he was A. shocked a science class was going to be taught at a
church function, he even asked if it was legal. I said I think so. B. when I actually
got up and left at 4 with no prompting from him he was shocked. He was pretty sure he was going
to have to kick me out of the office. He said he was proud of me. ha!
Monday – activity SINKING SODA - Did the can
sink or float? Why!?
Bible Study 1
Samuel 16:1-12
In our Bible Story, God told Samuel “Humans
see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart”
This experiment tackled the idea that while they
look exactly the same they reacted differently when put in the same situation. That
they would prejudge these soda cans and be shocked by how they acted in the
water because it didn’t do what they expected. Basically, don’t judge a book by
its cover. I liked this idea. The idea that they need to look into the persons
heart not solely base things on outward appearances. In this day and age and with these grade groups this can not be restated nearly enough.
Why I chose this ….. frankly I wanted
something I could control. I wanted something that if we were running out of
time I could just end, I wanted something that was easy for night one. This would
be mistake #2. Future Note to Self: Easy
is not always the best option. The biggest problem with this experiment
was that it just didn’t take up enough time. Not even a little. I mean come on Marcy
you are dropping cans in a big bucket what did you expect. My group ended early
which threw everyone else into a tail spin cause then kids were in the hallway
making noise distracting the kids who were still in class. I felt awful, I felt
I had let everyone down. (which may have been the other reason the Preacher
spent most of night one assuring me that everything was going great). I also didn’t buy the right cans. I had a good
variety, but I should have bought better. All floated except one, the coke. I should
have had a better variety which might have sparked more conversation. After a
while they all guessed that they would float cause ... well.... they all floated.. and these kids weren't stupid.......... argh....... Stupid…stupid…stupid (bangs head on wall in frustration).
Lastly most of the kids were more interested in if I would give them the sodas
or dropping the cans into the bucket, and splashing the water than they were in
why they floated or sunk. It got away from me really quick. I am not going to
lie, especially with the little kids who discovered early that If they dropped
all the cans in they could almost overflow the bucket. It was a tough night 1 yall.
I’m not going to lie.
Here’s the experiment if you are interested ….
Tuesday – activity Balancing Hex Nuts – the power
of magnets
Bible Study 1
Samuel 25
In our Bible Story, Abigail became a hero by
using her courage and inner strength
Why I chose this ….. cause I thought it was
cool. Basically you have to balance hex nuts on the edge of a cup. Something I showed
the kids the night before and none of them believed they would be able to do
it. I was determined they would all be able to do it. Group 1 realized they
could stack the hex nuts on the magnets then place the entire contraption on
the cans (which were reused from Night 1) and move them down to the cup. I
thought these kids are geniuses. It never dawned on me to flip it over. Then
they also flipped over the cup. So instead of balancing it on the edge of the
cup with a large margin of error they had a large flat surface to deal with.
Again brilliant. I’ll never forget when a kid who struggled with it was finally
able to do it and was jumping up and down so excited and I high fived him for a
job well done and for not giving up. Ironically the little kids did the best
with this but of course they required the most hand holding. The older kids
quickly turned the magnets into cars and could care less about balancing
anything. I just let them do their thing, they had a ball and I relaxed and talked with the other adults for a bit. Ironically the older kids did the exact same thing the preacher did when I first handed him the magnets. It was kind of funny.
Here’s the experiment if you are interested ….
Wednesday – activity making their own Silly
Putty
Bible Study James
1:5
Believer asks God for wisdom and understanding
about daily decisions. There is one requirement for this help however, the
request must be made with no wavering or doubt as a doubter isn’t sure whether
God hears him or if God even understands his problem. Such a man is double
minded; he attempts to divide his trust between God and himself.
Why I chose this ….. cause I thought it was
cool and I also wanted the kids to have something they could take home to
remember the week by. I spent the week hyping this up, on Tuesday night after
getting home from VBS I decided to try out my plan, thank GOD for this. My plan
sucked. It didn’t work at all it was beyond awful. I was super stressed. I had
6 hours to come up with plan B. I wanted something that would allow me to use
as much of what I already had so panic was really setting in. I felt unprepared
and angry with myself. Then I found a video online that saved me. See the original
plan called for Corn-starch and water. However I wasn’t aware there was this
thing called “liquid starch” which is apparently what I needed not powder
starch which is what I had. Powder starch and water creates a hard rock that when you are moving it around is fine the second you stop it immediately goes back to a liquid, incase
you are interested. I have a Walmart that opens at 6am. I was there when they
opened the doors buying the DAWN that was going to save my life. I bought two
giant bottles and another thing of corn starch just incase. I then went to work
and stressed about it all day long, I was like ok this is it...last night and I'm going to fail and make a fool of myself. I left the office at 4 went right to the church and
tried the new recipe. This one required faith on the part of the kids cause
there was no real recipe to follow. It depended on how much corn starch you
added vs how much soap was added and how fast the kid was stirring. So huge margin of error. This too went sideways very quickly, especially with the little kids. They made a HUGE
mess, there was cornstarch everywhere and of course we were in the middle of
the worse week of rain in our little city all year and the bathrooms started
overflowing so on a night when I really needed to get in there to wash little
hands we were unable to. I ended up having to take them into the men's room which prompted lots of "what's that" questions when they came face to face with a urnial filled with gross looking water. In the end it all worked out and every kid took some putty home
but the stress of this day will be with me for my entire life. I hate feeling
unprepared and I was definitely not prepared for this but it was fun and all
the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.
Here’s the experiment we ended up doing, if
you are interested …. This girl saved my life !
The one thing all week that I kept forgetting
to do was the “bible study” part of everything, you know the REASON for VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL in the first place. I was so excited about getting
to the activity that I often blew past the reason those kids were there …
learning about Jesus and God. This would be mistake #3. Future Note to Self: Next time have the
Bible Study first then do the experiment, cause doing it after never
worked. It was hard to get their
attention back once we were in the activity, then before you know it the session is over and they are leaving. It was a disaster.
Mistake #4: Time management. The way the schedule worked out, I had a break between each group, which was nice. I wish I had used it better. To eat, to relax, to reset up for the next group, to clean but mostly to walk around to the other groups to see what they were doing. How they handled their classes, what they did to get the kids to pay attention, what they were doing in general etc., Future Note to Self: spend some time walking around to see what others are doing so you can do better for your group. Or so you can see if you were doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing. Peace of mind always results in relaxation moving forward.
At the end of the week they asked the kids
what their favorite activity was and I was told Music always comes out on top,
this year however they all yelled science. I wasn’t there to hear it as I was
trying to clean up the giant mess of cornstarch left in our room, but it made my heart swell that they all felt
that way. The man who runs the VBS program gave me a huge hug and thanked me
for all I did. He said I can never leave now. Which made me feel really good.
So while it was a long stressful week it was a
great week and I’m glad I helped out. I did end up having to work until 9:30 Friday
and will also be at work 7am Monday morning but after Tuesday I hope to get
back to a more normalized schedule. Zombiefied Marcy will have to last a few
more days, I miss sleep, I used to enjoy it. I hope to do so again one day.
Unlike Golden I am NOT a member of Team No Sleep. I am very much PRO-Sleep and if I were being honest I also like pants.
Anyway … that’s been my last week …. Hope you
all have a fantastic week ahead.
HUGS
Marcy
