Pandamania or Pandamonium: VBS
It's that time of year again... Time for Vacation Bible School. As soon as school is out many churches have Vacation Bible sShool. It's fun and a lot of hard work for those involved. No matter how much help you have, it is never enough to deal with today's hyper-active, computer/Ipod generation. Someone once called VBS an anointed time for the children. I thought to myself, get real. It is an anointed time for children, a busy time for adults.
I went to my first VBS at 11. We sing songs and had class, my mom handled the crafts for our age group. My mom took on the project for our two week VBS, us preteen girls had to make a bellbottom pants suit. It was a simple pattern. She thought that we all needed to know was how to sew. So we she got several patterns, and we learned how to pin a pattern, cut it and baste it. When we got it basted, she ran it up on her sewing machine, and she put on the trim on it. She did about 10 outfits. We learned songs and Bible lessons. That was the only two week VBS I have ever been to.
When I got older, I helped teach VBS. The VBS used to be in the morning. That changed as more and more of the population worked during the day. I started teaching in 1980, I did VBS and left there and went to work. I used to go like that, all the time. I went to college and went to work. Went to work and took classes in the evening. Somebody thought it was a good idea to put me over VBS. The was a lot of resentment there because I was young and inexperienced. I think this was to train me for leadership. Those were difficult years. I used to take my vacation time from work to do VBS, because, I had much to do as director and I needed time to do posters, ect. When I went to a larger church I did the same thing. I was a teacher and I had an assistant. This church was so large and they took VBS seriously. The day before, the teachers would decorate their classrooms. I rode the van as a chaperone. Everyday at 8 AM, I would get picked up as we picked up kids all the way from Mill Creek Road, next to Mt. Hope to Prosperity and in between.
When I went back to a smaller church I took materials and crafts that people have given me from the larger church to use. We had fun, but it was work, planning menus and dealing with the kids. There we picked up the kids from various housing projects. Sometimes when we would bring the children back, no one would be there. We had to ride the kid around with us or they went to their friend's house.
I have taught four year olds to preteens. My favorite group is the ten year olds. I found out I can get them to clean up by giving the Twislers. I also found out that young kids like VeggiTales. They actually sat and watched them.
Many kids come from homes where there isn't much parental supervision and the kids do whatever they want. Some don't know how to act in a church enviroment. You have to set rules about cussing and fighting. I have a funny story. In our lessons, we were talking about the people Jesus witnessed to. One of them was the woman at the well. I was telling that story, to a bunch of ten year olds. When I said something about her being married five times, one girl blurted out, "She was one hot mama". I about lost it. Getting tickled in church is bad, but to lose it in front of kids, that's really bad. Then the others wanted to know what happened to the five husbands. Did she kill them all? You have to be sharp. Last year one of the boys was acting differently than he had the previous day and I asked him what was wrong? He told me he had eaten five bars of candy before coming there. Then there was poster on the wall in one of the Sunday School rooms, the kids got the giggles. It was a challenge to teach. If I had known that poster would cause such a problem, I would have took it down before they got there.
Sometimes, it breaks your heart to do prayer requests. Kids are honest and they tell you too much information about what's going on at home. I wrote I must be a glutton for punishment. When VBS time comes I just have to volunteer. I am not sure why, it is one of those things I have to be involved in. Matt said that what you are good at, go on over there and help. It's a habit. I guess where I didn't have any kids its a way of keeping in touch with today's kids. Pray for me. I was going to be an assistant teacher, now I have to be the main teacher. I have to do some crash course work.
I went to my first VBS at 11. We sing songs and had class, my mom handled the crafts for our age group. My mom took on the project for our two week VBS, us preteen girls had to make a bellbottom pants suit. It was a simple pattern. She thought that we all needed to know was how to sew. So we she got several patterns, and we learned how to pin a pattern, cut it and baste it. When we got it basted, she ran it up on her sewing machine, and she put on the trim on it. She did about 10 outfits. We learned songs and Bible lessons. That was the only two week VBS I have ever been to.
When I got older, I helped teach VBS. The VBS used to be in the morning. That changed as more and more of the population worked during the day. I started teaching in 1980, I did VBS and left there and went to work. I used to go like that, all the time. I went to college and went to work. Went to work and took classes in the evening. Somebody thought it was a good idea to put me over VBS. The was a lot of resentment there because I was young and inexperienced. I think this was to train me for leadership. Those were difficult years. I used to take my vacation time from work to do VBS, because, I had much to do as director and I needed time to do posters, ect. When I went to a larger church I did the same thing. I was a teacher and I had an assistant. This church was so large and they took VBS seriously. The day before, the teachers would decorate their classrooms. I rode the van as a chaperone. Everyday at 8 AM, I would get picked up as we picked up kids all the way from Mill Creek Road, next to Mt. Hope to Prosperity and in between.
When I went back to a smaller church I took materials and crafts that people have given me from the larger church to use. We had fun, but it was work, planning menus and dealing with the kids. There we picked up the kids from various housing projects. Sometimes when we would bring the children back, no one would be there. We had to ride the kid around with us or they went to their friend's house.
I have taught four year olds to preteens. My favorite group is the ten year olds. I found out I can get them to clean up by giving the Twislers. I also found out that young kids like VeggiTales. They actually sat and watched them.
Many kids come from homes where there isn't much parental supervision and the kids do whatever they want. Some don't know how to act in a church enviroment. You have to set rules about cussing and fighting. I have a funny story. In our lessons, we were talking about the people Jesus witnessed to. One of them was the woman at the well. I was telling that story, to a bunch of ten year olds. When I said something about her being married five times, one girl blurted out, "She was one hot mama". I about lost it. Getting tickled in church is bad, but to lose it in front of kids, that's really bad. Then the others wanted to know what happened to the five husbands. Did she kill them all? You have to be sharp. Last year one of the boys was acting differently than he had the previous day and I asked him what was wrong? He told me he had eaten five bars of candy before coming there. Then there was poster on the wall in one of the Sunday School rooms, the kids got the giggles. It was a challenge to teach. If I had known that poster would cause such a problem, I would have took it down before they got there.
Sometimes, it breaks your heart to do prayer requests. Kids are honest and they tell you too much information about what's going on at home. I wrote I must be a glutton for punishment. When VBS time comes I just have to volunteer. I am not sure why, it is one of those things I have to be involved in. Matt said that what you are good at, go on over there and help. It's a habit. I guess where I didn't have any kids its a way of keeping in touch with today's kids. Pray for me. I was going to be an assistant teacher, now I have to be the main teacher. I have to do some crash course work.
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