There was a lot of American Heritage Girl activities this month, beginning with two meetings with the Explorers working on their Money Management badge. I had taught this badge when I was leading Belle's group, and was super excited when the leaders asked me to lead it for Ruby's group. I immediately reached out to Granny, as one of the requirements was to learn about working in a bank. Granny would probably share the differences between a back and a credit union, but I will plead ignorance, and just say anyplace that I have a checking account is a bank in my mind (sorry credit union people).
Our first meeting went well, as all the girls worked on decorating their own "SAVE/SPEND/GIVE" banks made from Pringles cans. I am always worried that this will not be fun, but surprised to see the joy they have getting to decorate the cans, getting to think about how they can help their parents with money, and stories later of how they are even using these little cans. I think their favorite tho was the one can for each of them that was full of pringles that they could eat later. Granny did a great job telling them about working in a bank, and even shared the "bloody finger" in the vault story, which is perfect for this age of girls. Always fun when we can pull Granny and Granddaddy down to Chelsea with us for the day.
While we learned about money management, the PiPas and Belle are learning about the rules and techniques of Disc Golf. Which means that my discs have all been "borrowed" for the remainder of this AHG year for the girls, and fun that the new host church has an actual disc golf course around the church building and grounds. I think I have to take Belle to 3 other courses so she can earn her pin, but that should not be too bad.
The AHG lock in was at Belle Farms near Westover, and only Ruby went this year. Magan was at her girls trip in Hilton Head, and Belle had a show choir competition the next morning. But Ruby did excellent as a little AHG leader on zoom calls planning with the other little girls the crafts and activities for this event. She brought a large bag of coloring sheets, laminator for bookmarks, and some other crafty activities. It was really crazy to walk by the computer in our room and hear her, just like her momma, planning events. She is already an excellent leader, and I can't wait to see all this girl will do. She did not have a lot of stories, but I do remember her being disappointed that they watched a "dog movie" instead of Mary Poppins. That dog movie being Homeward Bound...she, like Sam, are not "dog movie" fans.
Our money management badge required one more meeting, and one that I was looking forward to the most. We had some work in the classroom to finish up the badge, but our application was a field trip to Publix, where I have an activity that divides them up in small groups to check prices of different items, and find the best value for the money. Well, this was the Sunday right before a bad ice and rain was supposed to hit, and the Publix was closed when we got there. I did a quick poll of all the parents, and we elected to go a little further to the Walmart. After a strange public/private meeting giving them the assignment near the Subway, they all broke into groups and went on their way. I did get a few pictures, but tried to stay out of their way. And at the end, they all got $1 to spend from Mr. Scott, who had planned for them to decide who and how they could combine moneys to get bigger things, but what turned into that typical end of Chuck E Cheese visit, where it takes 15 minutes for a kid to figure out how to use their 100 tickets that are not really worth much. But I know they had fun...and I loved hearing from some of Belles group how they remembered a similar trip to the Piggly Wiggly a few years before.
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