Funds with Food

PAY UP: This is Day Two of our United Way of King County (UWKC) Hunger Challenge, during which we're living on a budget of $22 max per day (the amount our family would be eligible for if we were on the state's food assistance program).

This morning, CJ and Annabelle both opted to have a banana and Pop Tart for breakfast. The banana cost .25, and the Pop Tart was .20. I told the kids they each owed .45 for breakfast, so they scurried off to find the coin jar to round up the funds.

It took a few tries, but eventually they made 45 cents out of a combination of coins.

This "show me the money" drill went on all day long - every time they had a meal or a snack. It was a great exercise - really reinforcing their coin value and addition skills, all the while hammering home that everything that passes their lips has a price tag attached.

According to a Hunger Challenge email I got from UWKC this morning, in Washington state, 112,000 households now meet the federal definition for hunger. And, not surprisingly, rates of hunger are higher in households with children - there are more mouths to feed.

Last night as I was lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, my stomach growled. That caused Christian to chuckle and ask, "Hungry?"

To be honest, I was hungry (not starving, mind you, but I certainly wasn't full). The reason my stomach was growling was because yesterday I was so worried about making budget, that I didn't eat a whole lot. Why? I wanted to make sure that the kids had enough food.

I'm sure there are many parents in Seattle, in Washington state, in the United States and the world 'round who go to bed hungry every night. It's their trade off for having children who go to bed with bellies that aren't as empty.

Here's our food munchin' number crunchin' Day Two:
Breakfast = $2.19
CJ = Pop Tart & banana = .20 + .25 = .45
Annabelle = Pop Tart & banana = .20 + .25 = .45
Xtian = Cake & coffee = .50 + .37 = .87
Me = 1 c. Cheerios + 1/2 c. milk & coffee = .28 + .07 + .37 = .42
Lunch = $2.63
CJ = Peanut butter French toast = 1/2 egg, one slice bread, 1/2 t. sugar, 3 T. peanut butter, syrup = .07+.10+.02+.05+.08 = .32
Annabelle = French toast = 1/2 egg, one slice bread, 1/2 t. sugar, 1 t. margarine, syrup = 07+.10+.02+.02+.08 = .29
Xtian = 2 pieces chicken, banana, apple, soda, mini Musketeers = 1 + .25 + .29 + .21 + .12 = 1.87
Me = Peanut butter toast = .10 + .05 = .15
Dinner = $3.63
CJ & Annabelle: hot dog, bun, ketchup, a few Tostitos, cheese = .50 (2 hot dogs)+.26 (2 buns)+.16 (4 T. ketchup)+.18(chips) + .125 (cheese) = $1.22
Xtian = two hot dogs, bun, 1/2 can chili, onion, chips, cheese = .50+.13+.45+.05+.18+.125= $1.43
Me = one hot dog, bun, 1/2 can chili, onion, chips = .25+.13+.45+.05+.10 = $.98
Snacks = $6.61

CJ & Bee pretzels .10 * 2 = .20
CJ & Bee goldfish = .17 * 2 = .34
Me = Hershey's Kiss = .05
CeeJ & Bee = piece of cake = 2 @ .50 each = 1.00
Sharps "beer" = 5 (between X & me) @ .67 a can = $3.35
Xtian's coffee from Wendy's = $1.67 (More than his dinner! Bad! Bad Christian!)

Drum roll please ... Day Two total: $15.06 Yes! Nearly $7 (and 32 percent) under budget!

HITTIN' THE BOOKS: I have, for the most part, forsaken the bulk of the first grade math and language arts worksheets and books that we have. Frankly, they're just too easy for the kids. So, this morning, I pulled out a "bridge" to second grade book, thinking it would be a little more challenging. And it did require a tad bit more knowledge/thinking. CJ was working on a test-type sheet that included spelling, consonant blends, and finishing sentences. But one of the exercises was asking him to write the numbers from 51 to 100. I looked at it, looked at him and told him, "Skip it!"

From time to time (often, really) I have to remind myself that one of the BIG benefits of our way of doing things is that we do not have to waste time on busy work. Why in the world should CJ be writing numbers from 50-100 when he's known how to do that for a year plus, when his penmanship is great, and when there are a gajillion other things he could be doing learning?

ARE YOU SITTING DOWN?: If you've been following along at home, you know that for days-months-weeks now I've been promising/threatening to take the kids to the weekly Tuesday afternoon park play date thingee that's a function of the Seattle Homeschool Group. For whatever reason, at 10 on this sunny morning I remembered that it was a Tuesday. A park day. I decided that today WOULD be the day.

Per the group's newsletter, the event was supposed to start at noon at Wallingford Park. So, we left home about 20 til, and pulled up right at noon. I look around and see several parents or caretakers, all with babies. I mean like infants/young toddlers. Yeah, well, no doubt they're home schooled, but so is every kid their age. Hmm. I'm just about to conclude it was called off and that I didn't get the memo when a young mother (wearing a baby and holding a toddler) asked me, "Are you part of the home school group?" I said, "Nope. It's our first time here," but told her we came because we saw the park date in the group's newsletter. It turned out the woman did have a girl who appeared to be about 6 tooling around the park. So there we were, the two newbies and our kids and the neighborhood folk. At about quarter 'til one I was readying the kids to leave when a couple of honest-to-goodness "official" home school families show up. (I guess the cool kids come late. I should have known!) So we stuck around for another 10 minutes or so and CJ did get to play with an 8 y.o. boy for awhile.

It was a great park and I'd definitely take the kids back there again just for that. I'm wondering what kind of turn out is "normal" for one of their park days. As I said to the other newbie mother, "If you don't go out on a day like today in Seattle, that means you don't go out much." I would think that if they do get a decent turn out, a day like today would bring it. ... But what do I know?

I did chat very briefly with an honest-to-goodness group member, and I think that now qualifies me to apply to be in their Yahoo! Group and get emails/announcements. Maybe that's where the real action is. ... Time will tell.