The School Project that Almost Killed Me!

As I was thinking about this post I knew I could go two ways: 

1. I could give you the facts and let the pictures lead you to believe what an incredible learning experience it was for the kids.

2. I could be honest and tell you what really happened.

I have decided to give you the truth. So, here it goes. First and foremost, I HATE SCHOOL PROJECTS! I think they are more work for the parents than the kids. Even if the teacher says, this is the kid's project, let them do it. Let's be real....that's not the case....EVER! It somehow requires a lot of parent support. This project was presented to us over the summer and I read and reread it and I just didn't seem to understand it and it seemed incredibly overwhelming. The project was broken up into sections and bits and pieces of it were due along the way. Basically the big boys had to pick a country and time period and research that country's Christmas traditions, write a paper, choose something to sell that represented that country's Christmas tradition, figure out the cost to make the product, calculate labor cost, decide how much to sell it for, do a test run, prepare a sale pitch, make a profit, give to a charity of choice and then sell it at a Christmas sale that the school would host. Ok, great, but my biggest hang up was we were having a Christmas sale in October and we needed to sell and deliver everything by October 27th. Umm...ok, so what can I sell that represents the country I chose, that is Christmas specific, but people would want to buy in October (notice I said I, not Noah or Owen). To top it off it was a contest to see who could sell the most and make the most profit and you all know that Chris and I are not competitive at all (yay, right)!  I became obsessed with this project. This was the first big project in our new school adventure and we were told it was 50% of their grade. I thought about it all the time! Again it was suppose to be Noah and Owen's project, but they didn't seem that concerned. They choose their country at the beginning of the school year and Noah choose Holland and Owen choose the Philippines (what?!?, really?! I tried to talk Owen out of that one, but he was set on the Philippines). Ok, so the weeks progressed and everything started to come together, but not without many bumps along the way and many changes to what the final product would be to sell and what it would look like. Fast forward to the week of the sale where I find out they need to bring at least 20 to 30 of their product to the sale. What? I never saw that anywhere! Are you serious? Panic strikes in and I have no idea how I am going to pull this off (there I go again with the I and not Noah and Owen). Chris and I decided we needed to divide and conquer. I took Noah and he took Owen, that decision was made because I have no creative skills and Owen's project required some creative thinking. So the "fun" began as we got ready for the sale. Noah and I were making 25 apple pies (let me remind you I started a new job this week).  Owen and Chris were making parole's (or also know as star ornaments). Oh, did I mention that everything had to be homemade and nothing pre made. This is where I decided to cheat, there was no way I was making 25 homemade pie crusts, oops, I meant Noah wasn't going to make 25 homemade pie crusts, so yes, I bought them and I don't feel guilty about it at all! 

Here are some of the apples as Noah and I get ready to start baking and thank goodness for a friend with an apple peeler or this would of been a nightmare. Noah did help me with the first 5 pies, but after that I was pretty much on my own, he did check in on me and he did ask me if he could do anything, but I was in the zone.

We were also required to have a display so my over achieving husband decided to make a large parole, staple christmas lights all around and then hang the parole's off of it. Let's just say the night before the sale, Chris and I were up really late.

 The day of the sale was busy and their displays turned out awesome. They each prepared a sale's pitch and Owen's had the best speech there, by far. When someone approached him he would say "Is your Christmas tree sad?" Noah had samples to give out and they sold out of everything.

So, what was Connor's role in all of this? His teacher handled their stuff so I didn't have to worry about anything for him and if we had to, I do think this project would of killed me. 

The day came to the end. It was finally over. This is where I tell you how wonderful this event was and even though it was stressful and a lot of work, it was all worth it. This is where I tell you how much the kids learned about sales and making a profit. Well, I don't think I can tell you that, because I don't know how much they really learned. They did learn about the country they studied, but I don't think they learned much about sales and profit. They did have fun though and they had a great time. I on the other hand was so happy this whole thing was over, it took over our life for almost two months. After we cleaned up and got home, Chris and I collapsed on the couch. I am pretty sure I never want to see an apple or an apple pie again and Chris would be happy to never touch a craft stick or glue gun again. Have I mentioned I hate school projects!