Summer Program Week #4

Things are starting to wrap here in Flushing, NY, even though it doesn't seem like it. The attitude of the program has become less stressed as the entire program has become a routine for all of us. Now we are doing it like it's something we've always done. Since week one, we've been averaging in the mid twenties for kids in the morning, and in the afternoon, we've had about ten to twelve kids.
The morning portion of the program includes breakfast and lunch, supplied for free by the city of New Yo. We have a short chapel following breakfast, and by the end of chapel, most of the kids have arrived at the program. As the weeks go on, we can easily tell which kids are going to come late, and which are going to be early, and also which kids will NEVER actually be coming. That is definitely obvious.
After the chapel, the younger kids start arts & crafts, and the older kids play dodgeball. Christa and I help with the arts & crafts, and Daniel leads the Dodgeball. I personally hate the game dodgeball, so this worked out in my favor. Craft wise, we've done origami, lanyard, coloring, drawing, tie-dye and then put fabric paint on a shirt, and next week we are planning to do paper mache, which I'm excited about. Its one of those things that I did a lot when I was younger. I had this spectacular book with all these cool things to do. I was really crafty when I was little, which has bled a little bit into my adulthood, because I love to knit, and not follow patterns, and I love to make collages. I'm not a bad drawer either. I just don't do it that often. Musically, I have been much more consistent with being artistic, because it's like my second language. With drawing, and other types of art, it's like I'm going in blind, like how I feel when I try to speak Spanish. There's this point where I'm blocked off and I can't see anymore. If I really practice, I get a chance to expand and see more, but I haven't really had that option here. I brought my sketch book, just like I  planned to speak a lot more Spanish, and then didn't really get a chance to use it.
After Arts & Crafts, we switch over to playing board games until the lunch arrives (Dan and Milton have to go get it). Once lunch is over, most of the parents for the morning program pick up their children on time. Then we get started with the afternoon portion of the day--academics. More often than not, some of the kids have been desiring nap time, so we've given it to those who were interested. But the problem that I see with it is that unless we separate them all into their own individual places, they never sleep, so it's counter productive, because it makes them not listen to the volunteers in the room. After they "nap", we have them read for a little while, and write summaries about it. Then the packets of work appropriate to their age and level are given to them, and they do that until about four o'clock. Then we let them have special activities. We have done drama, music, and baking with them.  This usually lasts somewhere between a half an hour to forty-five minutes, and the kids start going home around this time. We have computer on some days, some days we play board games, and on Friday, we watch a movie before they leave. During the special, or during the time that they are doing their work, if there are enough volunteers, some of us clean up, and make the place look nice, so that we don't have to do it after they leave. Some days we even leave before six o'clock, because the parents actually come on time.
For chapel for the last week, we have been teaching the kids a song with motions, and then talking about a fruit of the Spirit that is associated with the song. The Thursday and Friday before last, we did Love and Joy(and I played and sand "Amazing Love"), Then on Monday, we did Peace, Tuesday we did Patience (We did "Trading my Sorrows"), on Thursday we did Kindness (we taught the song about Peter and John healing the crippled man), and on Friday, we did a review.
When we have chapel, the hardest part is getting the kids to stand up when we sing. It never ends. Now that we have musical accompaniment, there's less of a focus issue, but it's still impossible to get them to stand. Sometimes it's the exact opposite, though.
There's this young guy, named Shaquille, who we are pretty sure has ADHD, because of his need to move, and focus so easily switched. He never listens and obviously cannot sit still. Every day we try sometime different. The best solution so far has been to have him sing with us when we teach the song. After we finish every song, he always says "More! More!" He's quite an armful. Sometimes we have to hold him down so that he won't run away, because he does run away. He drives me up the wall, but I see that there is some unfulfilled need for him to see and to learn. On Friday, he was playing dodgeball with the big kids, got hurt, hit someone, then ran away to the bathroom, and one of the volunteers yelled for me. Once we got him out of the bathroom, I took him for a walk around the building. He loved it, and had such a great time trying to and opening doors, and seeing what was behind them. When we got back down stairs, I had him draw me a map of where he'd just gone, and he drew a lot of doors, a staircase, and drew the roof, full of chimneys. (I think because he didn't get to go on the roof, that he was imagining all these chimneys) Then I asked him to draw me his favorite thing. He said music--and drew a guitar, a drum set, a "big piano", and a microphone. A kid after my own heart. When it comes down to it, Shaquille, though hard to understand, and to get to listen, he's quite exceptional. He reads rather well, and if he's focused on something, he will do it. I think when there is too much going on, he runs in circles (literally) because he can't decide what he wants to do.
It's been interesting being in charge of the volunteers. I've never been one to place degrees of separation between people because of the level that they are in comparison to where I am, and so working with the volunteers has been bringing them up to my level. However, at the same time, I know that most of them don't have the exact same experience with kids as I do, in a camp setting, and so I know that they are challenged by the amount of energy that these kids have and the amount of attention that they require.
One volunteer couldn't figure out why he was here. Spiritually, he felt like God was calling him to be here working with kids, but at the same time, he just felt worn out, tired, and like it wasn't going that well. So I challenged him to try and get to know some of the kids at a slightly deeper level. So he played Sorry with Yeong Seo, Phoebe, me, and Edward. Then I asked him later how it was for him, if he felt like he was making some progress with working with kids, and he said he felt better. Something I've noticed with the volunteers in general is that they can handle the kids when they are one to one, or one to two, but when they all come running with the desire of tickling or tackling, it's very easy for the volunteer to lose it.
My role as the observer in that case is to get the kids off of them, whether it be to direct them toward something else ("Look! Shiny!") or to point out that they are disrespecting the volunteer. My role as the volunteer supervisor is to teach the volunteer how to interact with them when they need to keep the child's attention, and how to hold their cool when they are overwhelmed with children. Interaction is key!
This week we learned that it's almost impossible to get enough kids to go to Camp Deerpark. We rented a huge air-conditioned bus with comfy seats and had eight kids, several parents, and a large group of volunteers. I had a great time. I went swimming, got to chat with Sylvia and Alicia, and get my hair trimmed, but I also know that there was a financial burden that was taken because we did not make the ends meet. We will continue these next two weeks to take trips on Wednesday, but they won't be to Camp Deerpark.

Prayer requests and praises:
With no correlation to my Flushing week, besides the fact that I'm here and they are my family there, my parents head to Japan today, and are on a flight to Salt Lake City as I write. I found out about my housing situation, that I am going to be able to stay with my grandparents off campus, to cut financial costs. With this decision, I still plan to stay connected to the hall that I was going to live on, because I love all of those girls, and I was looking forward to their companionship.  Zach finished debreifing this week, and is at home now, and I might call him sometime.  There's a reunion at HDC for all those people that were in training when he was, but because of some planned family things, he went home early and missed that. I get to see him in two weeks. Marie finished up her Music Academy today also, and is going home today, I think.

That's that.