Vacation Bible School 2014

Before we left England, we signed J and L up for a vacation bible school in Maryland. We found Weird Animals at St. Augustine Church in Elkridge, Maryland. It ran from July 7 to July 11 in the mornings. I dropped the children off just before 9 a.m. and picked them up at 12:15. Naturally, they didn't tell us much about what happened each day. They gave us the usual story. J said, "Yeah, it was fun. We did stuff. We sang songs."

We had two things going for us to get information out of them. First, we had a CD of the songs they were learning each day. Their learning included some choreography, which I saw demonstrated at pick up time. And then at home, they gave a performance on Saturday:



The other thing we had going for us was my volunteering for two days. I was in the science room. Each group of children (divided by grades from kindergarten to 5th grade) came for a half hour of activities. We did little science experiments that tied in with the theme for the day. Other rooms had crafts, snacks, story time, etc. So I knew the structure of the day and could ask more specific question on what happened each day.

On Friday, they had an evening worship service. The children sang their songs and the deacon had some readings and a short sermon. After that, the ice cream social was in the parish hall.

VBS-decorated parish hall

On the back lawn, they had a petting zoo and pony riding. L was excited to participate in both.

At the petting zoo

Petting a goat

The rabbit got away

L rides a pony

J was not so interested, so he played on the parish's playground.

J hangs tough

The kids enjoyed the whole event very much and are looking forward to next year. So am I!