One Month in

Project Toteschooling is 1 month down, 9 to go.

As I expected, it was a slower start than the girls thought but, still it was a start.

I don't think there's anything wrong with learning things don't always come easy and perseverance is important. 

While the fundraising aspect might have been slow, the learning and motivation to learn was far off the charts of my expectations. 

From studying non-profits and therefore becoming aware of the different types of need in our world to learning & crafting their own mission & vision statements, this was fun and meaningful work.

I'm really happy I followed my crazy idea and went for it.

There's still today to order to get in on our fundraising efforts for our September npo that supports veterans. 

If you'd like to, here's a link. 

Or, if you want to get in on the fun, Thirty One is offering a kit-free joining special of $1 for two weeks starting tomorrow- October 1st!

You can use it to get the 25% product discount for some holiday shopping; to earn some extra money by having a party or 2 or as homeschool curriculum like we are. 

Here's a link to find out about the consultant special. If you prefer, you can still sign on with the purchase of the consultant kit for $99. The site will have the info about the $1 special starting tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 1st

So, here's how our first month went:

Hey, it's $25.63 more than we donated last month 😀 

Slowly Getting Organized

Sometimes, I'm a bit too busy and moving a little too fast to realize very obvious facts. 

Signing up for Thirty-One would help me get organized! I've been focused on paring down our possessions but now to organize what's left.

Do you see that cute bit of red plaid? That is the solution to Lilly's math manipulative problem. 

My kids love anything tactile to help them learn. We have the base ten cubes that click together, the tiny blue cubes that come in singles, 10 rods and 100 flats and more. 

This sweet little bag was part of the consultant kit (so I consider it free 😊) and it's perfect. Just the right size and is the perfect length to fit in our hutch. 

It's called the All-In Organizer & sells for $20 (or it comes as 1 of the 10 bags in the consultant kit for $99).

I have visions of time saved when I tell Lil to get her math materials out and also look forward to the missing sound of plastic bouncing on the floor. Fingers crossed.

Here's a link if you'd like one for yourself. Here's the link if you want to check out the consultant kit.

Day 4: Defining a Mission

"Project Toteschooling" is quickly becoming the kids' favorite thing we do. Talk about motivating! Chores done quickly and without fussing is a miracle in our house and it's happening.

Tennis team has started so our lesson about missions got cut short. But they begged to start at 8pm last night and so we did.

We talked about mission and vision statements by talking about some familiar, area non-profits. Then we looked up their websites to find what they actually were.

In our project, we will be donating each of the 9 months between now and June. So, I asked them to research any non-profits they wanted local, state, national or international, and write down the 9 most effective mission statements.

They quickly got on it. I can't wait to see which issues and NPO's they deem as worthy of their 9. Maybe it will give me a bit more insight into their tween/teen minds.

Last night, I found some great lessons on Pinterest about creating mission and vision statements for yourself. It could be really fun to have the kids work on writing those. I think that will be the next step after writing our missions.

Here are a couple of those links. They are both infographics so I think they'll work great with kids:

* How to write a personal mission statement

* How to write a personal vision statement

Can't wait to get the day started. Because it's Friday, I'm thinking of letting them start with it first this morning. The box still hasn't arrived - hopefully today but we've been having issues with our shipper lately. Fingers crossed.

We've started an online party - there's a great sale going on and your items can be shipped to you anywhere. If you want to help us with this project, here's a link.

Here's the link for the consultant kit if you want join us. It's $99.

Day 3: Project Toteschooling

Let's just say the first day was a success that exceeded my expectations and came on the perfect day!!

Yesterday was just tough. I don't know why. It started out great. I successfully dragged myself out of bed, got organized before the kids were up, made coffee for Lled and went for a walk. I should have known that the dog pooper scooper fiasco was an omen. I can't even tell you about it. Just know, I get an A for effort.

So, yesterday afternoon, we needed to hit the restart button. The "we'll only do this if we finish our work" rule was broken - Day 1.

But here's what happened. Everyone grabbed some scratch paper and sat on the couch. I connected the computer to the tv and showed the kids on a big screen a quick tour of what Thirty-One was, it's mission and what it sells.

They liked these 2 videos:
 1. About their mission of empowering women 

 2. About their charitable giving program

Those videos sparked so much discussion and enthusiasm that I could never have predicted. I kept hearing one of the girls saying at different times, "This is AMAZING!", "This is the BEST thing we've done."

We ended up in a discussion about their emotional reaction to the videos - how did they feel after watching them? (excited, motivated); Did they think that was by accident? How much effort would it take to put all that information with such a compelling delivery in 3 short minutes.

Future project inspiration - Each girl will be given one cause to create a 3 minute video with graphics, etc to motivate viewers to action. Maybe the older girls could tie this in with an issue being talked about in the election? And Lilly could make it about something she loves like adopting dogs from the animal shelter.

Looking at the consultant kit on the big screen got squeals of excitement as they "called" who was going to get which bag. Silly girls.

Next, Commissions.
Love this. Math, math and more math and they were racing to get their computations done so they could see how much we could earn!

First, we started with what commission were, other jobs that use them, etc. They said they now understand the incessant local car dealership ads on the radio. We talked about communication - does the high pressure car sales guy make you want to stay and talk or leave? If you don't like that, which communication style would work better?

Second, I used the $500 average per party sales total and the commission rate given to me by our upline leader to get the girls calculating.

We started with the number of parties they thought we could have between October and June. They debated their positions a bit and then both set them (I fear woefully high) but I kept repeating in my mind, it's their project, it's their project. Then divided it to find how many that would be in a month.

Harper's goal - 23 parties total - about 2-3 each month.
Quincey's goal - 36 parties total - 4 parties each month 

Oh wow! This project may become a lesson in dealing with disappointment but I won't tell them that. Sure, 4 parties a month! Let's do it!

The absolute best part of the day was when they then did the math of ...
Total # of parties x commissions = Total Earned /2 = How much they will donate & How much will go to a family "something."

Harper has us donating $1437.50 and Quincey has us donating $2250.00

This session was going long and so we didn't get too detailed in what those donations could mean but they were thrilled, I mean screaming at the idea of donating so much money and the impact it could have thrilled. I think kids sometimes feel so "little." My girls do all have very charitable hearts, they even decided to name our homeschool St. Teresa's Academy after Mother Teresa. So this will be motivating.

Programming Project Idea - I thought I'd see if they could figure out a little widget or program an app that would track our earnings and donations. Their dad could help. That would be a good way to get him in on the fun - I can't see him promoting bags. ha ha!

We ended up having lunch out and talking about naming our project. There were lots of suggestions: Totes of Fun, Smithgirls' Totes and then Harper came out with the keeper, ToteSchooling! I love it! Cheesy, fun and perfect!

So, Project ToteSchooling has officially begun! Maybe the consultant kit will arrive today!

Day 2's Goals will be to:
* Write a Mission Statement for our project. Thirty-One encourages women to share their "Why" for being a consultant. I think we need ours written down so the girls don't get too excited and off track. Focus is on learning communications, writing, computer skills, math, charitable giving, value of a dollar, etc. I may need to write that in bold. :)

* Create a Customer Group on FB. They'll have to write the little blurb description. It's called ToteSchooling. We won't add anyone unless we ask or they do. If you want to be in to see what happens, message me on FB. You don't have to buy anything to be in the group.

* Create a graphic for ToteSchooling

* Set-up our Online Launch Party!!

Ok. So far so good!
Remember, if you want to join us on this adventure, here's the link.

Day 2: When Will the Box Arrive???

I told the girls yesterday about the idea of using Thirty-One as part of our language arts, writing, math and public speaking curriculum.

They were THRILLED!

And now they're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the consultant kit. Here's what should be arriving in the next couple of days.

Day #2

Today's Plan:

• What is Thirty-One? How do Commissions Work? etc.
• How to Set a Realistic Goal & Determine Our Goals?
• What Should We Call This Fun Project?

While we wait for the goods, we're going to start today with reviewing what the company is, what it sells and how it sells it. I won't show them too much of the promotional material they just need a general idea of what this is all about. I want to preserve their current understanding of what those promotional items should look like and say so we can have a great compare/contrast later with our writing projects.

We'll talk about the different goals consultants have: fun, extra spending money, full-time income and how that correlates to amount of effort/time put in. 

And then, they'll set their collective goal. 

Remember, my plan is that whatever money we make (by the grace of God) we'll divide 50/50 between monthly charitable donations and a family "something" - I can't wait to see what the kids pick.

When talking about goals, we'll be doing lots of math backwards and forewards. In other words, we'll start with "If we sell $200, how much commission would we make?" and "If we want to raise $100 per month for a charity, how much would we have to sell?" 

Did you read that? They're going to be doing real life math problems over and over again, most likely without complaining! I'm hoping this project might reframe math for them into a fun, powerful tool... it's reaching but I'm an optimist.

We'll see where the conversation leads but I might even have them look into some of the non-profits they are hoping to support and see what different sums of money can buy, ie. $5 to feed a family one meal.

By the way, did I mention that I have told the girls that we will work on this project every day that they complete all their work and chores without a struggle? Oh my word! Can you imagine? Could I have just squelched tween complaining? From this blog to God's ears.

Ok, I'm soooo excited. Are you? 

Remember, if you want to join us, here's the link to sign up.  https://www.mythirtyone.com/1867915/shop/join

Tune in tomorrow to see what happened & our next steps.

Day 1: Thirty-One as Curriculum

Day 1 - The Plan

I bet you didn't expect that, did you?

You read it right. 

Yesterday, I talked about slowing our family schedule down and being more selective about the activities to which we allocate our time.

Today, I'm focusing on using the advantages we have as homeschoolers for real-life learning. We have the time. They love project based learning. They love experiments. So, wouldn't promoting and selling a real product be a combination of the two?

I think so and so we'll give it a try.

My out of pocket expense is $99 for the Consultant Kit. Let's face it, I've spend that on just one subject for one child in curriculum. And essentially, that's how I'm looking at that fee.. as curriculum.

For $99, we're getting access to a company built completely on communication. That's what the consultants do - whether it be face to face at a party, or written in an online approach. AND, it's the company's best interest to support their consultants with marketing materials - so for $99 we'll have access to professionally designed and written marketing materials.

Starts to make sense, doesn't it?

Of course, this won't be child labor - no I am not making the kids do parties or necessarily have any direct contact with customers.

But what I might do is say, here is your product line - a line of thermal products for carrying food. Ok, 

What features would you want to highlight? 

Who would be the market for this product? 

How and where would they use it? 

So how can we achieve that in a promotional email? a short video presentation? 

What adjectives would you use to describe it?

Then maybe, they'll design a flyer (writing, computer & graphics skills being used) and then we'll compare it to the one Thirty One designed. Which is more effective? Why?

We'll write short demonstration scripts and actually video a demo video explaining and promoting the product (writing, public speaking skills used) and then compare and contrast to the professional ones. 

Exciting, engaging, motivating writing projects are endless! 

Then there's graphic design and computer skills in creating product flyers.

And how about math! Oh my goodness the opportunities are endless. 

Just off the top of my head, there's:

  * Figuring out your commission (percentages)

  * Reverse Engineering a fundraising goal - if local group X wants to raise $500, how much product        would they need to sell as a group? per each group member?

  * Even my 2nd grader could use the order form to practice simple adding and subtracting with     

    carrying by filling it in with an order (more writing!) and then adding it all up.

  * How about learning about accounts payable and receivable. We can track our business and use this      as an experiment. Ok, 9/2016 we invest $99. We'll track all of our individual expenses with         

     business materials, shipping materials and postage, cost of fun marketing promotions, etc. Then,          add in the commissions we earn and see where we are at in June, 2017. (Excel Spreadsheets &      

     Accounting)

Also, Marketing. Who is the customer for this and how will you effectively sell to them.

Then there's learning about the value of a dollar. I have to say, I think it's inevitable that entitlement rears its ugly head in every child's development at one point or another. I recently had my 13 year old tell me in disgust, "You're not even loaning me $100, it's only $80." Ah, excuse me. 

So, what if we are modestly successful and actually have someone buy something and make some money. I'll have the kids set a goal to use with the money earned in our 9 months. All the intrinsic learning about realistic expectations; breaking a large goal into monthly goals along the way, etc. 

I'm also hoping that they might understand the value of work. Perhaps at the end, the goal they pick in September won't seem worthy of the effort they put in. 

And finally, my favorite part, 50% of any commissions earned will be donated to a local non-profit! 

Charity, community service, I love it! 

My expectation is that they will choose a different non-profit for each month. I know the local humane society will top that list but my hope is that over the course of 9 months, they'll need to research other non-profits in the area to find other worthy recipients. Learning about their community's needs, who is out there helping and how they, as kids, can have a positive impact on all of that will be a tremendous achievement.

I'm not completely sure what will happen except for a tremendous amount of meaningful, engaging learning that I hope will be received enthusiastically by the girls.

Am I completely insane? Maybe. But this just might be the ticket to not only get my reluctant writer and shy speaker, communicating well and confidently, all with some laughter and fun. Really, how could this fail?

My plan is to post our projects here to both chronicle our work and maybe guide/inspire other homeschooling families. We'll have a Pinterest board up soon with links. And, I hope that we also have a blog/vlog that will be the live product of their work - to promote the products in writing and video posts. I'll insert those links soon. 

Anyone want to join us? If you do, the Consultant Kit is $99 and let's face it - you do get over $300 worth of bags that really are pretty terrific. And like I said earlier, consider it curriculum. You can quit at any time and they require $200 over a 3 month period to stay active. I'm hoping some kind souls (or maybe Grandma) will help us get there.

If you do want to join us, we sure would appreciate it if you used this link to sign up. We get credit for that and even a penny or two from your sales - more percentage computing!!

Here's the link.

Thanks everyone and remember to check back. You may find something inspirational or a great laugh at my expense. It's ok. It'll be fun, that I can promise.