One of the classes Brianna and Brenson are taking through our homeschool co-op this year is BizTown. I described a bit about BizTown in this post, but I'll reiterate it here, too. BizTown is a simulated town program that allows students to operate banks, manage restaurants, earn and spend money, write checks, vote for mayor, etc. The kids have been studying basic economics, business, personal finance, resume writing, and interview skills in their class. They each applied and interviewed for jobs, and they found out a few weeks ago what job they had been selected for.
Brianna threw us a curveball when she announced that she had decided to run for BizTown mayor. We were completely supportive of her decision; it was just unexpected! She had to organize a campaign, write a speech based upon a platform, and deliver said speech. Their teacher had two BizTown classes at our co-op, so the teacher recorded the mayoral candidates delivering their speeches and played the recordings for the classes. Brianna's platform was "kindness", and she did a great job writing and delivering her speech. All the kids from both classes voted for mayor, and Brianna won the race!
Brenson applied for a job at OneOK and was given a position there as an inspector. It was a great fit for him.
The whole process has been a great experience for the kids, and we've been looking forward to our BizTown day (the day they actually spend at BizTown putting their skills into practice) since the class began back in August. Earlier this week, we were able to have our BizTown day!
Ready for our day!
We arrived at BizTown at about 8:30am. The kids reported for their jobs, and I received my assignment as the parent volunteer in Reasor's. I had a crew of four boys who kept me on my toes and laughing the whole day. They were a joy, and I appreciated their observations about having a job, taking breaks, feeling stress, and working with the public.
The Reasor's employees
Ms. Mayor at her desk
Brianna took her job very seriously.
I loved seeing Bri work. She was very busy and pulled in many directions the whole day, but remained calm and productive.
Not impressed with me taking her photo, haha.
Brenson and the OneOK crew
One of Brenson's job duties was to read meters in each store or office. He was so cute when he came into Reasor's.
Our utilities passed Bren's inspection!
I kept sneaking photos of him while he was working.
Not surprisingly, Bren also took his job very seriously and worked diligently.
Bren and our friend, Jakob
One of Brianna's many duties as mayor included leading two town hall meetings. I wasn't sure how she would feel about this, but {no surprise} she was calm and confident. In addition to the two classes from our co-op, there were two other homeschool groups at BizTown with us this day.
During the final town hall meeting, Brianna presented several certificates to participants. Each homeschool group had a Citizen of the Day who was chosen by nominations from other participants and volunteers. Brenson received one of the Citizen of the Day awards! His work ethic had really stood out.
I was so thankful to be able to participate in this day with my kiddos . . . even if Bren wouldn't take a photo with me 😂.
All of the parent volunteers received a certificate from the mayor :-).
There haven't been too many things about leaving public school that have made us sad, but missing BizTown during 5th grade has been one of them. Every year, our former public school takes the 5th graders to BizTown, then shows a slideshow of the day during Rise & Shine. From the time Bri was in kindergarten, she has looked forward to going to BizTown in 5th grade. It was the same for Gavon. We were thrilled when we discovered the kids could do BizTown through our co-op, and getting to participate in it with Gavon was just icing on the cake!
Overall, this was a worthwhile and rewarding experience!
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