
3 Cool Ways to Log Service Hours and Life Preparation
Bulletin Boards for Hospitals:
Then we showed a picture of it to another hospital director and asked if my daughter could re-do theirs, but tailored to their hospital’s demographic. That turned out great too.
Event Planning for Homeschool Group:
One fall, my daughter switched roles with me as organizer for the annual Christmas Gift Workshop for the kids in our homeschool support group. She had been a helper at the event for a couple years. I taught her how to do organize the workshop and served as her back-up. We also used Event Planning for Dummies for more skills.
Then we organized a Career Night with the homeschool group where moms and dads would talk about their work. My daughter learned to:
- get approval from the support group
- schedule the event
- book the space
- recruit a variety of speakers
- advertise
- plan
- set-up
- edit
- create correspondence
- coordinate refreshments
- decorate
- moderate the event with a friend
Church Activity Volunteer:
My daughter was also busy at church.
- worked on the committee for our church’s annual Christmas program
- organized a yard sale to raise money for a mission trip
- participated in a planning session for a city-wide teen event for the Chicago Park District.

I shaped it all into a semester course called Career Exploration: Event Planning
These are useful service hours for the transcript and good life skills. Earning hours in this way had the added benefit of cultivating resourcefulness – using what you have to get what you want – which is, next to faith, one of the most important things we can teach our kids. And, it keeps the fun in learning for the student and the teacher.
BONUS Life preparation idea:
Teach your teens the gift of noticing. It will make their world calmer, bigger and more meaningful.
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