The other day my family volunteered to work at our church’s pumpkin patch.  It was the day before Halloween and the lot had very few good pumpkins left to sell.  It reminded me of going to a Christmas tree lot on Christmas Eve.  Slim pickins.  We have had rain storm after rain storm for the last month and the rain was not good for the pumpkins.  The majority of those left on the lot had the beginning signs of rot if they were not completely rotten.  My husband, kids, and I decided to sort through the patch and find the best pumpkins on the lot.  We placed them on a few pallets near the entrance.

Considering the state of the merchandise, we had a constant flow of customers during our entire shift.  Some people left empty handed while others stocked up on wagon loads of pumpkins.  I guess the latter were going to have a carving contest.  A few even purchased rotting ones for a 50% discount.  We were happy to do our part trying to sell pumpkins.

I was pleasantly surprised how well my daughter did.  Kyla is ten years old.  She is naturally quiet.  Several times a day I have to ask her to speak up over the noise of my boys.  Kyla is obedient, but I did not know she was a go-getter.  Kyla listened to the volunteer we were replacing explain the method for pricing pumpkins, discounting rotting ones, where the money was kept, etc.  When the lady left, Kyla asked if she could be in charge of checking out our customers.  I agreed, but knew that I would be supervising the process.

Shortly after resuming her post at a table under the tent, Kyla received her first customer.  It was a mother and child with three pumpkins.  Kyla looked at each pumpkin and compared them to the priced pumpkins to determine their worth.  It is a very subjective process.  She announced her price for each pumpkin, totaled the amounts in her head, asked for the total, and made change.  All without looking to me for help or guidance.  I was so proud of her.

She was practically applying mathematics, including the occasional 50% discount.  I know she was not doing rocket science, but how many times have you stood in line waiting for the cashier to make change?  Very few know how to do it without the aid of the computer.  Even with the computer, they do not always get it right.  And, here was my ten year old confidently being a cashier with only her brain and the cash box.

My eight year old son, Jake, saw his sister happily at work and wanted to be involved with the money side of selling pumpkins.  He asked me if he could take over Kyla’s job.  I told him that she wanted that job, asked for it, and was doing a superb job.  However, he could help her by doing the pricing, totaling, and making change in his head as practice.  If his figuring did not match Kyla’s he could tell her and they could re-figure.  He was pleased.

As the next customer walked up to Kyla at her table, I stood next to Jake behind her.  “Okay, Jake, what is your price for each pumpkin?”  He told me.  He did very well estimating the prices, but he was $1.00 higher than his sister on one pumpkin.  I pointed out how subjective the process was and that we were sticking with Kyla’s price since she was in charge.  He too added all the prices together correctly.  He was a little slower telling me how much change they needed back, but he was correct when he figured it out.

As the next family arrived to replace us, the mother was completely impressed that Kyla was running the pumpkin patch with at this point very little supervision.  I let Kyla explain the process to the next volunteer.  Then we left.

As a homeschooling mother, I do not give very many exams if any.  The purpose of examinations is to show the teacher what a person knows or can do.  In a classroom with thirty students, you cannot possibly spend one on one time with each student to determine their understanding.  You have to give a test.  When you teach your own children, you can spend that time with each child.  You know if they grasp a concept.  You know their struggles.  You do not need a pen and paper examination.  You do not need scantrons and #2 pencils.

If you want to test your children, find practical opportunities to allow them to apply their knowledge. We stumbled into this one blindly.  It was not pre-meditated.  But what if I had just told her “no” when she asked to be the cashier?  What if I had not wanted to take the time to supervise her?  What if I did not want to give her any responsibility?  I would have missed a great opportunity for Kyla to apply what she knows, learn, gain confidence in her abilities, and shine.

Tags: examinations, mathematics, practical application, pumpkins, real-life tests

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