Last year as we began our new adventure of homeschooling I knew I needed a behavior modification program that would help Mr. Mason sit, listen, and cooperate with Momma!! I did not want a program that focused mainly on Good/Bad behavior because the verse found in Mark 10:48 says, “Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone”!! Therefore, I knew God was directing me to create a program that would nurture him spiritually and help him develop a relationship with Jesus, rather than focusing on his behavior.
During the summer of 2012 I completed some Bible lessons with Mason about Fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” We played Fruits of the Spirit Bingo and learned the Fruits of the Spirit songs. It even became a theme in our home!! Mason would be caught saying to his sister, if he felt she was being “bad” ;-), he’d say, “Fruits of the Spirit”!! LOL Then as I began brainstorming about a behavior modification program, of course the Fruits of the Spirit came to my mind and “Fruitful Mart” was born!! 😉
So some of you have asked, “How does “Fruitful Mart” work”? Well, Mason earns fruit for his basket when I’ve observed him exercising a fruit of the spirit!! For example, this morning I asked him to come get ready for school and he immediately said, “Okay” and got dressed!! He earned the fruit of the spirit Goodness!! I reinforce each fruit he earns by using it as a teachable moment to help him better understand which fruit he has exercised!! However, there have been times he’s exercised what we like to call “rotten” fruit 😉 yep, we’re none perfect right 😉 LOL, and exercising “rotten” fruit has consequences so he’s had to take a fruit or two out of his little basket on a few occasions!! 🙂
At the end of the week, on Friday, we count up the Fruits of the Spirit he’s earned for the week and each Fruit of the Spirit is $0.50. I have the bins in the “Fruitful Mart” separated and color coded by prices. Bin one is $1.00 and orange color coded, bin two is $2.00 and yellow color coded and bin three is $3.00 and green color coded!! I also have a cheat sheet for him to follow which has $1.00 outlined in orange, $2.00 outlined in yellow, and $3.00 outlined in green. This program has also been helpful in educating him on how to properly spend, save and make wise choices in spending money. He’s only allowed to purchase the items that he has enough money to purchase. If there is an item he wants and doesn’t have enough money he can save some of the money he’s earned and add it to the following weeks shopping trip or try to earn more “Fruits of the Spirit” during the following week!!
I fill the bins with items I’ve purchases from the dollar bins at Wal-Mart, Target, or the Dollar Tree!! I also fill it with items that are special treats for him, like a Hershey bar, fruit snacks, skittles, some Star Wars items, you get the idea!! He really looks forward to his shopping day every Friday and he gets a thrill throughout the week looking and counting the fruits he’s earning!!! I’ve thanked God on many occasions for impressing “Fruitful Mart” upon my heart!! It’s been such a fun and teachable way to encourage Mason to be more like Jesus and to impress upon his little heart God’s Word!!
You can follow these links below to Fruits of the Spirit lessons, songs, bingo and some great printables:
*Tip: I laminated the fruit badges and fake money to make them a little bit more durable!! 🙂
Fruit of the Spirit Printables: http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BiblePrintablesFruitoftheSpirit.html#.UkL55H-aWSp
Fruit of the Spirit Devotional and Checklist Chart: http://apronsandapples.blogspot.com/2012/07/free-fruit-of-spirit-devotional-and-fun.html
Fruit of the Spirit Bingo: http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Bingo/BibleBingoFruit.html
Fruit of the Spirit Badges: http://pennypinchingmother.blogspot.com/2012/03/fruits-of-spirit-sunday-school-unit.html *Tip: I copied and pasted onto Word before I printed!!
Fake Dollar Bills: http://www.kidsmoneyfarm.com/user/image/fake-bills-template-1.pdf
Fruit of the Spirit song by “Go Fish“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyBmPOlPWNA
Fruit of the Spirit song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDNvUOZRFxs
Joyfully Living the Simple Life 