Little Builders Preschool and our Early Education Center are ministries of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) San Diego/Baja. We aim to provide quality and affordable education to our missionary families and families in the local community. Just like Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man, we want all the children who come through our doors to not only gain knowledge and experience a fact-based learning environment but we also want them to know God on a personal level and learn vital social and independent skills so that they can be a well-rounded individual. Our schools follow closely with the Montessori method of learning which plainly speaking leans more towards a project-based learning style. It is very hands-on and offers each student a learning plan that is specific to them, their skills, and their developmental level all while creating a fun environment and safe place where they feel loved and accepted, not judged or a failure.
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I've been sharing my journey into full-time missions with YWAM San Diego/Baja over the past few weeks. If you haven't read the first or second part, please go head & do that now so you have a full understanding of what I'm talking about. Don't worry, we won't get started without you! Ok, so that now you have seen how God worked in miraculous ways to get me to Mexico let me tell you what all He's done since I joined YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Mexico. The lecture phase was an incredible time of God showing me exactly who He had created me to be and stripping away the lies that the enemy had told me over and over again. Outreach was a way for me to walk out in that understanding. Like I said before, I knew this was where I was called full-time so I was anxious to get started! *I'll share more specifics about what all God showed me during my DTS (Discipleship Training School) in future blogs, I may even break out my journals and share some of the entries with you. By another strike of “luck” during my DTS I was chatting with a young woman who had recently joined full-time staff at our Tijuana location and was telling her of visiting before in the end of June and meeting someone on Prayer Mountain. Through the course of our conversation we discovered that, you guessed it, she was that young German woman with whom we chatted!! Can you say, God’s perfect timing?? I joined YWAM San Diego/Baja full-time on February 8, 2006, immediately after my graduation from DTS. I jumped head-first into this faith-based lifestyle and haven’t looked back yet. Over the past 10 years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some of the most amazing people in the WORLD!! People who constantly give out of their own need and never complain. People who wake up excited to see what the Lord has in store for them that day. People who LOVE the unexpected conversations with complete strangers. People who genuinely enjoy spending time in the “trenches” loving on the “least of these”.  A few weeks ago the world of education celebrated Dr. Seuss and his contributions to children's literacy and reading. One of my favorite Dr Seuss quotes is "A person is a person no matter how small" from his book Horton Hears a Who. I serve in education on the mission field in Mexico and this quote has an incredible duality to it. While I work with very small (physically) people & they are very important to our future I also serve alongside many people who feel small because of their heritage. We are fighting to change this mentality in both groups. God made us all in His image and we each have a purpose & plan.
As many of you know, I have the incredible task of directing and teaching full-time for the Little Builders Preschool and Early Education Center on our San Antonio Del Mar Campus of YWAM San Diego/Baja. It is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. Over the past 2 years we have grown from a total of 7 children to a regular group of around 20 in 3 different classes. This number fluctuates when we have families attending one of our YWAM Schools. One quarter I was overseeing the education of around 30 kids ranging in ages of 1 to 16, yikes! I wouldn't trade it for anything. Especially when my day sounds a little something like this. Here are a few super cute quotes from our Twos Class today: While sitting in circle time, one little girl looks over at her friend who is wearing a new Queen Elsa dress and says, "You are so, so beautiful {insert child's name here}." (when asked about it later, she replied again that she was so, so beautiful with much emphasis on the "so".  Such precious little boys & girls that we have the privilege of doing life with. Not only are these kiddos learning their letters, numbers, colors, and shapes but they are learning compassion, encouragement, kindness and love. Not only are they practicing their writing, hand-eye coordination, fine-motor skills and problem solving but they are practicing sharing, self-control, gentleness, and joy. I am so very blessed to be able to be a small part of shaping them for the future that God has already laid out for them. I pray that each time they are in my classroom or under my care that I will show them how to live and love like Jesus. If you liked this story, you will probably also like:
Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries. Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know! So in preschool this week we are studying all about pumpkins! It's that time of year and pumpkins are EVERYWHERE so we just rolled with it. We had a huge Fall Festival on our San Antonio del Mar campus of YWAM San Diego/Baja a few weeks back. We had a hay ride (minus the hay cause it never showed so we improvised and put a couple of mattresses on the trailer bed & covered them with comforters, you would have never known otherwise), a cake walk, cotton candy, decorate your own cookie station, face painting, balloon animals, photo booth and lots of games, bouncy castle, costume contest and pony rides. It was a HUGE blast and we had about 200 people here to enjoy it. Since we had the festival on our campus, there was an abundance of pumpkins for decorations so we were able to snag several to carve up and dig in during Circle Time yesterday. Needless to say, the kids loved and hated it at the same time. They thought it was really cool but also really slimy and after a few minutes most of them were done. Check out a few pictures of the kids digging in.
One of the really cool things that we did was roast the pumpkin seeds and some of the pumpkin pieces (the parts that I removed when I carved it's happy face) so that the kids could experience what roasted pumpkin seeds and real pumpkin taste like. This was really exciting for the kids. Even Miss Apple (our traveling teacher friend visiting all the way from Samford University in Birmingham, AL, kinda like Flat Stanley & curtesy of Miss Mary who is studying to be a teacher) got in on the action and helped me stir the seeds and rotate the pumpkin pieces. 
Miss Apple (our traveling teacher friend) gets in on the action & helps out with the Seed Roasting.
I had so many compliments on the seeds, some even going as far as to say they were the best pumpkin seeds they had ever tasted and wanted to know my secret! They, honestly, were REALLY SIMPLE. Here is my recipe: The PERFECT Roasted Pumpkin Seeds: Pull all the seeds out of the pumpkin Rinse with a little bit of water (purified of course) & drain. Seeds will still be a little bit slimy with the pumpkin goo but that's good. Add a stick of melted butter & some salt to taste. Then roast away, stirring occasionally so they don't stick. I think I did mine on 425-450 & they took about 30 mins or so. I cooked them in a toaster oven as well cause we did it in class. 
Our finished pumpkin sitting right outside the school ready to welcome everyone.
I remember growing up we didn't really celebrate Halloween but instead opted to hide out in the house all cozy with a picnic and popcorn and watch fun Halloween cartoons like the classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (which is still one of my favorites and we watch it in preschool as well). I don't really remember carving pumpkins or anything like that but I have a horrible memory with some things (and crazy good with other things). What are some of your favorite Halloween or Fall Traditions to do with your family? Leave a comment below & let me know! I'd love to hear about them and maybe get some new ideas to implement in our school. If you liked this story, you will probably also like:
Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries. Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know! We are expanding!! YAY!!! We have outgrown our small little preschool trailer and now have too many school aged staff kids and DTS kids. This is very exciting but also means that we have to find more teachers & more space. YIKES!! No worries, our campus is expanding as well! We are almost completely finished with our newest building & have in fact already started moving some of our offices & classrooms over there. This new building looks just like the onion/meringue-looking building to the right of our preschool trailer in the picture above but is now directly behind the preschool. Now these classrooms aren't for our students, no, these classrooms are for our DTS, Bible School, Community Transformations and Development School, and the others we hope to start soon. These classrooms are for the adults. With the added classrooms behind us, this frees up a classroom in front of us. Last year we reconfigured the original meeting place on our campus into 2 separate classrooms with a game room and hangout space in between. We took this extra large tent and built walls and a ceiling creating a very nice place for our adult students to study in. Well, now that they are moving, we get to take one of those classrooms as our new K-12 school! (well, the beginnings of our new K-12 school anyways. I am so very excited about the possibilities that this will give us. Now, my mind is looking for creative ways to create an inviting space for kids ages 6-16 and grades Kindergarten to High School all in the same room! Not as easy as it sounds!! Below are a few BEFORE pictures. Hopefully by the end of next week, I'll have some pretty awesome AFTER pics to show you! To see the pics & read more of this story, click here. Also, make sure you check out my newest section of the website, School Resources. A few weeks ago, I was thinking of how my life has changed & my ministry has changed. I am now focused more on Preschool & teaching and creating fun activities and worksheets and thought I should share them with those who are also in the teaching profession. Plus this is an awesome way to reach out using these resources to share about our ministries here.
Below are a few words from a team member that came down to our San Antonio del Mar campus of Youth With A Mission San Diego/Baja this past weekend to build a home through our YWAM ministry, Homes of Hope. This team is from Canada and comes multiple times throughout the year, as a matter of fact, they will be coming down with another team in just about a month. Sometimes we never fully understand the impact this ministry has on all involved. We see the immediate met needs of shelter for the families we are building for but we often don't fully see the transformation that happens to the teams that come down to serve.
Each week this Tijuana YWAM crew goes out and builds homes for needy families. By building these homes they are changing lives. They let the hands of God guide them and this service is done with no pay cheque at the end of the week. This is true Christian service and dedication to the community around them. I'm once again blown away by the hospitality and support given to our Boardwalk staff members. They are part of something really special there and should take pride in the work they do. When the Mexican communities rise up from poverty and become a thriving nation of God, they can know their efforts given were part of that. I am so blessed to work with such an amazing ministry. While I may not actually go out & physically build the homes anymore, I continue to support this ministry throughout the week by teaching our missionary kids in our preschool so their parents can go pay the bills, meet the families, order the wood, prepare the sandwiches, walk the teams through the process, etc.
If you liked this story, you will probably also like: Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries. Want to bring a team down?? I'd LOVE to host you!! For information about how you can get involved, check out our website at ywamsdb.org. I'm sure you've noticed some changes around my website recently. Things like a few new landing pages (YWAM Ministry Stories, All Things Preschool, Easy Recipes, etc) where you can quickly find related stories. I have also been adding some "you might like these also" links at the bottom of my posts as well to help you navigate through the site a bit easier. Something else you may have noticed, I am writing more and more about my preschoolers. As my jobs, ministries and responsibilities have changed I have noticed that it is reflected in my blog. And why wouldn't it be; these are stories of my life and the things that I'm thinking and doing so of course the blog would be a reflection of what is going on currently in my life. As you can see below, this quarter in preschool is all about the Solar System!! YAY!! This unit is by far our class's favoritest (yes, I'm aware this isn't an actual word) thing to study!! They are so very attentive in class and love to learn about each planet, our star the Sun, and how astronauts eat in space. Last year, I found a toddlerish song all about the planets called The Solar System Song, what else. This was a very calming video for our class and began their love of all things solar system! It taught us so much about each planet as well as their order from closest to farthest from the Sun. Well, this year we have found a NEW favorite song! It's NASA Johnson Style. Below, you can see the video but be forewarned: it is VERY addicting!!
Like this? Check out these awesome Solar System Printables for PreK all about the Inner Planets. I really enjoyed creating these using some fun facts of the things we've been learning! I'm hoping to make some for the rest of the planets & space objects soon! Then my next project is to translate them all & then create some for older kids as well.
In the mean time, check out some other stories about our preschool! Who is excited about desserts? Who loves easy recipe desserts? If you can answer yes to either of these questions, you guys are in for a real treat today! Today I am sharing with you a recipe that takes me back to 7th grade. I remember eating this for the first time at a friend's house and once I tasted it, I was in heaven. Then once I found out how easy it was to make, I was hooked! This Easy Dump Cake Dessert is so simple to make, only takes 4 ingredients and can be manipulated to create tons of variations. You are going to love it! It is so easy even a preschooler could do it. Actually, why not let the kiddos help out.  I have been working on my blog, updating a few things and rearranging some stuff. I came across a blog post I had written quite a while back that had several different recipes listed on it. I decided to update it & give you a better option to see some of my favorite recipes. Without further ado, here is one that has been a favorite for a long time and definitely so super easy!
Easy Recipe: Cherry Dump Cake Ingredients: 1 can crushed pineapple 1 can cherry pie filling 1 box cake mix (yellow or white work best) butter or margarine (can be tub or sticks) Just like the name states, you open the cans of fruit and dump them in a baking pan. Sprinkle the dry cake mix on top to cover evenly. Dot the top with a few pats/spoons of butter. Bake in the oven on 350 until top is a golden brown. Seriously, that is it!! Pull out the big spoons cause you are going to dig in & not want to come out. I am working on a few variations of this versatile dessert so stay tuned to see more of my easy desserts. In the mean time, check out these other easy recipes. Or you can start with these:
If you try it out, leave a comment below & tell me what you think. Also, what are some of your favorite easy desserts? A few weeks ago I was able to share in our morning community meeting about all the things God is doing in our Little Builder's Preschool & Foundation School. If you've been following along you know that this quarter was a big one for us. We added 7 kids from our Classic Discipleship Training School and 1 middle schooler from our Community Transformation & Development School, plus as I told you before we also had several toddlers waiting to join us as well. Needless to say, this quarter has been quite busy!! We opened our Toddler Class in May with 5 kids and on those days, we averaged 22 kids total in our classroom! On our non-toddler days we still had an average of 17 kids in one classroom! WHEW, no wonder I was exhausted most days!! As I prepared to share with our staff, students & guests, I decided to make a video showing what our normal day looks like. Many of our staff & students have never been inside the preschool as they don't have kids that attend and some think all we do is play. Plus I was only given like 15 minutes to talk and those who know me know this is NOT enough time, haha!! (and we HAD to be done early cause MEXICO was playing that morning at 9 in the WORLD CUP) This video allowed me to share what we do, the importance of what we do & show off the amazing skills of our students all at the same time & still have a few minutes to share some prayer requests at the end. Check out our awesome video below, bonus points as it is bilingual, just like our class!!! (ps, i translated it myself & only had a few mistakes, SCORE!)
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 AuthorI am on an amazing adventure traveling the world with Jesus. Join me on my adventure and learn what I learn.  *The views expressed in this blog to do not necessarily reflect those of YWAM but only those of the author. *Add a note stating it is Staff Support for Sheril Brasher or Little Builder's Preschool
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