This past week I attended the Texas HIPPY Kick-Off Retreat in Houston! I had a fabulous time getting to know the HIPPY coordinators, as well as all of our wonderful home instructors. And I learned a lot about each unique Texas HIPPY site and how different they are from one another! It all gave me a lot of ideas on how to market HIPPY and be creative about the different ways it could be implemented. For example, Richardson HIPPY is part of a whole complex, including 4 or 5 other non-profits who serve children aged 0-5. And Richardson Home Instructors not only work for HIPPY, but also for the other organizations (the only one I can remember is Parents as Teachers, but there are others as well) as well. Each program is funded differently (ie: HIPPY through Richardson ISD) but they all share the same employees and work space. Very efficient! And I'm sure it's very convenient for the families served, who can contact one location for all their pre-k/early education needs.
The retreat was also about trying new things. Many of the home instructors had never been camping before, or canoeing, or rock climbing, or any of the other fun things we did. It was a really great bonding experience, and I think we all had an awesome time. I know I did! In our cabins, we had to make a cabin name, and individual camper names. Our cabin was Far Far Away, and we were all Shrek characters (from either of the three movies). I was Snow White... for obvious reasons ;) (because I'm just so darn white... haha) I had some firsts myself: I climbed all the way to the top of the rock wall and rung the bell!! And I also tried archery for the first time, and on my first couple tries I hit the ring around the bull's eye :) Not bad for my first try! I'll get the bull's eye next time ;)
The retreat was also about trying new things. Many of the home instructors had never been camping before, or canoeing, or rock climbing, or any of the other fun things we did. It was a really great bonding experience, and I think we all had an awesome time. I know I did! In our cabins, we had to make a cabin name, and individual camper names. Our cabin was Far Far Away, and we were all Shrek characters (from either of the three movies). I was Snow White... for obvious reasons ;) (because I'm just so darn white... haha) I had some firsts myself: I climbed all the way to the top of the rock wall and rung the bell!! And I also tried archery for the first time, and on my first couple tries I hit the ring around the bull's eye :) Not bad for my first try! I'll get the bull's eye next time ;)
Here are some pictures of me climbing the rock wall!
That's me all the way at the top, ringing the bell! :)
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