Program Outline
The Ruth House will be providing a non-therapeutic Christian home for up to fourteen teenaged (ages 13-18 years) girls at a time. The home will be staffed with a Christian couple as house parents who will live in the house. Besides providing the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, the Ruth House will provide programming for each girl as follows:
-
- An initial evaluation by and quarterly meetings with a licensed Christian Counselor
- Resident life programming that will teach them life skills. The girls are assigned to a room according to their age. Each room will house 4 girls. This allows them to learn to work together and participate in age-appropriated programming. The Resident life programming include Daily living which includes meal planning, managing a household, organizing their week to accomplish basic housekeeping tasks; Personal financial management skills such as budgeting and balancing their check book; Daily devotionals and bible study; and self expression through the arts. For each of these categories, the following programming will be followed:
- Daily Living
- Meal Planning – each girl is assigned a week to plan meals and, along with her roommates, develops the week’s menu plan and shopping list. Under the supervision of the House Parents, the girls will participate in cooking the evening meals during Monday – Friday.
- Managing a Household – each girl will be given chores to perform either individually or as a group in her room. Household chores are planned and distributed in an age appropriate manner.
- Interpersonal Skills – each girl will learn how to live, work, and play with her peers and others by interacting with other residents in the house and the house parents. Healthy conflict resolution, social skills, problem solving, time management, social manners and etiquette will be taught and modeled.
- Personal Financial Management
- House dollars are earned from performing chores and can be used to purchase items. As the residents turn 16 and secure jobs outside of the house, (during the school year if their school grades are a B or higher and during the summer) they will learn to manage personal finances.
- Managing and balancing a checkbook will be either simulated or with an actual bank account, taught to each resident.
- Developing a personal budget will be performed for actual use and a household budget will be simulated. In the case of a personal budget, tracking quarterly actual to budget will help the girls understand their spending habits and how to adjust to live within their means,
- Credit and credit card use will be covered. The proper and appropriate use of credit including credit reports, how it impacts the ability to take out a loan and how to use credit cards responsibly will be taught,
- Basic investing will include simulation games are introduced to help them understand savings and investing in various financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, and money market accounts.
- Daily Living
-
-
- Daily Devotionals and Bible Study
- Daily Devotionals and Bible Study – Each resident will participate in daily devotionals and quiet time for Bible reading and study.
- Age-appropriate Bible study materials will be facilitated by room either by the house parents or qualified volunteers. This study will take place in the house.
- The residents will also be required to attend a local church service and participate with a church youth group.
- Daily Devotionals and Bible Study
-
-
-
- Self Expression through the Arts
- Each resident will participate in an activity of self expression of her choosing. This can include any of the following:
- Painting
- Pottery
- Quilt making
- Gardening and flower arranging
- Music lessons
- Acting in a local school or church production
- Each resident will participate in an activity of self expression of her choosing. This can include any of the following:
- Self Expression through the Arts
-
