One little seed.

We live in Boston and my children go to a Boston public school. We truly love this city so we'd like to live here as long as we can. The schools have not always been great but we're very lucky — my children got into (via a lottery, yes a lottery) one of Boston's best schools.  
  
A couple months ago we learned that our little school would need to cut a significant amount of money off the already tight budget. Our amazing little school, undeterred and strong, stood up and began thinking of ways to fundraise and alter the budget to make the school successful still next year. And I decided to do a little fundraiser on the side, too, with my sons. I let them know that we needed to raise some money to pay for some really fun field trips next year. They were totally game after I said field trips!  
  
So we put together a small seedling sale — selling plants we started in our basement. My two sons, ages 4 and 6, helped with every step. Their favorite step was the dirt, of course. Even in their pajamas my two little guys would mix compost into the potting soil and then fill every pot for us to sow seeds in. We're talking about hundreds of pots — little ones to start the seeds and then larger ones to transplant those seedlings into. They didn't see it as a chore. They were accomplishing something — something bigger than themselves, so they were excited. 
  
They helped water and tend to the seedlings for two months. Two months! Then they helped advertise and sell our wonderful seedlings. They even decided, on their own, to have a lemonade stand. And we had a kids table where kids could make their own plant tags out of old recyclable blinds. 

In total — we raised $500 for our little school. Just the three of us. I didn't even realize what I was teaching them when we started this project a couple months ago, until my 6 year old started making plans for his next fundraiser. 
  
It's amazing what one little seed can do.