Sweet Motivation

Tonight for homework, John needed to write six to eight sentences about his favorite book. We worked on a rough draft together and when we were happy with it he started to write out the story neatly. He was very discouraged and immediately said "This is going to take forever." I cheered him on and told him to keep writing. He wrote three words and just stopped and stared at the wall. So I went to the cabinet and took out some chocolate chips. I said "Every time you finish a sentence, you can have two chocolate chips." He smiled and said "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" He wrote the first sentence and then stopped for his chocolate chips. And then the negotiator arrived "What if I write two sentences?" I said "If you write two without stopping then you can have five chips." He smiled and said "I was hoping for four."

He finished his homework in no time and ate his dessert at the same time. 

Golden Finch

John's homework today was reading a story/article about Bald Eagles. Then he needed to write any sentences that were opinion. The first opinion he found said "It  is a beautiful bird." John said "And that's an opinion, because maybe you think a Golden Finch is more beautiful!" The next opinion said "The eagle is amazing." John again explained to us "It's an opinion because maybe you think the Golden Finch is amazing!" That's when Daddy jumped in and said "What's up with the Golden Finch?" John said "I guess you don't know the state bird."

 

Chile

Tonight for homework, John had to read a story and then answer some questions.  The story was about two sisters, Rosa and Blanca.  They both had gardens and picked all types of vegetables.  One of the vegetables was a chile pepper.  John was putting a lot of emphasis on the e.  Daddy and I giggled.  And Daddy argued with him about how to properly pronounce chile.  John said "That's how we said it at school. It's Spanish!"  I got some video of him reading to us and Daddy arguing with him.

Gillian homework

The past couple of nights have been typical. Pick the kids up from school, go home, eat dinner, do homework, bathtime and bedtime. The only thing out of the ordinary is that we have given Gillian a workbook to do while John was working on homework. The book has tracing, letters and shapes in it. She worked on letters A, B and C last night. She needs more practice but is very good at tracing the letters and writing them herself. Tonight Daddy said "Why don't we try G. What is G for?" Gillian said "Me!" She's right. But Daddy was expecting her to say "Gillian." She didn't want to work on any letters tonight. Instead she worked on tracing lines. Any time she made it to the end of the map or swirl she would say "Yes!" And put her hand in the air. I'm so glad she enjoys her "homework."

Dinner and homework

While preparing dinner tonight, I had a pot of water on the stove. John came over and blew at the flames on the burner. I said "What are you doing?" He said "What? It's flambago!" 

For the past couple of nights, Clover (Gillian's bunny) has been sitting in the baby seat at the dinner and breakfast table. Gillian likes to tell us what he is eating. At breakfast, "Him is eating carrot muffins!" At dinner tonight, "Clover is eating carrot soup! Him is a good boy!"

After dinner, John had to study for his spelling test. I would give him a word to spell and he would write it on a dry erase board. I said "Tight." While John was sounding out the word and trying to spell it Gillian tried to help. She said "No. Kite. Write kite." She wasn't helping. 

Music

After dinner, last night John was working on his homework and Gillian was working on a new picture. Gillian asked Daddy "Turn on the musgik!" Daddy didn't understand what she was saying. It took me awhile to figure it out too. She wanted to listen to music while she worked on her picture. Below is a little video of Gillian saying "Musgik."

 

Sentences

John gets a spelling list every week. He is given a list of activities to complete with the spelling words.  And you only have to complete 3 activies. A few weeks ago, John told me that he wanted to write sentences with his spelling words. I told him I would write them down after he dicated them to me so that he could rewrite them. Every sentence he said was ridiculous and a run-on. I got frustrated and told him to do another activity. He wasn't happy with me. I told Daddy about the horrible night of homework and I think he laughed at me. 

Tonight, John got his new list if spelling words. This week everyone in John's class had to write four good sentences. Daddy worked with John while I was moral support. John picked the word "white." He suggested "Snow is white and if you put something white in the white snow you will lose it." Daddy nicely said "I think you may be over thinking it." They settled on a shorter version. The next word John picked was "snake." I thought he was going to suggest "My dad is afraid of snakes." No, John had other ideas. He said "Snakes can be really long and snakes can be really short." Daddy was once again very patient with John and suggested a shorter more concise. Daddy was excellent with John and helped John get four good first grade sentences. I hope Daddy will help again next week too!

Golf lessons

John started golf lessons three weeks ago. He goes every Tuesday. Poppy has been picking John up from school and taking him to the lessons. 

After John's first week, he proudly told me "I got the highest score! No one else had a score that high!" We explained to him that in golf you want the lowest score possible. He wasn't too happy with that. The following week, he shaved a few strokes off the previous week. He was very excited. 

Poppy and Mimi are away this week, so I picked up John and brought him to golf. We arrived at the golf place and John said "I don't think this is where we are supposed to be." Well he was right. I brought him to the wrong place. In the car, I told him that since we went to the wrong place first we may not make it in time. He said "I'm so sad. I am going to miss my favoritist funnist thing to do." We arrived just in time. The other kids had just finished hitting balls at the range and were getting paired up to go on the course. John joined up with another little boy and they hit the links with one of the coaches. The boys had so much fun and before I knew it they were done. 

We have some homework. He needs to practice his swing along with his form. I think Daddy will help him with that. 

Homework

John received his first homework assignment today. When we got home I said to him that we need to do your homework now. He said "I'll do it after dinner. That's when all the kindergarteners do their homework." The assignment was a worksheet with his name written out. He had to trace his name twice and then write it out twice. John has been writing his name for awhile now, but always capital letters. You could see this little assignment was a challenge for him. He made a small mistake and wrote a capital N instead of a lowercase N. He was a little upset, but I explained to him that's why we work slowly and that you get to write your name twice. The second time he concentrated more and wrote a lowercase N. After he finished he proudly said "See I can do it!"