Suzy's Scribbles - First Day of School

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Sep. 8, 2008

First Day of School

Posted in Monday Musings

I was only going to blog Wednesdays and Fridays, but I couldn't wait to share about our first day of school. Wow, it all came back! The little boys had a grand time and I'm feeling good about being honored to teach them to read. Here is a picture. Note the M&Ms. When writing those tedious letters in the PACEs, it helps to have the boys close their eyes when they've finished a row of letters, and I choose one letter that I feel has been written the best, and lay one M&M on it. This motivates them to do a fine job the next time around.

Justan didn't want to go home.

Oh, and I have them earning "jewel" stickers, also, for completed goals and a good attitude. After 5 "jewels" they earn an ice cream bar or an ice cream sandwich. Hmmm...no wonder they don't want to go home. Grandma privileges (though I confess I was always thinking of fun motivations for my own kids to get them to learn their "skills.")

They went home, and then who should wander over but Nathan, the 9-year-old. His mother sent him over because he was having a problem with a math area. I perceived that it was more of an attitude, however. But I worked through it with him for nearly an hour and he finally seemed to accept it and understand it (Hmmm...he understood it the first time I explained it, but he didn't WANT to understand it, if you know what I mean?). So a quick post and then I've got a million things to do. I forgot how much TIME homeschooling takes up. It's a full-time job!

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Comments

Sep. 8, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by bbullard

I love the M&M idea! With two older ones (in addition to one K-5), I sometimes forget all the simple joys that keep little ones motivated. Of course, my little one would be a bigger fan of Skittles! Thanks for sharing!

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Sep. 8, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by diamondsintherough

Aha! So it only takes you one hour to straighten out a kids with an "I can but I don't want to" attitude... I think I'll put Booklover and Carrotlover on the next plane. lol!

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Sep. 9, 2008 - <em>Untitled Comment</em>

Posted by Lyric

M&Ms! Yes, always the reward of choice. When I was learning to drive, Dad got packets of M&Ms and would give me one every time I drove around a corner "well". :-P I hated driving, so he tried to make it fun.

That all sounds like what Grandma had us do... Do you remember the Victory Box in Satellite School?

Mom just promised us that we would be allowed to live if we finished our schoolwork. It worked...

~Lyric, who misses your Mindtrap Mondays terribly...

Edited by Lyric on Sep. 9, 2008 at 10:37 AM

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Sep. 9, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Lyric

Hey, I'm not alone in my Orlando Bloom hatred. Just out of curiosity, who are you planning on selling news of my bias to?

This was the entire description of Ghost Rider that I had been given: "It's a cool movie about a guy who rides a motorcycle and does stunts!" Um... right.

"Long, boring songs," Andi says to the girl who started to learn Elvish and wrote music for (and memorized) the Song of Nimrodel, most of Tom's songs, and several of the Elvish poems. I... can't believe you said that. *sigh*

Alas, I have not seen a single ST movie. Sometime I will see the Stargate movies, though. Although the actor who played Gen. Hammond died a few months ago. That's just... not right.

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Sep. 10, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by psalms16vs2

It looks and sounds like everything went great. How sweet that you are there to help like that. :)
JoAnn

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Sep. 12, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by ApplesofGold

I love the M&M idea!! That's neat that you are so involved in the homeschooling of your grandchildren! Holly

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Sep. 13, 2008 - howdy

Posted by SuperAngel

Yes, I like Atlantis better than SG-1. You sound like me with Smallville. I own every season except this last one. Haven't been to the store to get it yet! :P

Thanks for coming by!
Miss Amanda
http://superangelsblog.com

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