It's the little things that take a lesson from...

[alisoncooks]

I'm-done-no-more-work! :mad:

 

to

 

This-is-fun-yay!:party:

 

Today's mood-changer? Letting DD write in her R&S workbooks with (gasp!) super-cool markers instead of pencil. LOL, how innovative! But it made all the difference. AND I told DD that she could choose a different color tomorrow and she's excited and looking forward to it! :D

 

Another mood-shifter today?

Instead of making a chart for the sa/se/so/su/si (vowel-blending practice)...doing the blending Easter egg, found on Pinterest. Yay, blending is fun, not a chore! And there's a treat inside, double-yay! :D :D

 

 

It's amazing... when we make just that tiny bit of effort, the whole day is better! I need to write that on a Post-it so I see it each morning!

[2_girls_mommy]

good reminder, as my 3rd grader sits next to me with an open R&S spelling workbook, slightly drooling and staring off into space :tongue_smilie:

[MrsBanjoClown]

I wish I could come up with something for my oldest and math. He keeps talking about his birthday, singing his history memory song, talking about lunch...anything but focusing on his math. He has spent an hour on 8 math problems.

[Forgiven]

Oh, man! LOVE that egg-blending idea! Now I need to find some plastic eggs. Where in the world will I find them at this time of year? LOL

 

So glad you found something that works! My kids told me the other day that they wanted me to have a prize bag, where they could get something from it after each subject they finished without complaining, whining, or procrastinating. Little things, like tootsie rolls and stuff like that. I just need to run to the store and get on that. LOL It was their idea, so I hope it works!

 

I did buy special pens for them to do their work. They worked the first few days and then the novelty wore off. :( We have some really cool pens and pencils though. We have tons of smencils because of this too. They loved using smencils for a while until the novelty wore off. lol

 

Thanks for the egg blend idea!

[nukeswife]

I've had days like that with my youngest son. He's always struggled with the actual mechanics of writing and some days it's just too much to ask, so I'll pull out letter and number stamps and let him use those to fill in his answers. He loves it.

[redsquirrel]

yeah. Today I let my 7 year old write all his numbers as if each one was a little monster. It drives me :cursing: that math takes 3 times longer than necessary, but it made the whole thing so much easier.

[d.g.]

Yup, sometimes it is the little things.

 

Today, instead of doing day 1 & day 2 of WWE 3, week 7 as written, I tried something new. We did day one (narration) and then I pulled out the poem "I'm Wrestling with an Octopus" by Jack Prelutsky. DS read it, then took a dictation from it (2 lines of the poem). Half of our grammar lesson immediately following was spent identifying the parts of speech in the dictation, then discussing what part of speech certain words would be if inserted into the sentence. We also covered vocabulary in context (invariably, ascertained, predicament) and rhyme scheme (ABCB).

 

Did it take more work on my part? Yes. Was it worth the effort to get DS8 giggling and enjoying himself during literature/writing/grammar lessons? HECK YES!!! I'm going to start sneaking fun things into our day more often, I think, just often enough to keep him on his toes.

 

 

redsquirrel -- I keep a piece of scratch paper or comic-book style paper on hand for lesson times. DS likes draw on his work or otherwise get creative with his writing. I usually negotiate with him -- "If you finish X number of problems (or X number of minutes), you can have Y number of minutes to draw this idea before we continue." As long as X and Y are reasonable amounts of work/time, it goes fairly well. He gets to be creative and get the ideas down before they're gone, and I don't have to read numbers and letters with horns, lazer guns, or wings.

[ItoLina]

Smelly markers are magic at my house. DS likes to pretend to "go to the store and look at a menu" (he looks at the chart on the back of the box that tells you what each marker smalls like) then he "orders a flavor". He will practice writting letters all day this way.