Progress Report

So far school has been fun (hey, 3 days seems like a big deal)! Sam and I seem to be “clicking” better this year as far as the core subjects go, meaning reading. I think that once he becomes a fluent reader school will be so much more enjoyable to him, but getting there is a slooow process. I feel like I have more patience because I can so remember concepts that frustrated him and me last year, but now he knows them fine. Usually if mom just backs off a bit, the light bulb will come on. Who wants to be constantly nagged on how to make the letter f?

Sam is into rock collecting, big time. He picks rocks up at the creek, in the driveway, in pea gravel, and anywhere else. At Aunt Karen’s he found some fossils, and then we went to a state park where we saw lots of fossils and imprints. We have 5 library books right now on rocks/minerals/gems. Per one of the books, Sam and Cora washed all of his rocks yesterday afternoon with warm water and old toothbrushes. Then we looked through the books to learn the names of some of his rocks.

Today we got out the microscope to look at some of the rocks. They were mostly too big, so we went searching for other things to look at. We looked at mulch, money, leaves, flower petals, and a dragonfly. The flowers Josh had sent me had some spots on leaves, and we found out it was little bug shells, which was very cool. I got a spider that had a big sack on its back and smashed it, hoping to find babies or something. No luck, and Sam told me I was disgusting (I got more into the microscope than him I think). Cora would try to look in it, but she would close both eyes, then say how neat everything looked.

Sam's recess is going for a bike ride. He zips down the road, usually stopping to say hi to Grandma, Grandpa, Meme, or David. I have put up sticker charts in the kids' room, and try to remember to give them a sticker when they do really well on something. After 5 stickers, they get a piece of candy. Sam is up to 4 stickers, and he was sucking up big time all evening for that last one. I don't normally do reward stuff like that, but I hope its a little something special they will enjoy.

Eli has been very good while we do school. We try to get a lot done in the morning, then save special things he can't get into for the afternoon nap time. Here he is on the 1066. He knows all our tractors and equipment by name. Currently his favorite book is a free tractor catalog. He looks at it ALL the time, naming things like combine, loader, disk, manure spreader...I guess he's in tractor school!