Boot Camp

No surprises on day 1 with Evan. We handled everything from a little boy with a "tummy ache" that didn't want to do any work to a kid who solidly refused to do something because "that's not how we did it at REAL school!" Basically, he was straight out of the text book of The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child, by Linda Dobson (excellent book. Check your library. It ROCKS.)

But there were lots of good moments. Though he struggled with his journal writing (as he always has), he was able to think of a good story to write. It was just difficult to get it from his head to the paper. That's something that will only come with lots of practice. He also surprised me with how athletic he could be. We decided to record how many push-ups, sit-ups, arm curls, and jumping jacks we could do so that we can track our progress and "become stronger than Daddy when he's not paying attention!" Dude, that kid can rock on the push-ups. And Justin is really good at the arm curls. But the biggest surprise? Corinne can crank out the sit-ups better than an army grunt after boot camp! Seriously, that girl has got some AB STRENGTH!! (Mommy, however, is a weakling who is feeling the pain....)

While we didn't cross ALL of our items from our to-do list, we did get most of them, and that is a good start. Justin did pretty well with Evan's intrusion into his "space", with just one issue with ME when I insisted he make an attempt at creative writing. Ugh. Anyone have suggestions on how to encourage a child to write, without forcing them? He is insistent that he isn't any good at it and doesn't like it. I am insistent that he COULD be good at it, if only he'd stop saying that he ISN'T! Sort of like arguing whether the word "color" should have a "u" in it or not, you know? Neither is wrong, but neither is correct...

I will be reviewing a new spelling site that sounds promising. I'll let you know more about that, soon!