Miller Times 5: Successful First Week

We really did have an amazing week with our homeschooling venture. I feel like CJ is listening more to us and trying to mind much better than last week and I am attributing it to the time we have spent together learning. The attention that he has gotten was probably missing and instead of just trying to get by throughout the day, we are doing meaningful things. Its like we have a whole new purpose. One of the most memorable things that occurred was on Wednesday morning. I told CJ he could watch his show after breakfast and before we started our school. At 9:00 without me saying a word to him, I saw him go to the TV, turn it off and head upstairs. As he made his way upstairs he said, "Come on Mommy, lets do school!" That was incredibly surprising. Each day he asked to do more after we were finished.

We received our math and reading workbook and this will definitely add a challenge. What I have to keep in mind is that I have to help him have fun or he will get discouraged. I saw him hold his pencil correctly and he was looking at me to see if I saw him and of course I did and after I praised him he was ready to work. One other challenge has been that when he writes his name it ends up, upside down. That concerned me so I decided I would make a name badge and tape it to the table. Once he saw it, he copied it the correct way. Its these hurdles that I am trying to use creativity to work around. Without being in this position before, I know I have be on top of the issues so I can tailor the teaching the best way that helps him learn! Overall, it has been a wonderful start.

Thursday night he decided he was going to clean. He took all the things out of the pantry and swept out the pantry...I did not ask him to do this! He asked if he could have a "ticket" (he calls dollar bills tickets) after he was finished. I said "Of course, you earned it buddy!"

CJ and Mark's artwork from the first day

Artwork from today! I thought they both did really well! Notice the "J" in CJ at the bottom of the page is written facing the right direction.

Artwork from Wednesday. Notice the upside down "J". This was before the name badge.

Studying the number one and working on hand coordination with cutting...we were supposed to find a tree in a magazine but we only had daddy's deer hunting magazines so CJ asked if he could cut out a deer and then Mark saw the coyote so we cut that out for him.