School Update

We are in week 23 of school. The boys are plugging along in their studies. They both love to read and have been going through books very quickly. Their reading piles right now are:

Joshua- Mary Poppins (we found an old version!), Bible, Awana, George Mueller, Hero Over Here.

Asher- Ramona age 8, Awana, Farmer Boy, how to Cheat a Dragons Curse.

Books that I am reading to the kids- Cheaper by the Dozen, Follow my Leader, The World Wars, Shakespeare Stories. I am also reading some science and history as well.

I love Shakespeare Stories. It does a great job of making Shakespeare understandable to young ones without losing all the language that makes it Shakespeare.

I have been upping the anty with our map work and chores. This week the boys are memorizing the capitals of the countries in South America. If they are successful they get a chocolate bar on grocery day. This turns out to be a great motivator :)

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I have put together a chore chart that will help them become more independent. There are seven chores listed.

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1. Vacuum-location determined by mom

2 Clean bedroom before going to bed-spotless!

3. Pick up all toys from the main level-put them in their proper places

4. Make your own breakfast-and clean up after yourself

5. Clean the kitchen after dinner-all dishes and napkins, vacuum the floor

6. Put away your laundry- in the correct drawer, hang up your shirts

7. Half hour of reading time in the evening- from school reading pile (they read other "for fun" books before bed, but these do not count)

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They must complete each chore twice in the two week period. There are 20 boxes to check, so they will be doing some chores more than two times.

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There are some rules for their chores-

-they must be completed without whining or complaining,

-they must tell us before they begin a chore,

-three of the chores can be completed as a team (which is why they need to tell us first).

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Each box that gets marked off is worth a certain amount of money. How much allowance they get is determined by how many chores they complete. Money is also a good motivator :) They are already a lot more independent.

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So things are going great at the Nelson School of Learning and Excellence :)