No reading...please!

One of Masons least favorite things to do is read. He struggles with comprehension and just reading in general so it makes it hard and boring for him. Needless to say, he has to read!! Its something he can't not do. So I went out and bought some cool Nate the Great detective books and threw a little incentive in with them. Mason LOVES comic books!! There is a store on 4th street that him and his dad go to all the time. I'm still not sold on the fact that he actually reads them, but he loves them...so...I told him that for every reading book he finished I would take him down to the store and I would buy him a comic book of his chioce. Great plan, right? Uh, no! I put no specifications on the deal. Good going Mom! :)

We started off the week good, as in good I mean getting our reading time in, but not good as in no fighting, which would be the reason for my title. So I offered him the chioce to read in his room while I was getting ready one morning. He did great and when I checked on him he really was reading because he told me what he just read. Sounds great right? When I proposed this plan I did not specify that he had to comprehend the story too. So when he came to me and told me he finished the book today I was very excited, that was until he couldn't tell me what the boys name was in the story.

So, on one hand its great that he finished the book and he felt so good about himself!! On the other hand, he couldn't tell me much about the book. After some prompting he did figure out the name (which by the way was Nate, see why I'm torn), but he couldn't remember much. So he then asked me if we could go down to get a comic book as I had promised. When I made the deal I did not tell him he had to report to me about the book, but the comprehension is very important. It doesn't do much good if he doesn't understand what he read. Thats not really reading, is it. I told him that I would like us to reread it together so that he can understand it before he gets the comic book. When I told him this he was crushed. It was like I just took his accomplishment and through it down the drain. I felt awful!

So here's my choices.

1) Buy him the comic book for finishing the book and talk about and set some new guidelines.
or
2) Make him reread the book with me in the next couple days, so that I know he comprehends it, and then go and buy him the comic book.

Thoughts or suggestions anyone??

We made it!

We made it through our first week of school! It went off well with some obvious things to work out. I have realized that no matter how much I want to I am not a morning person. I don't sleep well, sometimes not at all, at night and so it makes for a rough start if I try to get up early. Looks like we will be starting later than I had originally planned.

I am amazed how quickly the twins pick up on things. For instance, Weston couldn't spell his name or write it in order and within the first 2 days he had mastered it. Here's the proof! I think the twins will do very well!

This was day 1 with ALOT of coaching. :) Notice all the eraser marks. LOL
This is on Friday! You can barely tell which one is mine. :)

Mason has the occasional "I don't wanna do school." I'm hoping that changes for the sake of my sanity. haha For the most part his attitude is good though. We have also only started out with 2 papers. Boy is he in for it! haha

We also rocked out to Tobymac while painting! Did Math in our underwear. Wait, I better rephrase that...MASON did Math in his underwear! haha I asked him to get dressed and his words were, "Do I have to get dressed, its homeschool?" He got me there. So on Thursday we spent the day in our pajamas. :) We also learned how to do laundry.

It seems that school seems to continue throughout the day which I love! We had a very big wipe off board that the kids wrote on. Well, I cut it in 3 peices so that I could use it and they could have one when working with them. Weston and Isaac love to prop it up on the kitchen table bench and practice their "school work". It led to writing words and drawing in 3D and all sorts of things.

It will definitely take some time to adjust and get a routine together, but it has been an amazing week with many more to come.

Mason takes his handwriting to his room while I work with the twins. He loves this!

Weston and Isaac's 1st day of school! :)
Coloring their first worksheet. I know, you all probably think I'm crazy.
This is where I took the prompting and we spelled Cat. Yeah, who would of thought...not me.
Here we are painting to Tobymac! I LOVED IT!!!

So I expressed my anxiety in an earlier post, but I don't know if you truley understand how nervous I really was. It was bad. I have to tell you that I am now so excited!!! I am having so much fun. Its only the first week, I know, but it has went much better than I ever thought. It is alot more work than I thought it would be though, but so worth it. So when I have one of those moments later in the year...we know its going to happen...please refer me back to the post! :)

Its finally happening!

Its finally here...the 1st day of school is tomorrow!! I can't believe it is here and I can't believe that its actually going to happen. I am nervous as all get out! I have the twins entire curriculum planned out up until the end of November. It took me a while to figure out their reasoning for things, but once I just started in, it made complete sense. We are starting out slow for Mason. Our plan is for the first couple weeks brushing up on Math while starting the new lesson in our new book. :) He has always loved handwriting so we will start with that too and add everything else in slowly. He has expressed some anxiety, but I think once we get started he will love it. Well thats my hope anyway, with using the combination of things he likes and things he doesn't like to get started. The twins, on the other hand, are so excited!! They have been asking to start for weeks now as they have been watching me organize their papers. I am so excited to see the change in them as the year progresses. I am also hopeful to see Masons attitude for school change and realize how fun it really can be.

We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and I will definitely be taking pictures of our new journey!