Monday, January 18, 2010

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Today Alex stayed home so we enjoyed playing with him.

Family Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 16
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: 1 Timothy 4:12
Family Counsel: New changes (see below) and we reviewed our goals from last week and set individual goals for this week. The kids each pick their own. We are teaching them to adjust based on how well they did accomplishing them last week. Most only have 2 or 3 goals. For example: learn to skip count by 6, read 50 pages in my book, write a paper, read Othello, read 45 pages in the church handbook, etc.)
PE: While I was gone Alex and the kids watched ping pong videos on You Tube. They can up with all new strategies.
Chores/Animal Care

Caleb: Read his scriptures, watched two science videos, and played numerous games. Caleb decided that he was going to deep clean his room for some reason. I don't know what got into him, but he worked on his room for several hours. He made everything look great, rearranged dressers and he even hung up pictures. He also vacuumed and used attachments. All I said was make sure your pj's are picked up!

Today I wrote down instructions that I had for Caleb to do. I think he has a hard time orally hearing things or processing them I should say. (I'm terrible with my auditory. Our hearing is fine, just to clarify). He can't seem to remember or stay focused in any activity requiring more than one or two instructions. I wrote down his extra chores on a piece paper and used a clipboard. He was focused on got everything done with out needing to be reminded. I just need to work on speed. If he were a creature he would be a turtle or a snail. I do everything very quickly. I need to chill and not rush him.

Luke: Read his scriptures, played lots of random games with Caleb, practiced skip counting by 4's, drawing in his sketch book, played several Rush Hour, Jr. games (logic practice), practiced the piano, and had piano lessons.

We implemented Structure Time, Not Content for him. He set the timer for one hour and read in any of the books we have that he wanted. The Usborne books were coming in handy. He was really excited about this. He read numerous books about history. He was going to tell me about the things he learned and then something happened and we didn't get to it. Tomorrow!

Jared: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, had piano lessons, played several Rush Hour, Jr. games, had a math lesson on decimals and percentages, he created his own blog, he wrote a blog post, drew and colored several animal pictures from an art book, played two games of Stratego, read Peter in the Starcatchers and the Shadow Thieves to me, played ping pong and listed to Brisingr. He also learned a new vocabulary word from his book: marooned.

Today we started some new things for Jared as well. I had a meeting with him in the morning and he choose from a list of many things what he wanted to do that day. Then he decided when he would do them (before piano lessons or after, before lunch, etc). He also decided for how long he would do them. He set his own goals. I encouraged him to choose things from several different areas to help him be balanced. He also got to choose a reward for himself if he accomplished his own goals. He picked 30 min of a book on tape. He had a much better day. He carried around a clip board and checked off everything. He felt more empowered and ownership. He needs structure, but I don't want to tell he always what to do. I can't do that when he's an adult. So I'm helping guide him to make good choice, have balance and manage his time. This is all about personal responsibility.

Olivia: Read her scriptures, worked on her scarf with her loom for a long time(3 feet long so far), played ping pong, practiced her vocal solo, practiced the piano, had piano lessons, started the Screwtape letters, played Rush Hour, Jr, played Stratego, and made breakfast. She wasn't real motivated to do a whole lot today.

Deanna: Read my scriptures, journal, read a lesson in Gospel Principles, practiced the piano, had piano less sons, spent a lot of time with Jared, played ping pong, started a book that I decided not to read, went to a song practice for a Relief Society meeting, and VOCABULARY WORD OF THE DAY!!! (I keep forgetting to type that we learn our word of the day and my dad keeps asking me why I didn't do it. We did, I just need to type it! So now I'm repentant dad).

Alex: Read his scriptures, read in the church handbooks, word of the day, did some work at home, helped a friend with his business finances, helped another friend get some wood, helped a HS basketball player who was injured (the HS coach will occasionally send injured players over for some physical therapy-Alex is a jack of all trades), played lots of ping pong, and played Stratego. We wish he would be home all the time!

Family Home Evening:
Songs: I Will Be Valiant (twice)
Testimonies: Alex, Deanna, Luke and Olivia
Strength of Youth: Go forward with faith.
Proclamation: Last paragraph
Character: 21 Rules of this House-We will pray for each other.
Article of Faith: 11th
Lesson: Caleb-About the Second Coming from the new Gospel Principles manual. Great lesson which led to an hour long discussion.
Activity: Played Dinosaur Days. This game Luke made last year in scouts.

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