OMG

We have a little laptop the kids can use for their school. Recently, we discovered The Girl has been a bit creative in her idea of "school" usage. Several of the files she wrote and saved are absolutely AWESOME:

 Ty lets fly and soar though the sky.
               Abby lets go find us a boat so we can cruise
               though the ocean.


And:


                      one year aniversery with ty feb 18 


     dear diary today i will see how things go after the reveal of my love with ty wish me luck febuary 20th 8:24 2014     
     dear diary tonight i will hope and pray that my mom dosen't come to tykwando and that nobody finds out my secret love ty  
i also need to explain the plan to ty the plan is that we can't  date  until i am 16 and   then nobody in my family can know until i am 21 febuary20th 2014 3:50


And:

Mitchkle  i  love you  .you dazzle my eyes  .      i know you’re a nice  guy  right under  that shy  .                                                   

That  flaming red  hair that ‘s  brighter  than fire.  Id  rather  have that than be on fire.

                                When  were family remember  this  had a crush on you since i was  six

And:

The   destruction    is causing   an   eruption   .     Oh the   destruction      .   Ohoooo  the destruction !

And:

If   animals could talk my   house would  be filled with  chatter  . If animals   could  talk my house  would be  very LOUD !!!!   If animals could talk my family and I would be scared .

 

This is what she does instead of her school work.. Oy.

School Organization..

I'm attempting to organize the work the kids do everyday to help make the work they do be faster, more methodical, more practical, more thorough, and more consistent.

The goals I we are attempting to make this month are as follows:

*Spelling: Complete Unit 1 and be able to spell 85% of the words correctly and know the meaning of them.

*Spanish: Complete a lesson at least 12 lessons successfully.

*Math: Complete and correct errors on units 1 and 2.  

*Math Enrichment: Complete and correct errors on Units 1 and 2.

*Writing: Complete 1 book report on chosen book from list.

*Reading: Complete a reading lesson daily with a 95% success rate.

*Handwriting: Show progress by completing 8 pages in a legible manner.

*Science: Will pick one specific scientific item (fossils, minerals, bones, leaves, lions, skin,..) and successfully create a presentation on this item.

*Art: Complete a weekly art project to reflect different art styles and techniques.

*Language Arts/English: Complete the current book in 2 months. (The end of February.)

*History: Complete at least 4 lessons this month.

* Geography: Complete at least 4 lessons this month. 

These seem a little lofty compared to the entire last year when we had NO goals what so ever. The kids are very capable of this though. Then I took these goals and broke it into weekly/daily goals that look like this:

Monday – January 6, 2014 –  Spanish, Spelling Pretest, Spelling pg 6-9, English 208 read 210 do 211.  Math 1,2 Enrichment 1, Reading 92,93. Pick book for Book report. I will give you a choice of books.

Tuesday – January 7, 2014 – History, Spelling 10,11 English 212,213, Cursive handwriting 4-5. Math 3,4 Enrichment 2 reading 94,95

Wednesday – January 8, 2014- Geography, Spanish,  English 214, 215,  Math 5,6 Enrichment 3 Reading 96,97,

Thursday – January 9, 2014 – Art , Spelling test.  English 216,217, Cursive handwriting  6-7.  Math 7,8 Enrichment 4, Reading 98, 99

Friday – January 10, 2014 –  Science, Spanish,  spelling pretest, Spelling 12,13.  English 218,219. Math 9, 10 Enrichment 5, Reading 100, 101

I'll have these printed out for each kid so they can get to it easily and see it and hopefully learn to self-manage time. Right now they both need a lot of prompting to get things done in a timely manner.  I'm debating whether or not I should do the entire month or do it week by week to allow for variances that may occur. Whether or not to build in breaks for illnesses or play-days is a big question too.

I'm sure I'll find out after this week! Eeeek :)

New Year, New Grades

About 6 weeks ago, I explained to each kid what they had left to finish out the grade level the were currently in and what (exactly, specifically) they needed to do to finish the grade level and move up. We are at the deadline time. 1 child has finished. 1 child has made a half-hearted lazy attempt at throwing a pen at it and isn't even close to being finished. Is what I expected the lazy child to do hard? No. Is it time consuming? Not really. In all honesty, it could all be done in a matter of a few hours if they actually tried. 6 weeks. Not done. Not only is it not done. 1 of the 3 items that needed to be completed hadn't been started as of this am. The actual shocker - it's The Girl who has made no attempt to do the assignment! The Boy has completed his.

I made them both a clear, concise sheet of instructions. A clear time frame. A book of instructions for if they instructions *I* gave them were somehow unclear. Time and reminders DAILY of their assignments. Asked them frequently how it was coming along and if they needed help.

They had to finish their math books.
Pick a topic and complete a short research paper on that topic
and
Complete a book report on a new book or one they've already read.

She's in 4th grade for all purposes. These are not unrealistic goals. They were the last remaining items she needed to complete to show the skills needed to move up. *sigh* I brought up the need for her to finish her work this am, she starts stomping her feet saying she's not going to. I can't make her. She doesn't have to. Really??? You're right. I cannot MAKE you write a research paper. But there will be consequences for every behavior either good or bad. You pick.

The Boy's assignment was exactly the same, though I took into consideration he is working to complete 3rd grade. He had some grammatical and spacing issues that needed help - BUT - he finished his work.  His was on level for his grade. I let them both type their work since they have dysgraphia so it's just a matter of him going and making corrections. It's no big deal.  It's clear he's read through it.

I'm clearly doing something wrong. I just don't know what. I guess some would suggest catering to her more to make it *funner*. Honestly, I don't care if she has *fun*.  She needs to learn to get off her lazy bum and do what she needs to do in a timely manner. I know I'll get less resistance if she has *fun*, but last time I tried *fun* she pick and chose the parts she liked then became a mule on the rest. 

I am going to attempt to put her on a more rigid schedule. She does do better with that. The holidays always screw with scheduling and she settles nicely once things are more routine. I want to try to plan out the pacing better, they both took WAY too long on this last set of books. It took them almost a full year on each of their math books and this stuff isn't even hard. It's frustrating because they're just both so smart, but The Girl is so darn lazy! She even admits it's not hard, she just prefers to sit on her rump not doing it. She's got to figure out how to beat the lazy, procrastinator, messy demon living inside her now or she's going to have continuous problems.