Weekend Journal

I’ve just come to terms that there’s no way that grades will be finished by tomorrow, so I’m heading off to bed. I’ll have to take my lumps in class tomorrow. Thought I would write a quickie post about my kids to unwind. 

When Ian started his new school in September, he came in with almost no writing skills. He could sort of write his name and that was about it. He hated using crayons and markers, despite my very organized art center with little drawers from IKEA. I love anal art supplies.

So, now we’re two months into the program. His handwriting is nearly at grade level. And he’s loving writing. He does a little drawing, but what he really likes to do is write words. All the words that are jamming up his little head are coming down on paper. "Halloween" "Age of Empires" "Cartoon Network" "Tonka Construction."  He is copying words from books and video games, but some of the words are coming fully formed out of his brain.

He’s never without a marker in his hand. Usually these words are ending up on paper, but sometimes he’s so excited that the words are ending up on the door of the dishwasher and on his feet.

Jonah, my eight year old, is also really excited about school. He finally has a good teacher, and the curriculum is getting more interesting. Jonah is a fountain of information about strange animal facts and environmental disasters. I think they get a lot of that in their weekly reader science series. He’s also finally getting a real social science curriculum. All those maps that Steve has drawn for him over the years are coming into play. His teacher said that she never saw a kid so excited about Portugal before.

This weekend, we went to IKEA to find Jonah a bookshelf to attach to the wall over his bunk and a little lamp, so he can read in bed, after his brother has gone to sleep.  He immediately staged the shelf with three Webkinz, a Calvin and Hobbes book, a baggie of rubber bands, and a cube of bubble gum.

So, my little guys are excited. I’m excited watching them.