Tuesday was our official day back to school. After much thought of what we would do, any curriculums we might use, resources that I would refer to, I decided the only thing I would purchase was new school supplies. We are reviewing Progressive Phonics. Selena is so thrilled that she can read the entire book and not just the words that are highlighted for her to read. Sure there were a few words that stumped her, but as I assured her those words would not stump her forever, and we would continue to work until she could read them too.
Selena just insisted that we learn sight words. All the children in her Sunday School class go to public school. They talk about sight words and the things they do in school, so Selena thought it was only fitting that she too have sight words. I had a complete set of sight words, more then what is expected children to learn, so we worked on the first 15 words. Selena knew most of them of course, but she had a lot of fun with this.
Of course Selena had to write a story. We hadn’t wrote a story in her story book for sometime. We just didn’t seem to find the time during our move and unpacking.
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Do you see that 3 pages! She dictates and I do the writing. We are still waiting for Writing Without Tears to arrive.
The House
By Selena
The house is big. It has a big yard. It is full of our stuff. Pal lives with us. I like all the neat things in the big house. Gene helped us to get where we are. Gene helped us move into the house and it was really pretty neat. We see deer, horses, and snakes at this house. I like the view. I see cars go by and people walking by. I see bushes, trees, and grass. I get to play on my swing set everyday. I rode a tractor with Gene. He gave me a piggy back ride to the tractor. He let me steer the tractor. I have had lots of new adventures in our new house. I love my new house. The End.
Our first day of school could not end until Selena felt she had helped me clean the house as well.
Even though we mopped the floors yesterday, Selena had to re-mop them today. This is not one of her chores, but she has fun! Her chores are: helping to load and unload the dishwasher, set the table, clear the table, keep her things picked up, help keep her bedroom clean, and help with the dusting. She also loves to help with the weeding outside, the laundry and whatever else she discovers that she can do. This now bars the question and debate of an allowance. I personally feel since she is so willing to do all this work, she deserves an allowance. Papa on the other hand doesn’t believe in allowances. Well, I think I might just win on this one. I know my two children were never as helpful as Selena is, so I truly feel she deserves to learn that this hard work earns her more then self gratification.
I think it was a great first day, she ended the day with many self motivated pieces of art work just to check and see if her new school supplies worked.
My parents never believed in an allowance either. We had our chores to do because we all lived in a family and families share the responsibilities. If, however, I did anything beyond the chores I was asked to do, then I got a small amount of money for the extra chores. It seemed like a good system to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's always important to see if your new supplies work.
ReplyDeleteJeff and I debate on how and what allowance to do. We tend to pay them sporadically.
Interesting perspective. For me rewards took away from what I enjoyed naturally. After a while, I would focus on the reward and not on the pleasure of the task. I've met kids who balked when we talked about doing something good for nothing in return. They were like,"Of course, I help my mother do the dishes! But only when she gives me money!" We give rewards sporadically for little extras. In the future, I want her to come up with her own ideas on making money instead of depending on an allowance.
ReplyDeleteShe is a great helper! We have never given an allowance, but I'm not really opposed to it. We do reward the kids when they go above and beyond.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember, is Selena starting K now or is she still preschool age?
Good for Selena, being such a great helper! :)
ReplyDeleteShe's doing really well with her stories, too!
What a great first day of school. Love the story and the mopping picture. Lars and I agree on allowance approach - it will not be tied to performance and its goal is to teach our daughter to handle money, not to reward her helpful behavior. Helping is something we simply expect - it's part of being a family. So far she has very little interest in buying things, and we decided not to push allowance.
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