My Favorite Quote!

Whatever you are... Be a good one! A. Lincoln

I think this is a great quote to start out the school year right.

As a child I hated being compared to my other siblings. Maybe one was more talented, or one had better grades, maybe one was more outgoing, or maybe one teacher liked my older sibling best. I was not a straight A student, but I didn't get bad grades. I hated having my report card on the fridge with my straight A honor roll brother.

When I got kids I started out with an honor roll daughter. The next one came and she is delayed. Now I have 5 and I have no idea what life is going to throw us. I have learned that it doesn't matter about honor rolls, or being delayed, it matters what is in each of your children that makes them special. It doesn't matter if we are still on a first grade reading level, it doesn't matter if we all go to college and get honor cords. What matters is that we be whatever we are and that we be a good one. I am sure that all my kids will be educated, but I have no idea what they will choose and how long that might take them.

I didn't realize this personally until I was a junior in college. I didn't even realize that I had very specific talents that no one else in my family has. They did, but I never knew. For my kids I want better. I am recognizing these talents and helping them by pointing them out and making them feel proud. My 12 year old is very musical and very responsible, my 10 year old is very courageous, she is very organized, and she loved dance, My 7 year old has a love of life, she loves sports, and she is a really good reader. She also is my nurse of the family. My 4 year old is a great runner. He runs faster than anyone else in the family. He loves anything that involves pipes! and My 1 year old baby: He is very interested in lights. He is always trying to figure out how they work.

As my daughter is starting Jr. High, I think of all the kids that will potentially pick on her or make her feel less than who she is. My goal is to make sure she has a good self esteem before all that happens, so she can just shrug it off and move on.

So I guess this post is just about helping your child realize what talents they have, voicing them to them, and that we didn't all come out of the same mold. We are all unique and it doesn't matter what we are....... just be a good one.

Reward Charts!

I have two kids that have been having a REALLY hard time in school. One of the two also has a really hard time communicating. So we set up behavior folders for each of them. On the cover it lists their first name, teacher, and grade. Inside the folder has a pocket on each side and a three hole area for the middle. One side of the folder has a place for their homework (since it was being thrown away), grades, or things that are coming home for us to see. The other side is for extra papers (I try to make up a couple months worth of papers). The three hole area has a calendar (one of my kids sees three teachers a day so she has a calendar that has a place for all three teachers to place comments. This is what hers looks like. The other child has just one teacher and so she has a more of a month calendar! It also has a reward chart that has a goal they are working on. I have the teachers pick the goal, but if you were doing something for home, you would want to. Our goals have been: Sitting in your seat and raise your hands if you need to tell the teacher something (since one likes to follow the teacher around), Telling the truth, bringing the folder to all the teachers to sign and then back home, Reading a book and telling the plot of the story at the end, Doing 10 subtraction problems, etc. If it is a hard one like sitting in your seat, then I divide that into three time periods and the teacher can give her up to three smiley faces or check marks on her reward sheet.

It also lists the reward they are going to get. So far we have done: Getting to go to the movie store and pick out your own movie to watch with the family, sleepover with grandma, Late night, game with mom and dad. It has been working really well.My problem though is that I had to make this up as I went along. The teachers are more than happy to do the goals, and to check things off and make notes, but not to organize the whole thing. I also thought I would have been able to find really cute goal/reward charts on the Internet that I could print off. I did find some and I will put that at the end of this post, but not many. So I decided I would just make my own. That way I can decide how many they need to get in order to get their reward. When I started this, they only had to get like five. Now I have increased it, so they are having to work harder for their prize.

It has really worked for us so far. Do we still have problems? YES! At least once a week I get a note from the teacher that something has happened, and once I got a call from the principal. But overall they are working harder, being more responsible, being more behaved, and getting better grades! If I end up making more, I will post them. Also this is the site I have been using a little:

http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/singlebehaviorcharts.htm

Learning to count Money!!!

I have been such a big slacker! So sorry! Anyway I was thinking about what idea I wanted to share and I decided to share this.

I decided last week, that I wanted to teach my three little ones more about Money. I have a nine year old, seven year old, and a four year old. The nine year old is delayed and so she is just starting learning about money. So I came up with this idea.

I got jars and filled them with different candies. I then put prices on each of the jars. I have been using real money to encourage my kids to do things that they need to be doing. My nine year old has a real problem bringing her homework to and from school. My seven year old has a real problem with anger, and my four year old doesn't want to color or do any kind of preschool. So now they get money for this. They also get money for doing extra jobs, being kind to others, etc. Mondays and Fridays I open the store. They have to figure out the money (right now they require a lot of help with that) and then they get the candy, that they had enough money to buy.

Already I am finding that people are happier, my house is cleaner, we are being more responsible, and we are learning about money. And since they are really little candies, I don't feel bad about the amount of sugar they are getting.

This is how I set it up:

.10 two jelly bellies

.30 one gummy worm

.75 two gummy rings

1.00 Dum Dum

2.00 Mini Candy bar

3.00 Other little candies

Yes these are really high prices for things. I am very generous with the money as well, so it equals out. My goal is for them to be counting money, so by having it high, it makes them need to count more. Also my 12 year old does this also. You would think she would be mad, at how high the prices are. I have told her she can just put her money in savings if she doesn't like it. She does about 1/2 and 1/2.

A boy that teaches us about living!

Check out this really cool clip about a boy named Ben Underwood. When he was three he lost both of his eyes to Cancer. He didn't let it stop him and he is an inspiration. My daughter's therapist recommended this video. He has others watch this clip if they are complaining about how hard something is or that they can't do something. I made my whole family watch this and I think I am going to encourage my kids to follow suit and believe that they can do anything as well!