A New Groove

While everyday we are doing basically the same things (the 3 r's and such), at times I see the need for a revamping of our schedule or adding something new to keep things interesting.

Over the weekend I read some books on housekeeping, personal care, and homeschooling. I was moved to try some new things to get the kids excited about helping around the house. One statement in the book on housekeeping really got me - productive and responsible children will grow into productive and responsible adults.
So chores, NOT slave work, are needed. Even though it seems so much easier to just do everything myself, I am not helping my household by doing that. The more my kids help, the more they feel needed here in our home.
I've done chore systems at different times, but here is what we are doing right now and my kids LOVE it (so far) :)

I made three "flower pots" out of Styrofoam cups, one for Aden, one for Camryn, and one marked "chores". In the morning, they will pick three "chore flowers" from the "chores" pot to do at our designated chore time. They will place it in their flower pot and do their morning chores.
The "chore flowers" are just flowers made from construction paper and taped to a dowel. These flowers have age-appropriate chores written on them (wipe walls, pick up toys, dry dishes, fold laundry, etc.).
Aden loves it, and even though Camryn is older - she really got into it as well.
By the way, I found this system online somewhere - I can't take credit for coming up with it. :)

Another change, we incorporated Japanese into our day. We did that a few years back, we tried out two different programs, but it was just too much. I ended up giving that up.
Now we are using a program that just takes 10 minutes of review a day. Then practicing a few Nihongo words every day.
The DOD schools, from what I hear, don't offer Japanese until 7th grade here. Anyone know if that's correct or not? The only (few) kids I know that have learned Japanese are those that are put into all-Japanese schools off-base. They are saturated by the culture that way and forced to learn it. That is one thing I wish we had done, at least for a while. But, oh well, they've still experienced a lot of the culture here. Any of you Misawa folks have info on Kumon?

We live about 10 minutes off-base and have a good mix of Japanese and American neighbors on our street. Also, Camryn's piano teacher is Japanese, she comes every Monday. So... we have ample opportunities to practice. It's easy not to because so many of the Japanese here speak English. :) But... new goal... times almost up here! We need to take advantage of it.

Piano practice is going better since implementing a reward sticker system. She gets a dollar for each sticker on her chart, for 1/2 hr of practice. She can make around $30 a month if she's faithful to it.
Working so far... we'll see. :)

Have a great day everyone!

First Tests Went Great!

Camryn received four A's and one B in her first round of tests. We haven't tested the electives yet (health and art), only Bible, Math, Science, Language, and Social Studies.
Science was 100%. Great job Camryn!

So... all you moms out there who force their son/daughter to take music lessons. How do you make your kids practice? We spend around $40 a month on her piano lessons, and sometimes I feel that its a waste because she HATES to practice. She's been in lessons for almost four years, and her progress is much slower than I'd like.
I have to force her to practice. We have so many other things going on that make it hard to be on top of her for "extra" stuff. Ideas??

No Books For Aden

After waiting all this time for his books, we found out that they had been shipped back to the company. Our wonderful post office... well, I won't go there. We never got a slip saying that the package was here. The address WAS correct and we check our mail daily, so ???

After talking with my mom, we decided it was best to go ahead and put him on the same program as Camryn. So now I am waiting for THAT package to get here.
I'm so ready to leave Misawa. :) Just a few more things we'd like to do before we go, then we're off to our next adventure. I'm hoping that we'll get to climb Mt Fuji... we'll see!

We've done the zoo, the caves, wild horses, and the local children's parks (Tonami, Statue of Liberty, train, Hachinohe).
We haven't done Sapporo Ice Festival, Mt. Fuji, and the Salmon Festival. So... more than half of what we wanted to do has been done. Not too bad considering how many times we've had to use our vacation time to travel back home to the states.

Camryn is doing well, working on corrections right now. We went and timed her on walk/running the mile. She's supposed to do it a few days in a row to see how fast she can get (Health). I'm thinking I will make this a weekly thing once this experiment is over. Aden actually got into it and didn't quit! He's wanting to do it with her.
Any other homeschoolers want to join us? We can make it a race!

Well, time to do some History w/ Aden. :)
Hopefully I'll be posting soon that we got his Lifepacs in! :)

Two Weeks In...

Well, we are getting into somewhat of a rhythm.

First, the negatives:
1. My husband had to go and get put on swing shift, so things aren't running as smooth as I'd like...but we're still moving forward.
2. Aden's books are taking FOREVER to come in. They were shipped out Aug 1, and it's now Sept 2. He says that they aren't coming, lol. :)

The positives? Well, Camryn and I are getting alot closer.
We may look alike, but our personalities are quite different, so some days are hard. She's hands on, creative, and full of energy. Spelling and language are her least favorite (MY favorite) and she's quick to understand math concepts, science, geography, and of course, art. She is almost done with her first set of books (there are ten sets for the year - she does 2-5 pages a day, per subject). Overall she is doing fantastic.

Aden, well, let's just say he's gotten a lot more Wii time than ever. I've given him work pages and I read with him, but we are lacking structure. He is a quick learner and loves reading, so I'm not stressing too much about how late he's gonna be starting. Books...please come!!! Tomorrow would be nice! He's like me, he needs a good schedule and lots of busy work.

And Me? Thanks for asking...
Right now my living room is a disaster. The kids are making a diorama... not sure what the theme is, I just gave them materials and told them to go at it. Camryn is a great leader when it comes to art projects.
Oh... so it's a dining room. They just brought it in to show me. With a Japanese-style door, lol, and miniature furniture. Very detailed with pics on the walls and checkered floor tiles. Love it! They are too cute.

Camryn made me a spice bag for my desk after learning about spices in History/Geography today. It smells yummy, I think she used cinnamon. Or maybe pumpkin pie spice. Either way, I love it.

What a blessing to have my kids with me all day. :)