older Kindergarten Week #2 Thursday

              Leaf Presses

As of today we have finished our week's homeschooling tasks. We are struggling with circle big time! I try so hard, but I can't seem to meet him. I started doing a focused meditation on the issue tonight. Next week's circle and subjects are completely different, so maybe it will be a better fit.

Meanwhile, he loves story, and floats in and out of willingly doing his chores and resisting his chores.

We babysat today and I saw great strides in Brother's maturity. We had issues with leave taking gracefully, which he really did well today, and with experimenting with relationships (teasing). Not the type of teasing where you call people names, but the type where you do things to annoy another person causing them to squeal or scream. This is totally unacceptable to me, so we had been talking about feelings and the golden rule. I changed our transitions in a couple ways and made sure I was more physically present to hold boundaries and to help with impulse control. Meanwhile, he just stopped doing it. He told me it was because he was older now and done with that. I reinforced the changes by noticing and telling him that I appreciated it. No "good jobs" or "blanket praise" but just direct, specific, and honest communication.

Brother was completely uninterested in his art project today at the time I had set aside for it. So, I let it go but left it set up. When we got home from babysitting it was waiting for us. Once I got him started he loved it. He immediately became absorbed in the process. "Look Mom, the leaves are coming through when I color on them," he said with awe. He was so excited that he took control and chose his own leaves for the next three pieces of paper only to be interrupted by his father coming in for dinner. Last year he did this project, but didn't really see what was happening. I feel so blessed to be homeschooling and to witness his discoveries and his growing.