"'arry's boo-k"

So each weekday after the boys and I finish with breakfast, dishes, teeth-brusing, showering (If I'm lucky - if not it has to wait til the evening when they're asleep!)bed-making, & laundry, we settle into a morning of homeschoolin' here in our little corner of the world.

This trip I brought Skip's two thick Workbooks; Numbers Skills & Letters and Sounds, as well as a couple of pamphlet type Science & History books that have about 25 pages each, his spelling journal, and some thin beginner readers. The rest I get off the net and print out as I need them. For Harry, I brought nothing except for the fat pencils Skip used in Pre-K, knowing I could get what I needed online - and not knowing how he'd take to any kind of structured learning. I just didn't think it was worth the added weight in my suitcases! Plenty of time for that when we got home, I thought...

Well wasn't I wrong about Harry. While sitting and writing isn't his first choice of things to do, he does come around rather quickly, and is always fascinated with what Skip is doing in HIS books. Emphasis on HIS - Skip's. Each day after Harry prints his name, he tries to snag whatever book Skip isn't currently using and claim it as his. Finally, tired of battling, I decided to create a book for Harry.

First thing I did was I picked up a very thin Russian Workbook that says its intended for kids 5 & 6 but I found to be perfect for his level. Next I printed out a dozen or so simple worksheets but similar to the ones in Skip's books. Finally, I added the rest of the sheets I already had printed out for him and stapled all the pages inside the cover of the little workbook, and, Viola!

Skip and I made a big deal about the fact that this book was Harry's only. Not Skip's! Now each day when we start our day, I send Harry for HIS book. As you can see, he loves the fact that it's his, and really like completing each page! One of today's pages was matching colored triangular shaped stickers to match a pattern. It was perfect because he recognizes & can point out triangles, and the colors in it! Oh, and most importantly, as he finishes a page, he proudly picks out a sticker and affixes it to the top of the sheet! Progress - big progress!