To Reward or Not to Reward?

I can honestly that I have not made a firm decision on where I stand with rewarding my kids. However I can say that we have had a successful run over the last few weeks! During my visit with my friend Marianne in California...we decided to try something we read about in a magazine. We are using the same concept but different details. The idea is that each child gets a jar and earns GEMS (i.e. marbles, rocks) for doing what is asked of them. When the jar is filled, ( I picked 100) then they get a reward. I sat down with Connor and Brody and made a reward list and this is what they came up...

1) A Webkinz

2) A Date night with mom or dad

3) Double allowance for that week

4) Gift Card to Dairy Queen

For me, a challenge has been the constant reminding them of the chores they are responsible for. Both of them are pretty good workers and do a good job getting their chores done, but I want them to take initiative. So, we made up a new chore list with some added responsibilities and noted which chores are daily, weekly and as needed. I assigned a 1 gem value to all daily chores and 2 to weekly. The way to earn the gems is to do these chores on their own without me telling them. They can also earn gems in many other ways such as showing kindness, or being helpful and kind. However, at the same time, gems can be taken away. IF I have to ask them to do a chore, the appropriate amount of gems is removed from the jar and the chore still has to be done.

They both really enjoyed the tangible rewards and loved watching their jars fill up. It took a while to get over them (mostly Connor) worrying about what color he was getting and wanting to keep it even! (so much like me....poor kid) All in all it went real well. They would do their chores without being asked and only lost a couple over our first trial run. They would come up to me and say things such as, "mommy, can I dust?" which was pretty fun to hear! When they really got close they would wake up early and I would hear them cleaning them rooms! One morning I had a cute little face leaning over me in bed whispering, "where is the dusting stuff?" Ok, that was a little annoying but they were excited!

They chose a Webkinz for their first prize and were so excited to earn it! Connor got his on Friday morning and Brody had to wait until late in the afternoon for his. They kept thanking me over and over again and were so happy!

We are definitely going to try this again...it was fun!

What is going on around here?

Well, a lot has been going on around here and since I am behind, I will do a recap of some of the highlights...

Brody has really been using his free time to create all sorts of things! He has played around with origami, completed almost every project from a book titled Wings of Wonder (paper airplanes) and recently took to attempting balloon animals! It took the two of us and a lot of practice but we finally made something resembling a dog...I think? Anyway, it has been fun!

This has been a familar site around here this summer! Connor with his head in a book. That kid just loves to read and he has recently started reading while he eats which I let him do sometimes! He reads and re reads books then starts books back in order and reads them again! He completed the reading program at Borders and got a free book called Hoot which he was pretty excited about!

We had some fun with our nature club earlier this week when we went in search of Animal Signs at Minto Brown park. It was a beautiful day and we found all sorts of great stuff including a bird nest, woodpecker holes, some scat, a few tracks, and lots of chewed leaves! It was a lot of fun!

We had some fun making "noodle swords" too! We will be making these with our boys club when we start back up so we had to test it and price it and see how they came out (so if you are reading this and your son is in our Knights club....ssshhh). They have provided hours of entertainment and we made one for our neighbor too. The boys are having a blast and they are a huge hit!

Even though it feels like summer is flying by we are trying to make sure there is time for the real important things such as berry picking, ice cream and sharing a good story. Right now the boys and I are reading Little Pilmgrims Progress and although I'm not sure how much of it they are "getting" they sure do love it and can't get enough!

Name That Dog!

Tonight we had a family movie night to watch Homeward Bound II...Lost in San Francisco! The boys were so excited as they loved Homeward Bound I. We had pizza and I made popcorn, always a big hit! We learned Brody likes it only with NO butter at all...can that be right?

Connor and Brody both love dogs and all animals so they really enjoyed the movie! I just have to laugh a little because when Delilah comes into the picture, Connor just says..."oh that it is a maremma sheepdog", like he was pointing out a poodle or something! After the movie, they pulled out the books to show me how right they were and find ALL the characters from the movie!

They have these books called Legacy of the Dog, Legacy of the Puppy, and Legacy of the Cat and they study them! I have often joked that Connor would make a great Wikipedia writer one day because with him; it is all in the details! Also, a few weeks ago we were at Petsmart and Brody surprised a loving pet owner by noticing and calling out her Saluki!

Is there a game show out there I can enter them in? Maybe I need to start a "Dog Naming Bee" and have a competition? After all.... don't tell them this; but neither of them are natural spellers...but we all have our strengths, don't we?

Got me thinking

I am reading a wonderful book on eduation titled; A Thomas Jefferson Education, teaching a generation of leaders for the twenty-first century by Oliver Van DeMille.



This has been such a fantastic read for me and I am really enjoying it. I would highly reccomend it to any parent but have to admit I have only read through Chapter 4 so far, so maybe I should hold off on my praise until I am finished.



As I began Chapter 5....there is an assignment for me, so honestly the book has sat for a whole day while I contemplated moving on without doing it. Then I realized that is central to the core of the book; how easy it is to move on without thinking about "it". Plus these words were very powerful..."I'll refer to these later, so please be sure to stop reading and answer these three questions in writing before continuing." Also, just a few pages before I was convicted by this passage...



"In our modern society, whenever education is the subject, we always want to talk about the kids. We care about them, and their education is important but we also find that it's easier to talk about their education than to improve our own."



Well, since my instructions say...in writing...here I go!!



1) What books are your companions through life?

mmmmm...I have to say that I love to read, so I don't understand why I have a hard time answering this, but I do. A few years ago I read a series of books by Francine Rivers called Mark of the Lion. They have been kind of a recent "companion" to me especially when I went through my move to Oregon a few years ago. This might sound silly...I know they are no literary classic, but Hadassah the main character has inspired me over and over and they are the only books that have stuck with me in the past few years!



2) If you were evacuated to another planet and could only take one book, upon which to base the whole teaching of your family and establishing right and wrong for your community, what would it be?

This one is easier because I really would take my bible, it is all in there;)



3) What is good? What is evil?


Good in itself is so hard to define for me because I use it to describe so many things! Good is good, right? I think good is something right, moral, pleasing to God. Good is pleasant, something to approve of and welcome. I am defining it with relation to evil though because of the question; because good can also mean yummy....like ice cream!

Evil to me is the absence of God, the lack of His moral direction; darkness, wicked and scary!


Now....back to my book! I'm sure I will be back with more assignments! It is kind of like summer school for mom!

Family Seeks Sunshine....

A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I drove away from Salem and headed for Yucaipa California which we still affectionately call home along with our home here;) This was the first time I had to make the trip by myself and it went great. We stopped in Stockton for the night to be safe and the boys did stellar on the long car ride. We got so excited to see the outside temperature go up as we went down Interstate 5! Connor kept asking me...."how many degrees is it now mom?" When I began to answer above 80 he got REAL excited!! It didn't help that Salem had one of the wettest June's on record this year! Let's just say it felt good to be hot and when we checked into the hotel it took us about 5 minutes to throw our bags in the room and jump in the pool!

I had almost the whole two weeks planned before we even left (thanks to Kim) and we were excited to visit everyone and some of our favorite places too! We tried to have as much planned by the water that we could....

Of course there was swimming at Papa Jerry's...big sticks always included!

There was a field trip with our old homeschool group at the Regional Park!

A day trip to the Banning Water Pool with the Loomis clan and the Harker family!

(That is Ryanne & Lillie in there!)

And our very favorite....Doheny Beach! We had a great day with some of our very best friends and were especially blessed to have the Barker family join us this time!!! The weather was perfect and the beach amazing....

We also managed to squeeze time in for some of our favorite "other" places..

Thai Chilli, In & Out Burger, Casa Trejo, 7-Eleven for slurpees, Both Goodwill bookstores, The Best .99 store, Frugos and Cuca's!

Just to name a few......

The name of the game on this trip was.....TENNIS!! Grandma set up a kit that she got the boys and they played every day! They had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it!

We also got some tennis in with Zack at Ford Street Park!

On Father's day we managed to have a great time even though we missed daddy very much! We went up to the ranch in Oak Glen where Randy and Patty invited us to go fishing. It was a special day because Pa had wanted to take the boys for a long time! They both caught their first fish...actually they each caught 5! The pond was so beautiful and it was a great day...(also topped off by that In & Out burger)

And last but certainly not least....FOOTBALL!!! What would it be without a little playground football game with our buddies?

It was good to go home and when it was over....good to be home too! We had a great vacation and have some wonderful memories.