A few things that are "working" right now

I feel like I'm constantly "tweaking" things around here- coming up with new and better ways to have our house (and school time) run more smoothly.

The first of which- is our Token system- I can't claim credit for the idea- token economies are definately not a new thing- a while back we went to a foster care training class (we had to have 10 hours of training each year to renew our licence) And the speaker talked all about giving allowance and having the kids buy everything they need- clothes, shoes, shampoo etc. Well- at the time we had Bug who was 3, and 2 foster kids who were 3 and 1 1/2. We walked away saying "That doesn't help us!" But then we got thinking- and said we could do something similiar and have them earn things that they want. And thus the token system was born. Our tokens are Poker chips I found at the dollar store- they work great. The kids token banks sit on the kitchen coutertop where I can find them- I can't give tokens if I can't find your bank. Here's Roo's (the yogurt cup) Doodle's (the blue bowl) and Bug's (a Harry Potter cauldron from a friend's b-day party) I think at one time they were all bowls like Doodle's- but ?? who knows what happened to the other 2.

How do the kids earn tokens? Doing a good job with their chores, getting them done before the song is over, going above and beyond what's asked, doing jobs without being asked, getting along with their brothers, obeying quickly, basically my point is to "catch them being good" This reminds ME to watch for the good. Maybe you aren't like me, but I tend to get caught up too much in what the kids are doing wrong- but the token system helps remind me to look for the best.

What do they use the tokens for? I have a "store" with various things they can buy-Dollar store toys (usually 20 tokens equals a $1- so most dollar store toys are 20 tokens) treats or snacks, candy (10 tokens for a candy bar), fruit snacks (5 tokens) TV time- 10 tokens for 1PBS show, Wii or Computer time-5 tokens for 30 minutes. Toys that mom confiscates cost 1 token a piece- (if they don't pick them up after being asked- or leave them laying around downstairs I take them!) Roo's favorite "Jelly Ranchers" (known to the rest of us as Jolly Ranchers) cost 1 token each. A new addition to our store- chocolate milk for dinner costs 3 tokens (Doodle loves this- as he doesn't really like milk) Our token system is working great. We've used it off and on since Bug was little. It worked WONDERS for the foster children we had coming in and out of our home, and a few small bonuses- Math skills- the kids are always counting their tokens, figuring out how many more they need. and the best bonus- I had kids asking what jobs they could do today! Dishes are done- thanks to Bug, and the dining room floor is swept and mopped thanks to Doodle. The other day the kids had a friend over playing- and they were washing windows to earn tokens for Candy!

The 2nd thing that's working around here are Sticks for School- LOOK!! Another use for craft sticks! -- again it wasn't my idea. On the FIAR Message board that I sometimes go to there was a big buzz about Workboxes and while I was tempted to get on the wagon- but decided I didn't need the extra expense of buying all the plastic boxes nor do I have the space to put them all. But someone mentioned on a thread over there about using Sticks with fun activities written on them for their kids to do after they finished their box or something. So I stole the idea and "tweaked" it. Written on the sticks are the things Doodle did for school today. The Green stripe means it has to be done each day. Math, Handwriting, Phonics and our unit study. The purple line means you might need mom's help. The orange line means it's independent work.

At the beginning of our "school time" Doodle draws sticks. There are the 6 that have to be done- and plenty of other fun things that he can pick from- so he has 8-10 sticks to do. Then he arranges them in the order he wants to do them. (I don't really care what order they get done, as long as they get done- and he works on a few independent things together so I can work with Roo for a few minutes) After we've finished the work on that stick- it goes back in the bag for tomorrow. He can see his pile of things to do getting smaller and smaller.

Just a few things that are working around here- What things work at your place to help your days run more smoothly?

Up a creek (with a paddle)

On Saturday, Ben and Bug decided they needed to practice their canoeing skills- This summer they are going on another "adventure"- they are going on a canoe trip- they will canoe from Lewis Lake in Yellowstone- to Shoshone lake (the same lake they hiked to last year)- So we dropped them off in the river at the boat launch- and they paddled downriver- and we picked them up a few hours later- about 6 miles downriver. They had a fun time.

Happy Blogiversary!

Wow- 1 year ago I started this blog. Amazing the things that have happened in one year. I'm enjoying going back over the posts and reading about our year-- Some of the highlights-

Bug the Guest blogger- telling about seeing a Grizzly in Yellowstone
And while we're on the subject of Bears- Can't miss the awesome video clips of the Grizzly we saw just outside of Yellowstone on Roo's birthday!

Don't forget all the fun B4FIAR and FIAR stories we've rowed this year- Mr. Gumpy , Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge, I am an artist And SO many more.

Many great Christmas Traditions Field Trips and Uses for Craft Sticks (watch out- I have a few more ideas coming soon!)

It's been a great year- and I really enjoy blogging, and having a place to put all my rambling thoughts, and cute pictures of my yeahoos.

Here's to many more years of Blogging! Thanks for reading!

2 Pictures- 1 word

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!

ok- maybe more than one word- What happened to SPRING?

More Math their way fun and games

We are still enjoying the Math their Way games. I like the hands-on element- it is especially important for Doodle who is ADHD to have a way to learn by DOING- I can talk my ear off- but if actually moves and figured it out on his own, he is much more likey to learn and remember it.

We are doing lots of graphing- I love all the ideas to graph everyday things- We graph the temperature each morning- (ok- so it's not scientific- as we don't necessarily do it at the same time each day- rofl- but rather whenever we get around to math) But rather than read the numbers- he measures how high on the thermometer the red line is- and cuts a piece of paper to match it. We tape it in our folder, and evaluate- "Last tuesday was the warmest day so far" etc.He also graphs the weather- you can't see it well in the picture- but the top line is "Sunny" the 2nd one says "Cloudy", then windy, rainy, snowy, then the bottom 2 are less than 50 degrees and greater than 50 degrees. He just places a paper square in the correct weather boxes each day- then we evaluate- "wow- there's been 3 more sunny days than cloudy days so far" or "there's the same number of days warmer than 50 as there are colder than 50"

For his Math "class" with Pam last week- he was given the assignment to graph how many birthdays there are in each month. So we got out the calendar- and he hooked chains on to the month cards- Then they compared the different months to see which month had the most birthdays, and added them all together to see how many total birthdays were on our calendar.

We are counting the days we've "done math" Doodle makes sure we have the same of craft sticks- 1 stick for each day we've done Math. (LOOK!! Another use for Craft sticks!) Then count out that SAME number of cubes, and determine whether it's an odd or even numberEach day we also add a number to our number line- counting the math days- odd numbers are yellow- even numbers are green. Multiples of 5 are circled in purple, and multiples of 10 have a orange square around them.Then we count out that same number (this day was 25) in change- Doodle found some different ways to make 25.Oh- and one more fun game from Math Their Way (This one is in their Newsletter- page 8- called Zurkle) We added our twist- and since Doodle had practiced counting by 10's he had a bunch of cubes already arranged in groups of 10. I would ring the bell, when I ring it- he adds a cube to the 1's side. When he gets 10- he connects them, and moves them to the 10's side. When I knock on the table, he adds a group of 10. Then he reads how many 10's and how many 1's he has on his chart. "5 tens and 6 ones- 56"

I left the camera sitting on the table- and found these pictures on it:

Bug's "Tornado" science project

Bug was looking for a science project with Tornados to go along with the state he was studying- Ben told him that the "tornado in a bottle" (where you fill a jar with water, put in a marble and twirl it around, and it makes a tornado) wasn't enough of a project. So he found this project instead. While Doodle and I were at the Zoo- Ben and Bug were preparing a tornado! The modified the experiment and made it easier and cheaper- using glass from picture frames that were around the house and a vacuum (as opposed to the plexiglass and a bathroom exhaust fan)- the top and bottom are scrap pieces of wood with lines cut in them for the glass to rest in.

Here is the tornado! Looks pretty amazing!

There's a bowl of hot water in the bottom with some dry ice dropped in. The
kids were amazed at the properties for Dry Ice- So Ben made them some "Sprite" my making lemonade- and dropping some dry ice in it- they were all fascinated as it bubbled and steamed everywhere.

Date to the Zoo

One fun thing we do in our family is that each week someone gets a date- the kids take turns- one week it's Roo and Mom, the next week it's Doodle and mom, then Bug and Mom- Then Ben and I get a date- then the boys each take a turn with Ben. It's a fun way to spend 1-on-1 time with each of the boys, and it ensures that Ben and I get a date- because at least once a month it's our turn- and the boys tell us "You need to go on a date this week"

Well it was Doodle and Mom's turn for a date this week- and since Doodle has been interested in studying animals, I decided it would be fun to go to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on a date. (Usually the kids get to pick what we do on a date- but I told Doodle I had something planned instead) So on Saturday- Doodle and I went to the Zoo. We had a fun time just the 2 of us. We saw the animals, rode the zoo train, walked all around and explored. We went at his pace- if he wanted to spend 10 minutes watching the giraffes, we could do that, and if he didn't care about the kangaroos- we could say "yup- there's the Kangaroo, let's go see something else."

We enjoyed watching the giraffes- after "rowing" The Giraffe that Walked to Paris for school this week.And the Tortoise was great! Doodle studied Turtles and Tortoises a few weeks ago.I'm sure Tigers will make it into the "I want to study lineup" before too much longer- this one was pacing back and forth along the fence.It was great fun watching the Black Bears play.

Here's Doodle and Mom on the train ride at the zoo.Thanks Doodle for a fun date! I love you! I'm so glad you are my boy!