I had planned to play "Store" with him this Wednesday, but my midwife had canceled my Tues. appt. and then called Wednesday to see whether she could come then, and I've gotten up late every day this week (soon to have this baby and been getting to bed later since Nathan has worked late to get a job done). So, I had to re-plan some things. Thursday I set up a bookstore. I took sticky notes and put different prices on them for different categories of books, dvds, and even lollipops! I then adhered the notes to the shelves on three of our four bookcases. I cut out the play money that I'd previously printed from Printable Play Money. And then I got some real U.S. currency coins out of one of our storage containers. I decided to give Jaden $10.27: a five-dollar bill, 4 one-dollar bills, 3 quarters, 3 dimes, 3 nickels, and 7 pennies. I then gave him one of our cloth grocery bags, and shopping he went, with his "child" or "kid brother" (Trusten) at his heels, whining for him to buy him a lollipop! It was so funny. Jaden did get them each a lollipop, but then he had to tell Trusten that he couldn't have it until he paid for it. Trusten was being impatient. ;-)
Jaden proceeded to start packing his bag full of books and dvds. The dvds on the top shelf he needed assistance with from the bookstore owner (that would be me), because he could not reach them. Meanwhile, his kid or kid brother who was accompanying him on his bookstore visit was acting like a little monkey in the store.
As Jaden moved to the second section of the store, he saw the most expensive book category. While looking at the price on the shelf and having a book halfway pulled out from the shelf, he pushed the book back in, while muttering aloud, "I guess this one is too expensive." :-) I got so cracked up! (Those in that category were $2.10, I think. That was the most expensive, and the cheapest store category were $.03 books.) He also took a science book down and flipped through it, just as a customer would do in a real bookstore. I was getting so tickled. He played the part of a real consumer so well, and his little sidekick played the part of a kid so well!
Sadly, my camera's batteries went dead, and the only picture I took of Jaden in the third section of the bookstore did not come out. I had to stop to get batteries just so that I could take pictures of his checkout experience. The checkout was at our computer desk, where I had my calculator ready. I gathered the tags throughout the store (lol) and sat down in the chair to tally his purchase. He placed his things on the desk, and it was so hilarious! As he placed one particular children's book on the stack, he got a puzzled look on his face and said, "Hey, I didn't want this book; I didn't get this." All I could do was laugh. We both realized, of course, how that book got in his bag. It was that kid, of course! LOL! I got such pleasure out of that, since I have, on two or three occasions, made it to the checkout only to take something out of the cart that I had not wanted but that a kid had snuck in the cart. Jaden did a good job of counting out his money. His total came to $5.29. He apparently understands how the cash works, because he immediately laid down a five-dollar bill. And then I was actually a bit surprised that he laid down a quarter next, since he hasn't had a lot of instruction concerning those. He then carefully considered and then started correctly counting pennies on top of the quarter, until he got to 29. I was pleased. Oh, and the tot he had following him around saw the lollipops on the counter (the desk) and started asking for one again. Jaden said, "You have to wait until we get out of the store." I was laughing once again, as I've said the exact same thing to Trusten before!
I have kept the price tags to use again for future plays of Bookstore. I also plan to do Grocery Store (in the kitchen) and Toy Store (in the boys' room) in the future. This was more fun than I thought it would be. I had no idea that I would get so cracked up by this experience. Well, this is certainly better than public school!
Oh, yeah. Jaden gets an allowance every week. He's old enough now, and he has responsibilities. He has to keep their room straightened, his bed made each day, his shower/bath cups and things kept in his basket after his shower and his dirty clothes taken to the laundry room, and he vacuums the living room Sun. through Wed. and on Fri. (I vacuum the whole house on Thursdays, and no one vacuums on the sabbath.) I've taught him how to tithe and have given him a 32-ounce yogurt container to keep his tithe money in. He's encouraged to save and let him choose how much to save each time [which can differ from week to week], and he has his own savings envelope that we keep in the safe for him. Then, whatever he keeps for himself for spending money he puts in his piggy bank, and if we go somewhere, he puts his money in his wallet.
He wanted to help make the peanut butter pie the other day for the new moon. Trusten insisted on being a part of it. (I didn't take a picture of the pie until after I put the plastic lid on it [used premade graham cracker crust]....oh, well. So, that's what those little number looking things across the pie are all about.)One day Jaden asked me in the morning whether we could have pancakes, and I told him I did not feel like fixing them (I've had many days lately where I've decided we're having cold cereal, and I've also used paper plates for meals on some days). He said, "But, Momma, I'll make them." So, I agreed. He decided he would make himself a cat pancake, and he did a good job! (I've made him cat pancakes before, complete with blueberry eyes, nose, and mouth...as well as other fun food creations, but I haven't done anything like that in a while.)
Jaden also made a beautiful art picture with water paints this week. I haven't taken a picture of it. He'd been talking about art, and Nathan told him about Bob Ross, and they watched some Youtube videos together of Bob Ross painting. Well, Jaden decided he would try to paint an evergreen tree like Bob Ross. He made an awesome picture of evergreen trees, plus a deciduous tree of some sort, a pond with a deer drinking, and then he and his daddy, and his daddy had a gun pointed at the deer. I think he did a great job. I have it hanging on the refrigerator.
Trusten is doing so much better on his colors, he can count a little, and he will proudly tell you his left from his right (especially his cute little feet). He spends as much time playing with vehicles as Jaden spends building with blocks. He likes looking at pictures of animals. I have a book I read to them about animals, so they're learning more about animals together (this is in addition to Jaden's main science book on animals), and it has really good pictures of all sorts of animals. They also each get their monthly subscription (from my grandpa) of Wild Animal Babies and Your Big Backyard. We all love reading those together each month. I enjoy them as much as the boys (or at least the Big Backyard one).
Jaden is doing well with his Explode the Code, his spelling lessons, and he really likes math. He doesn't much care for language arts, but I sit with him as he works on those lessons so that I can assist him when he needs help, and he does fairly well with it. He didn't do his animal science quiz the other day, so he has to do that today. We have not officially started Prepare and Pray...for various reasons. I think we're just going to wait until the beginning of next year (sometime in Jan. or Feb.). He will have a lighter load on his math, spelling, and lang. arts (but he'll have reading work added back), so it will be easier then. At some point next year he'll be finished with Explode the Code. He's only doing it twice a week right now, but I've decided to not make him do the remaining 1/2 books, which is just more practice for the main levels. I think I will use those books for Trusten and not buy the main levels for the 1/2 numbers I have left. It's just too much book work on top of the other stuff Jaden already has scheduled for him next year...in my opinion (and definitely in his). He's doing SO well with reading and becoming ever better with his writing. I can tell Nathan is definitely pleased in what he sees. :-)
I'm not sure whether I've mentioned it here or not, but I stopped reading the prophets to Jaden, and I skipped on to Matthew. Sometimes Jaden decides he wants to read some of it aloud. It won't be long until he can read the bible by himself, and then I'll have him keep a journal at that time. I'm hoping sometime next year he can start doing that. And of course, we're still daily reading Proverbs.
Since we're not doing the prophets, anymore, I will start reading the Bible Stories book each sabbath now, instead of only reading in it parallel to what we've read in the bible. Also now my friend Keith bought Jaden two children's biblical books, and so I'm reading those to the boys during the week. I haven't done so every day, but I'd like to make time to read them each night to them. So far they seem like really neat books.
We've not been doing Rocket Readers on a regular basis, but I'd like to finish those up soon. Oh, and then we finally finished Jaden's Choosing Obedience book lessons last sabbath. It took forever, b/c we didn't do it every sabbath. Now we will do Choosing Thankfulness.
I've written a lot, so I'm going to stop right here. This may be the last update until after I've had the baby, and I'll be taking a two week break from school. Jaden will be taking only a partial break. He'll still do the things that he can do by himself, like Explode the Code and his spelling lessons. I can go over them all after I take my break.
