A mompreneur's chronicle of life with her boys.
One of my Mother’s Day presents from Jack was a great Wordle sign of words he chose about me. Wordle is a fun online tool that allows you to make word clouds with any set of words you have. I was inspired to make one about my Mom.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
This is the Wordle that Jack created for me.
This week was Jack’s 2nd grade concert. He was in the front row, acted out all the songs and sang his heart out. He also had a speaking line and did a great job annunciating it. It was a fun night. Thanks Aunt Amy, Aunt Jane and Molly for coming to support Jack.
Today’s Photo Friday is number 150. I can’t believe there have been that many. It has been fun to do and I look forward to the next 150.
A few weeks ago I got to go help with an activity in Jack’s 2nd grade classroom. It was an activity making toys to illustrate force and motion principles they were learning in their science unit. The activity was led by a local man, who was a science teacher and now goes around to schools teaching science through toys.
Since I majored in chemistry in college I am always interested in how teachers use fun activities to show scientific principles, making the lesson more real and fun for the kids. For this lesson the kids all made a clothespin person and a track of parallel bars for him to move on. They used tools to build the track and person and then could decorate them with markers.
The person had a wire for arms that could be moved to change how he moved on the track. Once the kids had completed their set they experimented with how the person moved, by changing the arm position, the angle of the track and the place they applied the force. Our class set up a long chain of tracks and tried racing their guys.
They also created a spool toy that used a rubber band inside as the force to move the spool across the floor. It was fun to see them chase the spools along the floor, learning about how they moved on the floor, some in a straight line and others turning.
It was a fun morning to spend working on science. Jack came home and told Jim all about how it worked and why it would react differently in certain situations.
Today is a bonus Photo Friday, photo and videos. The rain has finally stopped for a few days and the boys have been able to play outside. They have had fun making up games to play with some snow tubes left over from the winter, that Will calls giant noodles. They also enjoy the rope swing. Make sure you watch that video with your volume on.
rope swing
giant noodles
Jack has horrible handwriting; it is worse than doctor handwriting. We have been trying to work with him on it for the last year or so. He will get better for a while then get lazy and go back to his old patterns of fast and messy.
I realized after watching him a few months ago that he is actually forming his letters incorrectly. I think it all started back in Kindergarten when he had a huge handwriting packet to do and not enough time to complete it. We just had to get through it or he would have been spending hours each day working on those sheets. It took me some time to realize it all came back to letter formation.
A friend’s son has a similar problem and she got some materials from Handwriting Without Tears. I ordered the booklet and Jack worked on it over spring break. He didn’t make it through the whole book, but at least got through the letter formation pages. They have a different, simpler method of creating the letters than he learned before, or didn’t really learn before. Unfortunately we did have a few tears on the first few days because he didn’t follow directions, but once he learned that he needed to, he did great.
For Will I have been trying to work with him on how to write his letters correctly as he is learning them. I hope this will give him a better foundation and make his writing skills stronger in the beginning.
Even though our children will spend most of their lives typing, it is still important for them to learn to write correctly. The handwriting you create now stays with you for the rest of your life.
This post was not solicited or compensated in anyway.
Jack had a sleep over earlier this week and the boys decided it would be fun to play in the sleeping bag afterward. It is a little cozy with both of them in there.
The Easter bunny came to our house on Sunday and the boys got to take part in three egg hunts. It was a beautiful sunny warm day, giving us a preview of summer. The boys were happy with the goodies that filled their baskets. We are thankful for good friends to spend the day with and celebrate the gift of life.
A few weeks ago I got tired of the complaints about how I made breakfast for Jack. The options weren’t suitable or I didn’t make things the right way. I had enough.
I knew Jack could pull together his own basic breakfast, because he had done so a few months before for a Cub Scout achievement. So we have a new rule — you make your own breakfast on weekday mornings. I still make their smoothies, but for everything else he is responsible.
It has actually worked out well. Will now likes to help make his too. He can peel his own orange and help pour the cereal. Jack does a good job with his own breakfast, making cereal, English muffins or toaster waffles and getting his yogurt.
Jack did ask me once how long he was going to have to make his own breakfast. He didn’t like my answer – for the rest of his life.
Having them help make their breakfasts also gives them an appreciation for how much work it is each day to prepare the meals.
Do your kids make their own breakfast?
Jack played basketball again this year. He loves it. It took him a few games to make a basket; they just kept bouncing out missing by just a tiny bit. The whole sideline gave him a big cheer when he scored during a game. Just look at the intensity on his face.
Tuesday was the Pinewood Derby for Jack’s Cub Scout Pack. Jim helped make cars for both boys. Jack’s was called King Cobra, made the Top 16 of the Pack and won Most Futuristic Design. Will’s was called Number 3 and won the Open Class (siblings and extra cars) and third overall in the initial times. Jim tried to weight Will’s car so that he wouldn’t beat Jack, oops. Jack handled having his little brother beat him very well.
Sarah is the mom to two boys, a mompreneur, an aspiring author, a technology geek and passionate blogger.
