on to second grade.

My sweet little Andrew is already two weeks in to second grade.
Where does the time go?!
He was so excited in his new yellow tshirt with his new yellow shoes!
He has a fantastic teacher & his best friend is in his class.
We are happy to have a wonderful beginning to the school year!


Andrew & his proud mommy!! ;)


These little goofballs were so jazzed to be in the same class this year.
Best friends & happy guys, for sure! :)
Here's to a fantastic year in second grade!
xo!

PS.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway from yesterday! :)

an incentive for learning.

I have a child who is definitely smart and bright in the learning department. He reads very well and understands things like crazy. I love him for that, and I am always so proud of him. But... it is a struggle to get him to school sometimes, which makes me so frustrated.
Why can't he love school?
Why can't he wake up in the morning
and be extra-excited to learn in his classroom?
However, the reality is that it is a huge problem sometimes.

His excuse?
"School is so so SO boring, Mommy!"

And he is right.
Public schools seem to cater so much to the kids who need more and more help {which I can't say is necessarily a bad thing!} that the kids who are independent and able to work on their own get tossed aside and lost in the shuffle. They are given homework that is so easy that Andrew can barely face it. I can't blame him. Being bored is so not a good feeling when you are six.

So I came up with an idea.
If the schools aren't going to push him,
the responsibility falls upon my shoulders.
I know my child and I know what he is capable of.
And I found an amazing website to help me. :)

You can print out countless {free!} worksheets at your child's level. This is helpful if you are looking to push your child further, or even if they need work in certain areas as well. {ie. Andrew's handwriting possibly??? :) } Spelling, alphabet, addition, science, reading comprehension, book reports, you name it. It's all on there. Every level, for every child. And you know what? Andrew adores it. It doesn't seem like work to him, it seems challenging and fun. That is what I want him to feel about learning... FUN.

And I want to give him an incentive.
We found this chart,
but it just wasn't cute enough for my liking.
So I made a new one to use:



For every worksheet he completes, he gets a sticker on the chart. I don't make him do them at all, he just has a whole stack of them printed out and ready for when he feels like doing one. At the end of 25 worksheets, we get to go on a Mommy-Andrew ice cream date. He loves this. He loves to be challenged and work towards something. And I am happy he is pushing himself to learn more. :)
Go ahead and snag the reward chart for yourself and use it in any number of ways for your kids. Name an incentive for them and they can work towards it.
Works like a charm. :)

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.
And with every day, I am keeping my fingers crossed that school becomes less of a chore and more of a reward for him as well. :)
xo!

first grade. :)

Andrew is officially in first grade!!

We were super excited to take him to the first day of school,

and Andrew was ready to be in a new classroom!

Andrew and his best friend Owen were ready to be big first graders!

I cannot believe I have a first grader.

How does time fly like this?!

BUT...

our first week of school has been extra stressful.

Because California is broke and our schools have no money,

just about all the kindergarten and first graders are in combo classes.

We were very happy that Andrew was placed in the first-second grade combo class, however the budget crisis has left the school with not enough teachers. Which means that Andrew's class has a substitute until they can find a permanent replacement!! NO TEACHER! Am I wrong to be pissed about this? For small children who crave routine and stability, I think it is terribly irresponsible for the school to leave this classroom to a substitute for who knows how long. We were mad. The principal was avoiding the parents and we still haven't got a lot of answers as to what's going on. All I know is that I am crossing my fingers and hoping for a great teacher as soon as humanly possible. The classroom is bare, nothing on the walls, and my child came out of his first day of school telling me that he hated the class and the teacher. Not what any parent wants to hear. :( Cross your fingers for me, too. Budget or no budget, they should have a teacher in there on the first day of school. Ugh! Frustration.

Here's to hoping each day gets a little better.

Enjoy your day, xo! :)

a fresh start.

Tomorrow marks the day that I start my very last semester of college. (Well, the very last semester of my art history degree, that is.) I started at San Diego State in 2001, fresh out of high school, and tomorrow will be my last first day there. A bittersweet day, for sure. I've been going there off and on for nine years, for gosh sakes! It is a part of me. It will be so bizarre in January to not start up classes again...

With the fresh new start of classes tomorrow morning, I thought a new background was in order on my laptop... :) I chose the one above from this gorgeous website, found via How About Orange! Go grab one for yourself, yay!

Wish me luck on my first day of school, eek! :)

xo!