Last night, the boys had their fall ball practices. On Monday, C had fallen and scraped up his arm. He was telling me that it still hurt, and he didn't think he should practice. (N's league is at 6, C's is at 7.) I just looked at him and said "okay." Personally, I was exhausted and one less hour at the field was just fine with me. About 15 minutes before N was done, I asked C, "Are you sure you don't want to practice tonight?" And he replied that he did not. I was very non-committal in my response, but part of me *knew* that I should encourage him to play and fulfill his commitment to his team. But, darn it, I was tired! Anyway -- N comes off the field and C looks at me and says "I really should practice tonight, Mom. We're already here and my team is counting on me!" I said "okay! I think that's a really good decision and I'm proud of you."

I WAS proud of him. I was feeling a bit guilty that I hadn't tried to talk him into practicing, but I was extremely proud that he came to the decision on his own. When we got into the van after practice he said "That was a great practice! I'm so glad I stayed!"

Today N fought a bit about starting school, but came around rather quickly and got down to work. I hope this is the beginning of a switch for him.

They both did their nature journals today and practiced reading. (I have a review of BOB books up on my other blog.) They also practiced cutting by trying to follow curvy lines on a piece of paper.

N did a page in his math workbook (filling in the numbers on the face of a clock) and C did a worksheet page about time. He got about 1/2 of them right, so we reviewed hour hand vs. minute hand again and did some additional practice. He's struggling a bit with the concept of minutes vs. the numbers he actually sees on the clock face. We practiced counting by 5's again as well.

C did a page in his spelling workbook and we did the oral test of spelling words. He missed one. He also did 2 pages in his word journal.

They both colored a coloring page from Shrek and did copywork pages in the "Little Folks" books.

I read out loud some information about whales and dolphins.

We played dominoes this afternoon with a wonderful set I picked up at Target clearance. They're made from bamboo wood and feel so nice in your hand.

I also pulled out the paints and let them paint. N has been asking to paint for a while now, but I didn't feel like dealing with the mess. I'm happy to say that the mess was very minimal, and they both enjoyed painting.