McKay discovers MATH!

Introducing math to McKay has been a unplanned technique spanning many months. I bought a few "math games" from the Lakeshore Learning Store months ago and he "plays" with them every once in awhile. In the car sometimes we randomly give him equations to figure out in his mind or on his fingers. It's always been a fun thing to do. Someone gave me some old math textbooks with rip-out tests and quizzes some time ago. I decided to show him the book yesterday and he has been wanting to do it non-stop! Mostly number recognition, addition problems, larger or smaller than, etc.,-type stuff but numbers non-the-less! He follows me around the house with the book asking for help, even taking it in the car to work on. We've also been checking books out from the library about money and coins and that has also introduced some numbers and math to him. One thing that has also helped is our neighbor has a pretty snazy remote-control car that McKay recently decided he wanted and now he's "saving up" to buy one (a much cheaper one of course!) and that is quite the incentive for him to be able to save and count his money earnings (from the chores he does). Kind of fun to watch the growth. It's nothing I'm forcing, but I'm trying to find ways to inspire him with numbers.

McKay's Chore and Commission Chart

Today I updated McKay's Chore Chart. (I have time for this because Grandma took both boys last night for a "sleepover"--yeah!) I am trying to incorporate Dave Ramsey's plan for teaching kids about money. If you click on the chart you'll be able to see it bigger. So, the Wake-up and Bedtime Routines are just expected--part of being a Webb Family member. But the other chores are commission based. To start out, McKay can earn 5 cents per chore per day for the ones that he does that day. Ramsey also included a "Fines" section in his plan (where a kid can have money deducted for bad behavior), but I don't want to focus on that with McKay to begin with. I'd rather start out completely positive. I hope to be better about paying him each week and then helping him divide his earnings between "Spending," "Savings," and "Giving" (tithing). We may even open a little bank account for him--we'll see how it goes. Feel free to check in and see how it's going if you're curious!

The boys "read" the classics!

So, I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and listening to Glenn Beck on Facebook ("Restoring Honor Rally 8-28-2010") when the boys took it upon themselves to un-shelve many of our classics, stack them up beside the couch, and literally start to "read" them.

When caught in the act I ask "Boys! WHAT are you DOING with ALL those BOOKS?!?!"
"We're going to read them, mom," was the innocent answer from McKay and echoed by Elijah on the other end of the couch.

They were actually lying on the couch and thumbing through these masterpieces--even asking me to read them to them. Elijah later on asked me to read him the "Treatise on Rhetoric" by Aristotle! Yeah, I wish! I can't even understand that book!

So I made them put all the books back. And they did. Just like so:

Wouldn't it be cool if they really DID read all those books one day?! : )