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Here are a couple of stories Kien has written over the last couple of weeks. I've not been concentrating on writing lately. We've been working on improving his keyboard skills as well as identifying and reading notes. I should really do a recording of him playing some pieces. He's coming along nicely with his music. I only have energy to work on one thing at a time, so it seems.
I can't believe how quickly these last couple of months has gone by for Kien being back at school...and then we will be finished with this first term! He hasn't written anything for this blog recently, so here are a couple of stories. The first he wrote today on the iPhone, and the second was written a week ago.
Thought I'd better get back into getting Kien writing his stories again. We get a bit lazy on a Sunday, and I'm finding him stuff to do to earn points. He's already emptied the dishwasher, practiced some catching for cricket, and practiced his concert piece on the keyboard (in a couple of weeks he's playing a little piece for the music school performance concert). A 3 sentence story earns him 3 points, so its a worthwhile exercise for him, even though the time it takes him to actually do it is an exercise in patience for me!
"Give me a smile, Kien. A proper smile. SMILE!" Urgh....
At the family gathering yesterday Jef's cousin Doug's kid, Noah, and Kien did some science. Here's Kien's write up about it.
I asked for a 6 sentence story over the weekend. Jef helped him with it. I guess I can't complain. 3-4 word sentences are still complete sentences.
2 weeks of school holidays and all routines go out the window! But we are back, and I'm reining this little dude in again. We are back to the points system for earning screen time - and here's his story, which is worth 3 whole points (and I'm being really generous by making a point worth 15 mins instead of 10 minutes set last term).
Taking pics inside the my phone while the kid is jumping around is not conducive to non blurry photos. Ah well, they are only token photos anyway.
We've confiscated all devices until he learns to appreciate how good he has it! I think we are now on to our third week where he's got to earn time on any devices by doing all his homework and keyboard practice. There have been a few tears, but all in all it has gone quite well. After his drama class today he came home and we did some origami. We made balloons and these transforming star things. Now he's doing his Reading Eggs (digital reading lessons) while I post this. BTW he insisted on drawing ++ signs above "magic Es".
I took Kien to Bee School at Vic Park yesterday. This is our first step in the journey to becoming beekeepers, which Kien is very keen for. He's been asking when we are getting hives, and I've been putting him off for years - yes, years. We'll get there soon! Here's his story for the week.
You have no idea how long it took both Jef and I, in separate shifts, to get Kien to write this story. The stubbornness that kid shows is palpable. Perseverance pays off at the end of the day though. Thanks, Margaret, for the nudge to make the effort with these exercises.