W brought over his workbook yesterday to do some reading exercises. He's really been into reading lately. We read the stories together - I read the big words, he read the little words - and he would answer the comprehension questions that followed. Then we did some spelling pages where he wrote out some words ending in "an" and "at". He has also been asking me to find "word" websites for him, so he can read to me. I found a cute one called Carl's Corner that we really like. Another thing he loves lately is subtraction. He ran to get the 10 pennies we always use and did a good handful of problems from the workbook. He likes the "take away" action, lol. He's getting good practice writing numbers, too. The way we "do workbook" is basically he plops one of the books in my lap when the mood strikes him and flips around the pages until one looks good to him. I'll read him the directions and he goes at it. It's fun that way!

J was MIA while I was "workbooking" with W. I finally found her in K's room reading. She was reading a book called Isabel by Annie Dalton. She read the first couple of chapters and likes it a lot. She even brought it to dance class! I do get so excited when I see her reading. School had sucked all the joy out of it for her over the years and she shunned almost all books once we started homeschooling (and writing, too, btw). I would love for her to once again consider reading as something enjoyable and as a way to find information, not something tedious and torturous like it was. That's why I'm giving her as much freedom with reading as she needs. She has been slowly getting back into it, though, picking up ones that are way below her level or just sticking with magazines and fun workbooks. And that's ok. Her enjoyment for learning has definitely returned and that's what's important.

K has been keeping her grades up in school and then today she apparently made a bad decision. I won't go into details, but she did something very irresponsible and will have to work very hard to gain back my trust. She has also said today that she doesn't want to go back to school, she doesn't like her friends anymore, and she wants to be homeschooled the rest of the year. I guess I should have been careful what I wished for. I didn't want it to come about like this. She will be going to school tomorrow because I think she is just angry and embarrassed. I can tell you that I will be watching her like a hawk from now on, removing several privileges, and making sure she comes with me whenever I leave the house. I'm angry, but I thank God she's ok and hopefully will learn from this.