Working on Behavior

One of my favorite tv shows is NBC's Parenthood.  There are so many times when I burst out laughing because I can totally relate to something said or done on the show.  I had one of those moments while watching the episode "Trouble in Candyland" during which one mom asks another about how she gets her son to behave and cooperate.  "Bribery," she replies.  "We call it an incentive program, but it's really just bribery."  While there is some debate about the technical differences between bribery and incentives, I found myself nodding in agreement, and laughing out loud.

The final piece of the school at home puzzle is behavior management.  You can't be an effective instructor, and your child can't be a receptive student if you both are constantly battling behavior issues.  We have created a new incentive program at my house, and so far...it's working.  I'm calling it Working on Behavior.  My daughter is 9, but very much wants to get a job so she can earn some money.  We don't offer allowances at our house, but I won't go into the details of that decision right now .  We do, however want to fulfill her need to get some satisfaction for her hard work, so she and I had a talk about the fact that her school work and household chores are her job for now.

After some thinking and discussing we agreed on this...

She can earn up to $10 per day based on her behavior during school and completion of her chores after school.  At the end of each week, she will receive her paycheck, which she will need to deposit into her account.  She can then use her checkbook to buy rewards from us.  Rewards can be things like extra dessert, staying up late on weekends, or extra tv or video game time.  We also agreed that other rewards can be added to the list as we go.  This allows her to feel more grown up, and gives her more of the things she really wants while teaching her that successes in the working world are linked to performance and effort.  (It doesn't hurt that she is learning to manage money and a bank account at the same time.)

I sat down and made a chart to display how much she is earning each day, an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of her weekly pay, and then linked it with Word documents I created for printing her paycheck, blank checks, deposit slips, and check register.  I formatted all of these documents so that you can download them and quickly fill in your own information.  I set up the spreadsheet to accommodate up to 35 students, and set up the Word documents as mail merge templates so that you can easily print paychecks, blank checks, and deposit slips for multiple children.  Download my Working on Behavior Starter Pack for free.

Last, but not least, please congratulate Melanie S. on winning the Ready-to-read Bundle!  Thank you for the entries I received.

Karissa

My Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle Giveaway & Sale

I'm ending back-to-school month with a bang!  With the help of my wonderful dad, I've been working hard to get some more of the materials I made for my daughter converted to pdf so they can be posted online.  I'm calling it my Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle.  It includes 5 books, 6 worksheets, 52 print-n-cut Word Builder cards, and a template for printing custom Words I Know cards.  There is one 8 page book for each short vowel.  I wrote the books so that, unlike many store bought beginning reader books, children just learning to sound out words can actually read the entire book themselves.  There are no difficult words in these books.  Each book has a review sheet which requires the child to match words from the book with their corresponding picture, and there is one final review sheet that covers all 5 books.  The books are formatted to either be read as ebooks or printed & assembled.  The print-n-cut Word Builder cards allow children to take the words learned in these books and use them build other words containing the same base sound.  For example, in "A Man, a Cat, and a Rat" children read the words "cat", "mat", "rat", "sat".  Take the "at" base, then add different letters to the beginning of the base to build new words such as "bat, "fat", "hat", and "pat".  There are 26 bases and 26 individual letter cards.  After you child sounds out all of those words, open the Words I Know template and print out each word your child can read.  Cut them apart and let your child use them to build his own sentences and stories.  There are so many ways to store these cards.  Punch a hole in each one and put them on a key ring, attach a magnet to each one and put them on the fridge (or print them on magnet paper), or create a Words I Know wall in your house so everyone can share in his accomplishment.  The purpose is to build your child's confidence while making reading interactive and fun.  

I have posted this entire bundle for sale in my CurrClick store for the very affordable price of $1.43.  $.43 goes to CurrClick for hosting my store, and I make $1 from every sale.  I have really tried to make my materials as affordable as possible. However, I know that sometimes each and every dollar counts, so I will be giving away one completely printed, and assembled set.  Minus the template; that will be emailed to you.  The giveaway will run for one week, ending at midnight on Friday, August 30th.  The winner will be announced in my post next Saturday, the 31st.  The more you spread the word, the more entries you can earn, so be sure to share about the giveaway on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter!  Even if you do not have ready-to-read aged children, this bundle makes a great gift.  I truly hope your family (or friends) enjoy these materials as much as mine has.
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Karissa

Mom's Summer School

There is one more week of school left at our house.  The kids were so excited for summer break to be here...and then they asked, "We're not going to do summer school this year, are we?"  Oh, yes we are.  Don't misunderstand, though, I'm not a drill sergeant.  I usually try to have a lot of fun and mix a little education into it.  I generally have some sort of math and language arts lessons each week, then fill in the rest of the week with topics they are interested in, or are not taught in school.  For example, in previous years some of the "other" subjects we've studied include art history (which included reading passages about various movements in art, viewing examples of each movement, then creating our own art in that style), cooking (which included lessons on the science of cooking, then creating dishes based on that science), and finance (which included lessons on checking & savings accounts, interest, and the stock market).  

The finance course was one of my favorites.  I printed out dummy checks for the kids and gave them each a blank check register.  They worked for me, doing chores and what not. They could either earn bonuses or get docked based on their behavior.  At the end of each week they received a "paycheck" and paystub printed out by me.  I was also the bank.  They had to either deposit their checks using a properly completed deposit slip, or cash their checks  (I gave them play money.)  They also had bills to pay. I based the cost of their rent, utilities, and car payment off of a percentage of their pay.  They had to pay their bills by check.  Also, they had to "buy groceries".  To determine this cost I had the kids make out a grocery list of what they thought they needed each week to plan out healthy meals.  Then we went to the store and wrote down the cost of what they wanted to buy.  They had the opportunity to revise their list before we finalized their cost.  This was their grocery bill each week.  Oh, and they could spend their extra money on things like buying extra dessert, buying video game time, or hiring a sibling to do the chores. Finally, at the end of each month "the bank" (that's me) gave them a statement for their account and they had to balance their checkbooks.  It was a LOT of prep work on my part, but it was so much fun and they learned skills that they will never be taught in school. Perhaps I'll create a course to post online for everyone else.  We'll see...

Anyway, back to what we are going to do THIS summer.  There is such an age difference between my children that I have two separate schedules.  (If you've never checked out the About Me page, I have two 15 year old boys and a 9 year old daughter.)  

For my daughter:  she needs to improve the speed of her math facts, so I downloaded and installed a free version of Timez Attack from Big Brainz.  She will play for 30 minutes per day, 4 days each week.  This will be her math class for the summer. (See, I told you I try to make it more fun than work.)  There are four areas of language arts she will be working on this summer; inferring, comprehension, handwriting, and writing 5 paragraph essays.  She will have a lesson on one of these each Monday, meaning she will study each area once a month.  I don't have lesson plans for these yet.  I'm still working on that. One day each week will be spent doing some sort of craft-ish activity.  She loves cooking, sewing, and paper crafts, so I thought we would combine home-ec & science and get crafty.  I'll post about some of those as we do them.

For my boys:  they are taking Algebra II this fall.  After taking Geometry between Algebra I & II, I think they could use a refresher course.  I've purchased Algebra and Algebra Practice Book from CurrClick.  We will pick and choose the specific chapters that they need the most help with.  Since this is our first year in Florida, my husband suggested that they take a boating safety course and get certified to operate a boat.  We found a free boating safety course that they will complete one lesson in each week.  Finally, the boys are getting old enough to go get jobs...the tax paying kind, not the work around the neighborhood kind.  I did some searching and found some lessons on Money Instructor that I though would give them a head start on being successful in the workplace.  They include topics like filling out an application, how to give a good interview, filling out a W-4, giving & receiving criticism, and dealing with difficult people.  Note that some of Money Instructor's lessons are free, and others are only available to subscribers.  

For all the kids:  our local library is planning an extensive summer reading program this year.  They are having separate events for younger children and for teens.  Both programs take place on Wednesdays, so we are setting aside Wednesday as reading day.  We will not study other subjects or do other classes that day.  It will be a day for reading and doing activities at the library.  Finally, summer is about getting to play and do some things you don't get to do during the school year. With that in mind, we are setting aside Friday to hold a Video Game Summer Olympics.  We scoured our library's video game collection and came up with a list of competitive games that we've never played.  We will check out two different games each week and hold competitions.  Scores will be tallied, and carried over from week to week, until we have an overall champion at the end of the summer.  Most of these games are for the Wii and are active participation type games, so I don't have to worry about them just sitting on the couch like slugs.

Finally,  I stated Tuesday that I would announce the winner of the $10 CurrClick gift certificate giveaway.  Unfortunately, there were no entries, so there is no winner.  If you tried to enter, but were not able to, please contact me right away.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: My Very First Giveaway!

*Note: This giveaway has ended.*

I'm so excited to hold my very first giveaway that I just couldn't wait to get this post out!  I've been wanting to have one for a while, and finally decided to go for it. I'm using Rafflecopter to manage the giveaway for me.  It is a free service that will accept all of the entries, then randomly and impartially chooses a winner once the giveaway has ended.  Here are the details:

• The prize is one $10 gift certificate to CurrClick.
• The giveaway runs from May 21 at 12:00 a.m. until May 25 at 12:00 a.m.
• Each person can earn 8 entries by completing promotional tasks.
• I will announce the winner in my May 25th blog post.  I will also contact the winner directly.
• The $10 gift certificate will be transferred to the winner's CurrClick account once (s)he has provided my with his/her name and email address used on his/her CurrClick account.
• No purchase is necessary to enter or win.
• A free CurrClick account is required in order to receive the electronic gift certificate.

If you are not familiar with CurrClick, it is an online marketplace for curriculum, worksheets & teaching aids, lapbook & notebooking templates, live online classes, free clubs, and more.  Products are great for all types of students from pre-k through high school, and include every school subject in addition to a large selection of faith-based subjects. There are over 52,000 products to choose from, including over 37,000 products available for $10 or less and nearly 800 free items.  Take a minute to browse their products and see what you might want to spend the $10 on.  $10 worth of curriculum and teaching aids is a great way to gear up for summer learning.  Please note that I do list my teaching aids on Currclick for sale under the name The Bright Ideas Company, and that I am an affiliate of the website.  As such, I receive a small percentage of sales generated by my promoting the website.

As I said, this is my first giveaway.  I think I've covered all the details, but if I've left anything out or you have any questions, please just leave a comment.  

Karissa

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