Good help

The kids got home from school in a good mood yesterday. I pick Honor up from kindergarten, and we arrive home about 30 minutes before Brian - unless he has an after school activity which keeps him later. Honor wanted to eat her snack and wait for Brian downstairs in the courtyard, so we joined some friends on a bench and socialized. Brian came home and we went up to unpack, do homework, etc.

Brian also has to do some extra handwriting practice as this continues to be a weak spot. He HATES writing. I am trying to make him understand that the actual process of forming letters will get easier with practice and repetition - then, any assignments calling for writing work will not be so tedious. Rather than having to struggle to write neatly, he can focus on what he is actually putting into words. We're getting there. Last night he was very good. He sat down and filled a notebook page front and back in a reasonable time with no fussing - fairly neatly too.

After he finished - and I had even warned him, so I am doubly impressed with his good attitude - I had both kids do 20 minutes of cleaning up in the common areas. The living room, play area, bathroom, etc. Meaning, at this age, we probably only accomplished 10 minutes of the work an older child could have pulled off, but I don't push my 5 and 7 yos too hard! They like that I set the timer.

Then, we reset the timer for our bedrooms. I sent each to their room to pick up and put away, and me to my room to fold laundry!, and we had another 20 minutes of that. Honor actually got 25 because she kept leaving her room to do things she didn't need to do. This was an exercise on focus and following instructions, as much as actual cleaning. They both did a nice job. To finish up, we all worked together to put new sheets on each of our beds.

We had a little problem getting this big lump out of Honor's bed:

But eventually he crawled out.