If I Can Do This, You Can

Raising Kids & Running a Household

Today Ephraim was evaluated by certified Kindergarten & 1st Grade teacher Mrs. Baranowski.  The evaluation took about 20 minutes.  She came out and said that Ephraim did just fine in her opinion.  She said that the State requires 1st Graders to read at a level of 60 words per minute.  She said that Ephraim reads at the level of 105 words per minute and that she can tell that he loves to read.  She also evaluated him on some basic math skills for his age level and she said he answered all the questions correctly.

It’s a big relief to know that Ephraim hasn’t fallen behind compared to other students his age.  I was afraid because this has been a tough year for our family with having twins and all.  I guess I will continue on this homeschool journey.

The staff at the Osceola Center for the Arts have kindly awared Ephraim a full scholarship ($200) to attend their Summer Orchestra String Camp.  Yes, my sister Rechel is the instructor for the the String Camp, but their decision was made independently of that (seeing how they don’t know she’s my sister).

We are so grateful that Ephraim will be able to attend this camp and hope that his skills with playing the violin will grow.

 

***UPDATE JULY 20, 2012***

We just got back from attending the String Orchestra Camp Concert at the Osceola Center for the Arts.  Ephraim did such a great job on his performance!  We are so proud of him.  He seems like he grew a lot and made new friends.  A BIG THANK YOU to my sister Rechel for keeping Ephraim for 2 weeks so he could attend the camp.

 

Today, Ephraim and Caleb went with Christian, an older neighbor friend, to another neighbor’s home across the street and asked if they could rake leaves.  The neighbor gave them the job.  It was fun watching the boys work together as a team. However, they had a hard time staying focused.  I thought to myself, “This is definitely a step in the right direction. One step closer to them moving out of my home and making lives for themselves.”  After about 15 minutes of work (more like random moments of kinetic energy), the neighbor came out and paid them for their time and effort.  Ephraim and Caleb ran from across the street yelling, “Mom! Mom! Look!”  They both showed me the quarter they had just received.  Then Ephraim shouted, “WE’RE RICH!!! WE’RE RICH!!!”

Yeah, baby steps in the right direction ;-D

Book: One More Sheep

Author(s): Mij Kelly and Russell Ayto

Suggested Grade Level: Kindergarten

This was a fun book to read to my children.  It was perfect for Caleb (age 5) who needs to practice counting from 1-10 and to learn how to add one more.  The author has a funny way of teaching children how to count sheep in order to fall asleep.  It also goes over the concept of “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

New Word Definitions: cross – to be angry or annoyed; moor – land that is used for animals like sheep.