Poetry

We are visiting my dad in CA for a month. My kids have been enjoying the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon because we don't have cable at home. Today I cut the TV off and told them they had to write a poem about the trip we took out here before watching anymore TV. It's funny how plenty busy they can keep themselves playing games, playing outside, and doing anything but write poetry. Suddenly TV does not seem all that important to them. Writing is not our easiest subject to tackle. My 9 year old wrote a poem though. We'll see if we can get one from the others tomorrow. :)

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International Nerd Association

I was going over my fifth grader's Language Arts workbook today. He told me he finished it, which actually means he did all the pages he understood how to do. He kind of glossed over the pages requiring any lengthy writing. I was ok with it because writing can be difficult for a child. I never liked writing either. Going over his workbook helped me realize writing is something we will have to focus on over the next couple of months.

However, there was one page in which it had him fill in a writing plan in a graphic organizer for a story he would like to tell. He wrote:

Beginning
Characters: College students Kyle and Jessica
Setting: Hawaii

Middle
Problem: Bullied

End
Solutions: INA

I asked him what INA stood for and he replied, "International Nerd Association."

I'm looking forward to reading his story :)

We use the Flash Kids Language Arts books. My kids have enjoyed them. They cover:

• parts of speech
• sentences
• mechanics
• vocabulary and usage
• writing
• research skills. 

They are colorful, easy to do independently, and best of all inexpensive. They retail for about $6.95. Some levels can be purchased at Amazon.com, but Flash Kids is a division of Barnes and Noble. 

They look like this: 

Flash Kids also has other subjects in the series, including writing, math, spelling, reading comprehension, and test prep.

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