Self-Regulating Scholar

After a less than pleasant school time Monday, I decided to try a chart, something I had been avoiding. But it seems to work out ok. Pearl is able to see all the subjects we need to get through during the day, and if she can complete them she will earn a half hour or an hour of movie watching. If she fails to check out each box, then she misses out on tv time entirely. The two oldest girls are highly motivated by television, alas. The thought of Sapphire watching anything without her gets Pearl moving, which is exactly what I needed to have happen. After all, one of the reason's I'm homeschooling is to instill a self-motivated love of learning in my children.

Here she broke away from her reward to join us for a walk. The girls are wearing their new t-shirts Nana brought home from NYC.  Photographing three wiggling girls is quite a task!

And here Pearl is enjoying some quiet time and her new collection of felt dolly clothes. Thanks so much Mike and Teri for the welcome-home-Ruby gifts! They have kept her busy during the late afternoon again, as her doll talks to her sister's doll about what to wear. I think sorting them is the most fun.

Pearl and I have also been working on Ruby's lifebook.  This is the book that tells Ruby's story from her perspective (as well as we can), and it helps to explain terms like birthparents and adoption in kid-friendly ways. Adoptive families are encouraged to start sharing these terms with their little ones right away, and reading the words in picture books and the lifebook helps build a foundation for conversations whenever the child needs them.

I found ideas for the content online, and I'm just gluing photos and copy in a red 8 x 8" scrapbook my husband's oldest sister kindly found for the purpose.  The page above explains how much Ruby is loved at her group foster home, and how they will keep her photo (in the bottom left corner) on their wall forever. 

Our family will be gathering tomorrow to celebrate my grandmother's life. If you had met her, she would have instructed you to call her Mom-mom. Her she is at my brother's wedding last year, where I didn't realize that another cousin was also bringing her drinks unbidden, and between us we were sort of overdoing it! Ruby got to meet this great-grandmother only briefly before she died after a brief illness on Saturday.  She was 91. Her obituary is here.