A New Project

I have been remiss in keeping this blog in any state of updatedness. Hopefully, that is about to change.

It is summer. And in the midst of editing stories and schlepping them around to people who might want to read them, I have taken on a Herculean task. I have one boy, 8 1/2, (No, we're not planning on having any more, thank you. If you knew him, you'd know why.) who we'll call JT. He is very bright, but young for his grade, and consistently falls shy of school district standards. (No, I do not homeschool, thank you. If you knew me, you'd know why!) So he benefits greatly by the blessing that is summer school. Sadly, budget restrictions have put the kibosh on summer school this year, so it's up to me.

Poor kid.

In the past, I've half-heartedly relied on Summer Bridge workbooks. I would have loved these books at his age. I thought workbooks were a treat right up there with foot-high ice cream cones from Zo's. But alas, the child is not terribly interested.

What he is, is terribly mechanical. Ridiculously mechanical. How mechanical? Mechanical enough to go from this:



to this:



in about five hours with no help.

So in an effort to have him work on math, writing, reading, and general organizational skills in a way that will bless his heart and keep his excitement up, we are attempting something new. We're going to build a fort. But we're not just going to build a fort. He's going to plan the fort, write a list of things he wants to do in it, write a story about it, plot it in the yard, draw it (using basic drafting skills), and construct it.

I just hope I can keep up. I have a terrible habit of starting these things (guitar lessons?) and getting distracted.

So today I give our first report.

Today we went to Target and Office Max to get planning supplies--paper, mechanical pencils, colored pencils, a 3-ringed binder, basic drafting supplies (man that tape is still stinkin' expensive!), and so forth.

Tally:
Target: $17.57
Office Max: $18.74

We recorded the expenses and organized the supplies. Now he's drawing a picture of what he wants the outside of the fort to look like. Apparently, flames will be required.