A good idea.

I had a good idea, I think.  You know my youngest has dysgraphia or something like it, hates to write, reverses letters, etc.  I had been making him do copywork and it was working out okay.  The rule was that if he reversed a letter, he had to do it all over again.  This worked pretty well and his reversals got less frequent.  Then, at the beginning of January, I put him into the Sequential Spelling program and I took away the copywork, thinking that he'd be writing his spelling words.  However, he has worn me down and hasn't been writing the words.  He has instead been spelling them aloud, typing them on the computer or spelling them with Scabble tiles.  This was all supposed to be interspersed with actually writing them at least 1 day a week.  I do feel that there is value in those methods, multisensory learning and all that, but he's not been writing anything except math.  So I decided to incorporate copywork again.  This time, instead of just copying anything out of any book onto any paper, I bought him a journal.   He's been facinated with the Spiderwick Field Guide to the Fantastical World and so the plan is that he is going to draw one fantastical creature per page and copy a couple of interesting 'facts' about it out of that book.  He is very enthusiastic about this idea so maybe that will make copywork go better.  I hope.

I'd like to clarify about my vacation, it did make me tired because the beds were less comfortable than one would hope, (and I ate gluten, thinking it would be "worth it" - - big mistake!)  but I'm still glad we went.  Family bonding on vacations is more intense and more fun and full of good memories and I spent 3 whole days without crying so it was worth it and it was a break.  Just the next day when I had to start work again and pick up the death certificates and make arrangements for doctor visits and just generally get back into my real life, it was really hard, that's all.