Day 34. Boo.

With the weekend comes Halloween. When I assigned the kids their work for the weekend, I made sure and discussed with them our schedule and that we were gonna be busy. They needed to plan their work in advance in order to accomplish it. We talked about some options and then I let them go.

The kids were very excited about Halloween this year. Between Shawn and I over the last 6 years or so, which is most of their memories of Halloween, one or both of us has been working, or in charge of our Church Fall Festival. Not this year, as our church did not have one. So, we had LOTS more time on our hands. We carved pumpkins together, a first for all three of my kids. Sad, but true. We also attended a large church festival in town, as regular attending people. It was strange, but fun. We came back to the house and trick or treated in the neighborhood, as well. I loved being with my family, but I enjoy putting on a party far more than attending one.

The kids ended off putting a lot of their work off until Sunday, despite our Thursday conversations. Cameron, especially, ended up really upset about the fact that he had decided to wait so long. This has been consistent with him for the past few weeks. This week however, I think we had a light bulb moment for him. For the first time, he talked to me about ways he could make sure he didn't "forget" to do his work. Putting notes up on the mirror and in his room. YAY! Crossing my fingers for next weekend. They need to take ownership of their work and learn to start figuring out how to accomplish it independently. Sometimes, unfortunately, a little bit of suffering is the best lesson. It all got accomplished and now there are just 136 school days left until summer.