Skip to main content

Thursday Quick Tip

By

I am joining Marcy at Ben and Me today to share a Quick Tip on this Thursday.


I have already posted about the Grumble-Meter, but I thought it was awesome enough to deserve it's own post.

Eli is a grumbler. It really doesn't matter what you announce that you are getting ready to do, good or bad. His initial response is a grumble. That makes for a LOOOOOONG homeschooling day! I knew that I did NOT want to listen to that all day every day.

Eli also does not respond well to losing privileges. That means, it really just doesn't affect him. But he THRIVES on EARNING things!

So that's where the idea of the Grumble-Meter and award system came into play.


The Grumble-Meter is a fancy contraption made from half of a paper plate colored in green, yellow, orange and red. It has a black construction paper arrow attached with a brad. I am currently selling these for $50. Just kidding!

It is attached with an ever-so-fancy clothespin to a sketch pad sitting on an easel. Each week (or every two weeks), I come up with a reward the kids can earn by NOT grumbling! The week you see in the pictures is CIRCUS. This week's is FORTS (we are going to go to a really cool fairy house and fort exhibit next weekend).

Each time Eli one of them grumbles, the arrow moves up. As long as it doesn't get into red, they earn a letter for that day. If they grumble more than two times, it goes into red and no letter is earned. Earning those letters is VERY important! (In fact, the week that the reward was the circus, they didn't even end up wanting to go to the circus. They chose to get ice cream at Dairy Queen and play on the school playground instead. See, it's all about earning the daily letters.)

As I sit here and look at the Grumble-Meter, I realize that it hasn't been moved off green in over a week. If Eli starts to grumble, Brynne says, "Eeeeeli!", and he stops.

This has been an amazing tool. I haven't copyrighted the idea yet, so go ahead and steal it! And have a happy, non-grumbling day!
Labels:

Comments

  1. EddieSeptember 13, 2012 at 1:51 PM

    Brilliant!

    Nicole, it's great to see you around again - you were so quiet the last little while!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

By
Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.
17 comments
Read more

A New Year, the Same Me

By
Happy 2019! It is that day of the year where everybody is up extra early starting their new exercise routine, eating only healthy foods, cracking open the pages of a new planner and Bible study, and debuting their Word for the year. You chuckle or roll your eyes, but you are doing at least three of these things. By the way, so am I. So let's start with the Word of the Year. Mine this year is Lagom. It's the Swedish word for "not too little, not too much, just right". It's a concept of being, doing or having just enough. So let's rewind to last New Year's Day. My Word was Might. And that's how I planned to tackle my year. And, I did. I worked out hard, I mommed hard, I traveled hard, I worked hard. And it was a good season. It prepared the way for this year. I accepted the Challenge I set for myself and succeeded. But, I don't need to keep up that pace. I am at a place in my life where I can kind of sit back and enjoy my life without f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Science Sunday ~ Hmmm ... Let Me Think About It!

By
This week in our study of the Human Body , Brynne moved on to the Nervous System . Our first stop was a Pamela Hill Nettleton book called, Think, Think, Think: Learning About Your Brain . As part of our discussions about the brain , and the fact that it's the BOSS of the body, we discussed the importance of the spinal cord . We did a hands on spinal cord project by alternating gummy Life Savers and wagon wheel pasta on a pipe cleaner. We talked about why there was the "squishy" stuff in between the vertebra and how the back can bend and sway because of it. We completed "The Brynne" by adding the stomach, small intestine and large intestine, from our study last week of the Digestive System (although I just realized I have the large intestine coming out of the stomach, when the small intestine should be) and the brain and spinal cord. We are now done talking about the parts of the body and will conclude our study of the Human Body with a two-day unit ...
4 comments
Read more