Math Homework Saves The Day!

Yes, math homework saves the day! Or at least this evening. Well, Karston's love of math homework did! When I came home after work, Karston was very worked up. He was running through the house at top speed, laughing loudly, bouncing off walls and little brothers, and someone was going to get hurt. Not knowing what else to do, I did what I always do when Karston needs to calm down even though it's never been terribly effective: I delivered a multiple choice ultimatum of what I wanted Karston to do. I said, Karston, you can do your math homework, you can eat dinner, or you can go to bed! That last one is the dud choice to make the others look better, maybe more reasonable. The second time I asked, Karston said math homework, so I set out this week's batch that I had just unpacked. He started going, he kept asking for more, and before I knew it, he had done all of his math homework and still wanted more. I had some of his unfinished classwork, so I gave it to him. He did that too! Then he was calm enough to eat dinner, and we had such a pleasant evening together after such a rocky start. Yes, math homework really can save the day!

Thanksgiving Dinner

At the end of the school week, Karston brings home the work he did in class. This week is a short week because he gets off Wednesday through Friday for Thanksgiving. One piece of class work was the standard open area at the top for drawing and coloring with a lined area below for writing. This one had cues: a picture of an empty cornucopia to fill, and a lead-in for a sentence or paragraph. The lead-in was "On Thanksgiving I will eat" -- at this point, I'm very eager to read this jackpot! Karston had written chesit (as in, cheezit crackers, his current favorite of the cheesy crackers). Some days I feel like he eats about one cheezit, so his answer to his class work was closer to the mark than I'd like. Hopefully, he might even try what everyone else eats.