WILL DO MATH FOR JUNK FROM CHINA

Drew's school has a no homework policy.  No, I'm not kidding.  It was absolutely not a selling point for me when we were searching for a school.  I think homework is important for lots of reasons and as a teacher I just can't imagine getting everything in during the day that the kids actually don't have to go home and complete it.  As a parent, I have to admit, it's kind of nice.  BUT, back to it being important for lots of reasons...  After Drew's conference last week I realize that the things we do (and have always done) is where she excells.  The things we hardly ever do is where she is performing meh.  Overall she's doing well, no biggie.  I, however, know she can improve and this is where I think homework, or extra practice, comes into the picture.  And in comes My Plan.

It's pretty simple.  I bought William a K math workbook and I bought Drew a 1st-2nd grade math workbook.  I bought Drew some heart stickers and I bought William some smiley face stickers.  I bought a poster board.  This is how it will work:

Once a day I will ask for their math workbook.  I will check any new pages that are completed.  They have to be done well and done completely.  They don't have to all be correct, but any mistakes we'll discuss and fix.  For each page which meets those requirements they get to put one of their stickers on the I Heart Math posterboard.  For every 15 stickers each child earns, it's a trip to the dollar store.  When each child earns 50 stickers, we will go to John's Incredible Pizza as a family. 

Have some free time?  Grab your math workbook if you want.  It's up to you.  Oh, see Drew working on her math in the car?  You may want to, also, or she'll have more stickers than you!  Want to sit with me while Lauren naps and work on a few pages you found that you don't understand?  I'd love to do that.  Don't feel like doing it today?  That's fine, but don't complain when we go to the dollar store in a few days and you can't buy anything because you haven't earned the stickers for your 4 quarters yet.

That's it.  

Simple, right?

They were super excited about it and although I haven't checked their books yet (I'll do it sometime tomorrow), I know each has done about 5 or 6 pages each.  They both took their book to bed with them tonight.  Shoot, we may be going to the dollar store tomorrow!  If we do, I'm ok with that.  Why?  Because I want them to Heart Math.