Friday, April 29, 2016

Thinking Tree Review





     This is the journal Fox has been using for almost 3 months now. It has been a journey LOL. First let me start off by saying he has finished multiple chapter books during this time, just so I am clear HE HAS FINISHED MULTIPLE CHAPTER BOOKS DURING THIS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I made that clear enough!!




Just in case that wasn't clear here is a picture of him reading!!!! HE IS READING A BOOK!!!!!!!!!! Those of you who know Fox know what a MASSIVE deal this is for him. Fox hates school, he hates to read, he abhors writing and reading for enjoyment is OUT of the question. There is always one in the bunch and this is my Fox. He challenges me in every situation possible. When he is in a good mood he is the most loving, talented wonderful kid you could ever have the joy of knowing. When he is difficult best just to leave the house...kidding kidding almost!

The introduction of the journal kind of went like this. "Fox we are gonna use these really cool journals for school"!!! I remembered he mumbled something not sure what it was hmmmm. Anyway, "You are gonna pick books and read 4 a day for 15". I got no further, he laughed. I showed him the book he kind of breezed through it and said "oh you want me to draw"? He also mentioned using Godzilla as a movie. So we had our first day where they picked books. He refused the library trip. He would just use books here because as he said they all were crummy anyway.

Then he got to really looking in our books and found all kinds of treasures. Hey this is WW1 and this is about the middle ages, and we went from there.




So it began, what my kids call journal school.

Keep in mind He HATES TO WRITE! But he tried and he attempted many more times. Telling me a story he goes on for hours, write me a story and he has NO clue. But he agreed to keep trying.













So these are the first nature drawings he gave me. This is supposedly one of the trees outside. Well can't tell him he is wrong, but a bit more effort could have been made!














These he likes for the most part. He has always been a problem solver. That must come from the lego stuff he builds. Hours upon hours of lego builds. Lego was a GOD send when he was small and I needed to make dinner!




















Okay wait a sec... Did he attempt a paragraph!!!!!!!! YES YES HE DID!!!!!!!!!! YAY FOX. He even asked me how he could make it better! Ok these journals are getting somewhere now.














WOW! There are lines and color!!! I am seeing results and for Fox that is HUGE! So in my opinion right there it works. Did I also mention he has finished numerous chapter books? I really want that point across because he cannot be the only kid in the world who hates to read. So roughly I spent $23 bucks, Fox reading, finishing and telling me about books? This is priceless for me!!! So last night we sat down and I asked him about journal school.

What are three things you like about journal school?


1. I like it because it is different than the stuff we used to do.

2. I like it because it is interesting since I get to read about things that interest me. He went on to tell me many things about both world wars and the era that mammals ruled the earth.

3. I want to try to make my pages look better than what they did in the beginning.

Now can you tell me 3 things you don't like?

His answer, my book is half way done it needs to be longer and I need more activities!! Well those are his dislikes! If you can call them that.

When asked if he wants to continue with journal school he said this is all he wants to do for school.

So there you have it! Our review that we are giving because we think this is a great product and it can help many boys out there just like Fox!!!


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