Anderson: Jonah Recognition Day

We’ve spent the last week at Cape San Blas on a much needed family vacation. After completing the first nine weeks of our school year, I scheduled for us to take two weeks off before beginning the next nine weeks. The Cape was the perfect place to take part of that break. The boys LOVE sand and water, Jake loves that there’s nothing else to do there (he hates the beach) so he is able to rest (which is something that he never does at home) and I love that everyone else is happy and occupied thus giving me a break J.

Thursday (Sept. 26) was a very special day for our youngest! We called it “Jonah Recognition Day”. Yes, Levi had a little bit of a hard time with it (not the activities of the day but the fact that Jonah was getting special recognition), but he muddled through. J

Jonah really struggled last year in some areas. Enough so that we were beginning to get a little concerned. And while we did not want to come across to Levi that Jonah was “more important” than him in any way, we just really felt that the obstacles he had overcome recently were in much need of recognition. That’s what made this day worth celebrating. Let me explain…

*in phonics last year things just didn’t click with Jonah for quite a while. Reading was NOT coming easily for him (which is really sad for a kid who loves books). Finally it clicked and he’s been reading constantly ever since (he loves to read and does it all the time).

*math was also a bit of a struggle in some ways. Don’t get me wrong, he made 100’s on almost every daily math page he was ever given, but in Abeka (the curriculum we use for our homeschooling) there are timed math drills every day and Jonah pretty much NEVER completed one of them. This year, 2^nd grade, he’s completed every one of them with time to spare and has made a 100% on almost every one! He even has a 100% average in math on his first report card!

*lastly, Jonah was just dismissed from speech therapy after 2 years. While he sometimes can still be hard to understand, it’s not because he can’t make certain sounds anymore, it’s only because he gets in a rush and doesn’t pronounce everything. He has really come a long way and has worked hard to get there.

All this combined with his report card (which was all A’s except for a high B in penmanship) caused us to declare a “Jonah Recognition Day”. He loved it!! This is how our day went.

To begin with, he was allowed to just “veg-out” and watch t.v. That may not seem like much to most of you, but we don’t generally allow the boys to watch much t.v. so it was a special treat for Jonah. Later, we had a family scrabble game (Dad helping Jonah).

(look at the concentration on Jake’s face!)

Eventually Jonah bored with this and moved on to play his tablet (another thing he’s not often allowed to do).

He requested hash for lunch, so… his wish was our command. As you can see, he approved.

After lunch, he chose to go play in the pool where he greatly enjoyed his time until his stomach started hurting.

After a brief rest, we headed back to the house where we surprised him with the brownies Levi and I had secretly made earlier. I think that made his stomach feel all better J (yep, the brownies and ice-cream are sugar-free).

As he and Levi were sitting on the balcony eating, they noticed a fish in the pond below so, fishing was the next thing on the agenda. This was a very short and unproductive activity, but they enjoyed it anyway. I think there are too many turtles in that pond for there to be many fish.

So, Jonah’s next request was a game of tennis (which was very short and could hardly be called a “game” or “match” as there was more chasing the ball than anything else). But we all had fun.

(is this tennis or baseball, Levi?)

The tennis court is right by the pool, so before too long Jonah was back in the pool and Levi soon joined. That only lasted a short while before Jonah decided the beach is where he really wanted to be, so…

Of course after you’re done at the beach, you go to the pool to rinse off. And, just to keep things interesting, they chose to go to a different pool than we usually go to.

(as you can see, it was really tough for me, but I managed ;-) )

Then it was back to the house for yet another brownie for Jonah, followed by left-over hash and ANOTHER brownie. This time, “Your Majesty” chose to have it on his room’s balcony. He is really enjoying all this “service” he’s getting.

But then he discovered that our room had a bigger balcony, so he decided to relax there for a bit.

He ended the day by watching some football with Dad & Levi (only I think he spent more time playing with his toys than actually watching the game).

I think he felt thoroughly “recognized”!! Maybe that explains this attitude…

(I am the king of the house today)

And since some of my family & friends are not on FaceBook, I’ll include a bunch of pictures and videos from our vacation in this post. Hope you enjoy them J

(first time trying to skim-board)

(still trying to learn to skim-board)

These next 3 pictures are Levi "throwing" Jonah up in the pool. Jonah wanted Jake to come in and "throw him" but Levi assured him that he could do it.