His Idea

Jack came home from school one day talking about something other than his soccer game at recess.

And as if that wasn't shocking enough, it was about something actually academic.

"Mom. We're going to have a reading fair at school and you get to pick your own book to do whatever sort of project you want to do. Can I do it? You don't really have to do it. It's not mandatory. It's for volunteers. But I really want to. Please?" 

Ummm. Yes.

To be quite honest, if the kid had asked me to buy him a real fishing boat after all that begging to do a voluntary project for school that required reading and writing, I would have bought it right then and there. No doubt. We would have been boat owners.

He wanted to do his project on the last Captain Underpants book that he had just finished (the 6th Epic Novel in the series).

I said, "Word."

"Mom, everyone loved the plungers. And the paper mache too. Well, they loved it all I guess."

Afton wanted to participate too. She did an amazing job and was the first to complete hers in the class. She brought in her project a week early just to, "Motivate my friends to get theirs done too."

She competed her entire project by herself, except for the drawing of the bike. "That's just too much pressure mom. Can you do that please?"

"This was my class project and I got to make a bunch of these animals because I'm pretty creative." - Jack

Afton has always had a knack for loving any special needs students in her class. At parent conferences her teacher said how Afton came to her privately to see if she could switch seats to sit by a young man to help him with his learning and anger issues. "I just think I can really help him, if that's okay with you." Mrs. Hansen is very impressed with my sweet girl, as are we. This was his project that Afton encouraged some classmates to get to know this young boy better while completing the project as a team.

Jack grabbed a poem, stood in line, and read to a classroom or parents and kids. I was shocked. He's getting more confident everyday. 

 He worked hard on his project. He works hard everyday. He follows his sister's good example, and sets a great one for his baby sister too. So glad it was his idea to participate in the school reading fair.