School Days: Learning Words

Words are so very important.  They can heal, they can hurt, they can make, they can break.  I love getting sweet notes from my 10 year old princess.  And on occasion we have exchanged notes letting each other know where we are lacking, or how our feelings have been hurt.  This has been effective for us when verbal reminders/corrections aren't working.
I want my little boy to be able to express himself through notes too, not just pictures.  Although those are sweet too. :)  But how on earth can he write me a secret note if I'm spelling all the words for him? haha.
Well, little boys tend to have a tough time sitting still and working with pencil and paper.  This doesn't mean they are lacking the smarts to do it, it just means we have to find a way to teach them that they will enjoy.  By the way, even if your littles don't seem to enjoy it and you think you aren't getting anywhere... you probably actually are making progress!  They are smart little cookies soak up way more than you think!  Take a deep breath, you can do this momma! 
So, do you want to know my secret?  Little boys love MAGNETS!
He was showing an interest in reading about a year ago.  So I worked with him then.  Then it tapered off for awhile, and now it's back again.  We will keep working at his pace, with an occasional nudge to try more. 
What we're using is a $1 cookie sheet from the Dollar Tree & a couple packs of their magnetic letters, also $1.  So we've got less than $5 into it.  We used picture cards from our Hooked on Phonics set, but that was *insert whiny voice *..."too hard!".