Light bulb

I've been telling Jon about my recent school struggles with Ben.  Last night at dinner, Jon started to talk to him about making an effort, always doing your best etc.  I think Ben started to take it as us being mad at him rather than a life strategy.  Then the light bulb clicked for Jon and he had a BRILLIANT idea!  Why not make school video game like for the boy who absolutely loves video games.
Ben started with 5 lives.  I asked him a question and if he got it right, he got another life.  If he got it wrong, we took a life away.  He had four chances to answer a question before I gave him the answer.  He used his "controller" to help him think of some answers.
The goal was to get to 15 lives.  Once he made it, he asked for more questions so we went to 20.  The kid still wanted more.  We went all the way up to thirty lives then had to stop because it was bed time.  Ben voluntarily reviewed every major (and some minor) topics we've covered since the beginning of the school year...and he had fun! I was shocked at how much he has actually retained.  I was really considering doing a condensed version of first grade during the summer or maybe even repeating first grade because I thought he wasn't grasping enough, but he proved me wrong.  We have a few areas that will need some more review, but its not nearly as much as I originally thought.  The absolute best part is that Ben is already talking about school on Monday.  Yesterday, when I told him it was time for school, he asked why we have to do it everyday.  He was clearly getting as frustrated as I was.  I'm so excited to put this to the test of a real school day with out dad throwing in some extra silly stuff.  Let hope the magic holds out!