a good week

Well, we have had a really good week this week. The reason it has been good, I think is that it has been relaxed.
Starting the week off with family day sure helped. We opted to spend family day at home as, with the girls being home mid-week, we often have the chance to do trips to local attractions when they are far less busy then they would be on a day like family day! So, instead we spent the day at home, the girls playing for the majority of it, followed by an evening of family games. (Zooreka and Uno being the hands down choices!)

Then, Tues and Wed, the girls got to spend their days with friends as those are my regular work days, but we did seem to have a lot of time in the morning for reading in bed and working on math workbooks.
Thursday morning is my house cleaning day followed by friends at our house for the afternoon. I found myself with a clean house by 11 am as the girls played fervently and without interruption until just a few minutes before their friends arrived. Then other then keeping them fed, and reading some books with them, I was left to my own devices.

Today we cozied up on the couch, and finished watching the opening ceremonies of the winter games, followed by the girls pulling out play dough and playing at the table for a while. Then we listened to the entire audio reading of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2.5 hrs!!) --was supposed to be while we ate lunch, but the girls didn't want to stop! Then they rounded out the last hour before Jeff got home with drawing pictures. This evening, Tara helped me make muffins and Aislinn worked on a typing program (has all her letters going on the keyboard except zxc,./ ) They then played horse for a while, cleaned up, we read a story and they made their way to bed. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there Tara practised reading Bob books to me and again to Jeff when he got home.

A nice well rounded week, the only thing lacking was much in the way of physical exercise as we missed our Monday morning skate, and what snow there is in the yard has sort of crusted over.

and then, to finish this picture free post (I am feeling too lazy to download the pics off the camera --may edit to add pics later :) a few wandering thoughts!


I am often grateful for the schedule we have chosen for our family... the amount of time I have with the girls, the number of days we spend chatting or reading in bed before making our way to the kitchen for breakfast. The sheer number of hours my girls get to spend in their fantasy world of play, both together and with their friends. And, as usual, the ease at which they learn new skills without any apparent pushing or negative effort.
Every time my inner clock tells me to push, I am always rewarded with jumps in their abilities -without any conflict- after waiting just a few weeks more.

Another Book recommendation...

I was walking through a local discount book store in search of a gift for Aislinn's upcoming birthday (starting early), and this book caught my eye. Now I am not at all lacking in books or kits relating to science, but a brief flip through had me hooked. (and the 5 dollar price tag didn't hurt either.)

When I got home, I found myself even more pleased, as a closer examination showed me just how versatile and full of info it is. I am picturing us working through they different experiments together, but that it will also be perfect in future years for the girls to tackle many of the sections independently! ( You learn best by repetition right? :) Anyway, I snapped a few pictures so you could have a look.

(K -- seems to have some good topics on being environmentally aware with some different activities etc. -- you can have a peek some time if you would like... unless it is already in your extensive library ;)

Read-alouds

We have been whipping through read-alouds lately, these two being our latest. Both books were only about 12 chapters long, but the girls still really love seeing those few pictures dispersed here and there. Both books were quite good (just finishing Harry's Mad still), and I enjoyed some of the topics they brought up. (In light undertones, family separation in the first one, and death of an uncle in the second one.)

The other book that we have been reading but only on occasion is the Book of Family Virtues. It has a selection of virtues, and write-ups on each one that are done really well and have given the girls great explanations of words such as Assertiveness, Consideration, Generosity, Tact, Kindness, ect. and ways in which we can model them in our lives. (I do do a slight bit of editing depending on the slant the write-up is given, but it has been a great jump-off point for some good conversations.)

Science Center Family Membership

This year, we were gifted a family membership to the Science Center as a Christmas/birthday family gift from my parents. It is one of my favorite area attractions, and the girls absolutely love it there.
On the Friday before Jeff started school (yeah!) we planned a trip and spent the day. We spent most of our time exploring the living earth displays, letting the girls enjoy the kids area, and spending just a few minutes in the physics area. Barely touching the surface.
That is the great thing about a membership... there is no rush to have to see everything. We did decide to upgrade our membership to a gold membership and made sure we had time to watch a film called "Under the Sea" in the Omnimax theatre. Very cool! The girls were completely awed by the undersea creatures that felt as if you could reach out and touch them.
We are looking forward to another visit in a week or two (including a veiwing of the Human Body film,and a visit to Body Worlds), and plan to get great use out of our membership this year!