Our Classroom Today--March 8, 2011

After our trip to The Works, we headed to our regular Tuesday group for the afternoon. My friend T (another friend, not the one from The Works), bought a new house recently and invited us all over. From the time we arrived to the time we left almost 5 hours later, the only time we really heard from the kids was when they were hungry!



I got to spend the time hanging out at the kitchen table, talking, laughing, generally forgetting all my troubles. I love this group. Love this group. Toward the end of the afternoon, we were informed by the kids that there was going to be a show. They spent time creating, choreographing, and rehearsing. When they were ready, we moms went up and and watched them perform their version of "The Nutcracker."

It was so cute. We laughed, they laughed. They did such a great job! And we directed none of it. They came to this completely on their own. They worked together, ironed out differences and changes of mind. Yet another example of why I love homeschooling: being able to allow kids the time and space they need to be able to figure out how to work together to create something great.

Monday, Monday

Monday was a day off from school in one of our local school districts. We sit on the border of two districts. Literally 2 blocks away, and we are in the other district. It doesn't matter, because we homeschool, but it makes neighborhoods a little weird.

But one of the districts was off, and Kiddo's friend M lives in that district. M is the son of my friend A, who works part time in the same district. Because they were both off for the day, they invited us over for a play date and conversation.

It was a great day. My plan was to go over for a couple of hours in the morning, and be home for lunch. After lunch, we would do our school work. Perfect.

One catch. The kids were playing so well together. It isn't always easy when you get kids together and 2 are the same age, and the other is younger (and a girl!). But it was great. M and Kiddo included Kutey in their play. Kutey followed along and didn't complain. Kutey's only complaint was hunger. I swear, I feed her. But she is always hungry! A offered to make lunch. The kids wanted to stay. Hubby works late on Monday's. It was a perfect storm. So we stayed. And stayed. There was only 1 moment of trauma. It wasn't big. Kutey was embarrassed because she took something apart the M didn't want her to. M was frustrated. We managed to work through it, though, and all was well. But Kutey was determined at that moment that we were going home. I am very glad we didn't. Lots of good conversation for A and I. Lots of great Harry Potter and LEGO play for Kiddo and M (and Kutey.)

It was totally worth getting off our school schedule. Especially since A and M will be in Ireland(!) for 10 weeks(!) this summer. Not that I am jealous or anything (so totally jealous!)

Drawing in the Morning

Kiddo was up before me this morning. In fact, he woke me up to tell me he was drawing a rainbow, but he couldn't find indigo. In my half-awake state, I told him to skip it, just go from blue to violet. That must have been acceptable, because he wandered off.

By the time I got downstairs, he had completed most of these:


He drew them for his friends in our Tuesday group. Hubby and I have commented to each other on how thoughtful he always is in picking out gifts for others. He always thinks about what they would like, not what he would. He was equally thoughtful in drawing pictures for his friends. Each person was drawn a picture of one of their favorite things: a pink fairy princess, a rainbow, a digger, Thomas the Tank Engine, and two Star Wars characters. He used toys to model for some of the pictures; he was very proud of that method.

I really need to find him an art outlet!