A Good Day

Today went very well. Our best homeschooling day so far. We started by making houses for the guinea pigs (Chizzle and Sammy) out of blocks. The pigs knocked the houses down repeatedly and ate fistfuls of carrots, all to great hilarity.

Nell wrote about this for her writing assignment. We talked about newspaper reporting. She will write a final version tomorrow. Simon wrote about a bird making a nest in Draw Then Write. This is the perfect book for Simon, because it forces him to think about all of the "wh" questions (when, where, why, etc), a gaping hole in his language abilities.

When everyone burned out on writing we went outside, filled a big tub of water, and played What Sinks/What Floats. Most things float, it turns out. We found a snake under a rock and we tried to sink a Daddy Long Legs. The DLL survived, and we got to see it drink (it sucks water off each leg in turn, typewriter style). As I knew it would, this activity eventually degenerated into a water fight with the hose. I got some gardening done during the melee.

After lunch we went to a bug class at the Nature Center. The kids were thrilled to be around other kids. Ben was upset because he was too young to be included in the class.

Me: Ben, it's hard to be the littlest one.

Ben: Yes, it's hard. I will grow to be soft.

Nicholas and Christopher from the neighborhood came to play after nature class and I heard all about the first week of school from Pia. Nell played with Sophia and Anna after dinner, and then she and I went for a walk around the block. We talked about our streetlight shadows and why they seem to follow us, then catch up, then run ahead. Nell said that she's starting to like homeschooling.

Nell and Brian are outside now looking at the stars with Max. I'm going to bed.