Sabrina the Kitty Witch

Our family is growing once again.  We've been pet-free for a while now.  I have to admit, I've kind of liked it.  The doors can be left open without having to worry about letting anyone out.  There were no cages or litter boxes to clean.  There was no wet-dog smell.  It was peaceful having no animals in the house.  I'd kind of gotten used to it.

That's when my mom threw a monkey wrench into our pet-free existence.  I've got to admit, my first reaction was "how do I tell her 'no' without offending her?"  I didn't really want the hassle of a pet in the house, but I've got to admit, my mother made some good points.  When no one else is there for you or they just don't understand, your pet will always be there.  I get that and I don't think it's a terribly bad idea.  Actually, I think it's a really good idea given she's dealing with the divorce and everything else.

We contacted a breeder, given my mom wanted to get her a Maine Coon, just like she and my sister have.  The idea was it would give her something in common with the family and that would help her make connections.  Again, it's not a bad idea, but those are expensive kitties.  I was pretty worried about that detail, but Grandma covered that.  We made all the arrangements and were given the option of two kitties.  The breeder would be deciding the kitten she was willing to part with at the cat show.

At first Bunny Boo was attached to one kitten.  Her name was Boo Kitty.  It's not surprising given the name, but she was also the "cutest" because she had "thumbs".  The kitten was what's called by some "double pawed".  She was completely set on that kitten.

However, when we went to the show the breeder decided she wanted to keep Boo Kitty.  Thankfully, Bunny Boo fell in love with the other kitten before the breeder could say much of anything.  It was love at first sight, and the pictures did nothing to capture her personality.  I was just relieved it all worked out.

So for the next couple of weeks Sabrina will be making herself at home here.  She's had a big exciting couple of days with snow on her trip home and then the need to get used to loud kids.  She's already shown a good deal of interest in everyone, but by the end of the day she got overwhelmed.  Who could blame her?  We all know kids are excitable and they started another one of their daily arguments over something silly.  It was just too much for her. She disappeared under the couch for a much needed nap!

Why Sabrina the Kitty Witch?  The kittens from her litter were all named after Halloween things since they were born so close to Halloween.  Her name was Sabrina, based on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  We decided calling her a teenager wouldn't really work, so we substituted "kitty" instead.  Bunny Boo is excited to have a Halloween kitten, and I can only imagine the stories that will inspire as time goes on, especially as we get close to Halloween again next year!

I may not have been completely thrilled at the idea of this new addition to our family, but I'm glad we go her.  She's sweet and loving, even without having settled in that well.  On top of that, Bunny Boo has taken to trying her best to keep her room clean and to help clean up after meals so it will be safe for her new companion.  She's doing her best to settle all the arguments without screaming and fighting so her kitty can really settle in.  On top of that, she's already started to be responsible for all the things a kitty need.  She checks her food and water several times in the day and gives her fresh water when things fall in the bowl, usually at her youngest brother's doing.  She ask after her kitten regularly to make sure someone is keeping an eye on her to see that she's okay.  Best of all, she's using her new kitten as an excuse to sit down and read more often.  She knows that cats aren't a fan of people being loud and wild around them, so she's taken it upon herself to live in as calm, relaxed, and quiet of a way for as much of the day as possible.  The difference is indescribable.  I can't wait to see what other effects this kitten has on our family.  She's done so much already and she's just gotten here!  Maybe this is just what our family needed.

Ranger Rick, Something for All My Kids

I only vaguely remember the magazines I read when I was younger.  I remember getting Highlights, and that's perhaps the one that sticks best in my mind. I know we got Zoobooks. I'm pretty sure we also got National Geographic Kids. However, I don't really remember Ranger Rick.  That's really been something that was more for my kids, nothing I remember when I was younger.  I'm pretty sure it was around, but I don't even remember it from when I was a kid.

Thankfully, Ranger Rick is a magazine that's thought about providing something for everyone.  It's hard to feel fair with magazine subscriptions most of the family doesn't get any magazines, but one person gets them all.  I feel like the other kids are left out because there aren't as many options.  I'm sure my littlest doesn't care much, but they all like sitting and waiting for their hand-out when magazines come in the mail.  It's a moment of excitement for them.

I kind of get it too.  I always used to love getting mail.  It's harder with e-mail because I don't get mail as often. I don't splurge on magazines for myself anymore, so the most I get is the occasional catalog.  Generally it's just bills and junk mail.  However, as a kid I was always excited when the mail came.

More often than not the kids get packages.  There's generally cards in the packages, but it's big giant boxes over anything you'd get in the mail box.  They get so thrilled on those days, but magazine days are better.  The mailman doesn't come to our door so they're caught off guard, surprised.  It's a little bit of something unexpected to brighten up their day.

What I love about Ranger Rick is the ability to interest kids of all ages, or at least younger kids of all ages.  There does come an age when kids are more likely to want to read adult or teen magazines, but my kids aren't quite there yet.  Until then, Ranger Rick is perfect for my whole family.

The little guy right now gets "the baby magazine" as my daughter puts it.  Our stock of Wild Animal Baby has been growing since Link was little.  A handful of them have been ruined over time by being chewed on or spit up on.  Both my boys loved the books when they were very little, but they didn't always understand the rules of books, like "books don't belong in your mouth."  Now my littlest is old enough that he proudly turns the pages of his own book and pretends to read it all on his own.  He's not much for being read to anymore, so he doesn't really get the full effect, but he still loves he books.  On top of that, he just lights up like nothing else when the other kids get something in the mail and then I hand him his own magazine too!  It makes him feel special.  We get extra use out of it because my daughter will read some of the stuff to Link, so all the kids get something out of it.

Link getsYour Big Backyard.  His older sister got it until not to long ago when he was still getting Animal Babies.  It all changed over right about the time my youngest was born.  We all love that magazine.  Link particularly likes all the pictures of the animals.  This issue had a lot of walrus pictures, which he thought was pretty cool.  We generally don't read much together, but he prefers to have his big sister read to him.  He'll look at his magazines for hours on end!

Bunny Boo is very excited to get Ranger Rick.  It's much more grown-up than the other two magazines, so it makes her feel like an adult.  She reads the articles and the stories.  She loves the little comic in each issue.  Best of all, there's some cool games.  While she loves looking at all the pictures, she also loves that she can learn some pretty cool things.

I have to say, Ranger Rick is the only magazine company I've found that offers magazines for such a wide range of kids.  There's really something for everyone.  Best of all, it's teaching the kids about something all kids love, nature and animals!  Of all the magazines and things out there, this is the one I'm most excited about.  It's one more thing my daughter loves to read and it's a company that offers something for all of my kids.  What could be better than that?

I Don't Know What Changed, But It Changed!

Bunny Boo has decided out of nowhere that she actually wants to read!  She's not telling me that she wants me to read.  She just picked up a book and started reading!  Not only is it a book, but it's a chapter book.  She's willingly decided to read a chapter book, all by herself, without needing to bug me every five seconds for help.  She's finally found something that's inspired her.

So what is this miracle book that got my daughter reading?  Her great aunt sent her Bellossom's Big Battle (Pokemon Junior Chapter Book) in the box she sent for Valentine's Day.  My Pokemon obsessed daughter is finally inspired to read because it's about Pokemon, and what could be more fun than that?  Now if only we could track down the rest of the series!  I might just have to start trying.

Now, in case you haven't guessed by now, my aunt is incredibly awesome.  She has a degree in education and used to teach.  I don't remember a lot about the time I spent with my aunt, but some things do stand out more than others.  She says she helped my sister and I learn fractions, and while I don't doubt it, I just don't remember it.  However, there are some things I do remember quite clearly, like having her dedicate a weekend to my report on Ellis Island, and helping me write it so well (with foot notes and everything) that my teacher thought I must have had someone do it for me.  In my teacher's opinion, sixth graders aren't capable of that kind of work.  I learned a lot about properly siting sources that weekend, knowledge I found helpful later in high school.  There was one weekend where I had to stand out in front of her house while she had me recite the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere so I could have it memorized for the first day we could recite it in class.  I'm horrible with memorization, but while some people would think yelling a poem over the noise of traffic is kind of torturous, I think it was brilliant.  I had to repeat the poem so many times just to be heard that I couldn't help but memorize it.  Since then it's become one of my favorites, even if it isn't the most historically accurate.

My aunt could always be counted on for the best gifts on the holidays too.  My favorite was a book I still have today, almost ten years later, Dinotopia.  I remember my mom saying she was disappointed that I unwrapped it and moved on to the next thing so quickly.  I have to admit, that year I was kind of in a hurry to get it all over with.  I'm still kind of that way.  I like to get through my presents as fast as possible so I can move on to the moments when I don't have to have the whole room looking at me.  I still feel awkward having people stare at me when I get a present, not quite sure how to show proper appreciation, not how long to dedicate to each present before passing on to the next one.

I just wish my aunt knew just how much time I spent with that book.  I even tried writing an entire journal in the footprint language of the dinosaurs.  I still pull that book out and read it.  I just wish I'd known there were more to the hardcover series.  I can't wait until the boys are older so I can share it with them.  Bunny Boo...she's not so much on dinosaurs...

I honestly don't know what changed in Bunny Boo.  I think it had something to do with the Pokemon book, I'm sure.  It's fitting that my aunt should hold the magic fix to get my daughter reading, after all, she always seemed to inspire my sister and I to learn and do really well on our school projects.  I'm just happy that she's reading after all this time!

Oh, and since I know my aunt is reading this, this post is definitely dedicated to her.  There aren't many people in the world as special as my aunt is, and I know I don't tell her this near as much as I probably should, but my life would have been very different without her.  A girl couldn't ask for a better godmother!

Theater Arts and Imaginative Play

For those of you who have followed enough to know I'm teaching at the co-op this semester, I had my theater class.  They're good kids, and there's some serious talent there.  Of course, I'm also learning the hard way that dealing with kids and acting, they can be a handful.  It's not always easy to think of ways to get them to pull it in a bit.  It's also hard to get them out of their imaginative play zone and into the zone of acting.  I think in some ways I really have my work cut out for me!  That's not a bad thing.  I'm not an incredibly experienced drama teacher and most of the kids I've worked with before have some theater experience, even if it is just putting on plays in their living room.

Over the past few years I've noticed that kids play a lot differently than I did when I was younger, and I think that has a lot to do with the results I've seen in my theater class.  I was always kind of weirded out by these trends, though I'd never thought it might be my background (no matter how brief) in theater that might have something to do with it.  My sister and I have been putting on plays since we were old enough to come up with the idea of acting out our own versions of movies.  I did some acting in school too.  Even so, the way these kids play is nothing like the way these kids play now.

It was a couple of years ago when I noticed a huge trend in kids and their play that just seemed awkward.  Kids would tell each other, "and then you did this" and the other kid would immediately respond, almost as though one kid were story telling the whole play session.  Another common one is, "and then I started doing this."  I remember when I was little I never did things like that.  I never told other people how to react to the things I did in play.  I never explained my actions either.  The only things I ever said were to describe the props and the set we were using.  "Hey, look at this!  We've just stumbled upon a labyrinth!"  In reality it would just be the bushes in our front yard.  I would declare that a stick was my sword and other things of that nature.  Often times other "characters" in our play would come up to me and say, "Hey, what are you doing?" if they didn't get what I was acting out, but most of the time it was pretty obvious.  I'd never realized it before, but our play was full of pantomime.

That's actually one of the biggest problems I'm having with my theater class.  They don't seem comfortable with the idea of just sinking in to the roll and acting it out.  More often than not they feel compelled to narrate everything they're doing instead of just doing it.  They're not comfortable with the idea of pantomime.  It's awkward and uncomfortable in a way I never imagined.  I always thought acting things out would be the most natural thing in the world for kids with active imaginations.  Simply acting things out seemed the most natural way to play.

I don't think this new form of play is good or bad.  It's just what it is.  All it means is I've got a lot of work ahead of me in order to get these kids thinking the way actors really think.  I might have to get creative on coming up with ways to encourage the kids to act things out, not tell us what they're doing.  It's not going to be easy either.  Some of these older kids have been playing the way they've been playing for years and it's hard to go and change that routine.  I've got to realize that I'm not just trying to teach these kids a new skill, I'm trying to re-engineer the whole way they play.  That means I've got a lot to think about in activities to get these kids to have a new perspective of the way they interact in an on-stage kind of setting.

It's given me a lot to think about and noticing the problems I'm running into, I think I'm developing a good plan of action for the rest of the year.  I somehow see a lot of pantomime exercises in the future, as well as narration because it's not so easy to listen and do what you're told when you've got all these ideas bursting forth of what should come next.  I'm really excited to watch these kids grow because I'm already looking at a very vivid group of personalities.  I'd like to think I'm as excited about this as the kids are!

String Bowls, Theater Class, and Marshmallows

Yup, it's a co-op day.  How can you tell?  Probably by the interesting title to today's post.  I'm sure that's a pretty dead give-away.  I always write about interesting things on co-op days, which is probably why I love them so much!

I think the highlight of the day for me was helping a class full of boys make string bowls.  I would love to show you a picture of Link's string bowl, but I can't.  First, it's not done yet.  The glue needs to dry before it's finished.  It's also going to be entered into the art exhibit that all the other kids are getting to put something in.  You wouldn't believe how excited Link is to have something in "a real arts show"!  You'd think he was having his work displayed in some fancy New York gallery.  Of course, it's probably about the same to him.  He's never had his artwork on display before.  On top of that, he gets to have his artwork there just like his sister.

We also learned something about Link today.  He doesn't like messes.  We were making the bowls with string and glue, which meant the kids had to get glue all over their hands.  Link went the extra mile to get it on his sweater and his pants.  I guess it's a good thing that stuff washes out!  Unfortunately, he spent the whole first half of the project too squeamish to really get his hands covered.  Who knew Link would be so weird about a little glue on his hands?

My daughter came home with a page full of marshmallows.  It was supposed to be an atom, but I guess everyone though that it looked more like a man sitting in a chair.  It's pretty great how she's learning things like that in school.  When I was her age I don't think I had any idea what an atom was, never mind what they might have looked like!  It's amazing just how much they're doing.

Both the kids are very excited over next week.  They're going to be painting.  Nothing says fun to my kids like busting out paints.  I bet they're very excited to get a little bit messy on that front.  I know paint is a kind of messy Link won't be too squeamish about.  He loves it!

Now if only I had more of an idea of what Sander was doing.  I have to say, I'm really relieved not to be in the nursery the whole time again, but at the same time, I'm also really sad about it.  I loved spending my time in the nursery with my little one, but I also love the break.  I'm sure it'll be good for him to work with other adults than just me all the time too.  Maybe it'll encourage him to break away from his usual routine and get interested in something new.  After all, he's daddy's little man and mama just doesn't cut it sometimes.

I really can't wait until next week.  I'm starting to think I'm just as excited about the co-op each week as the kids are!  It's really been a lot of fun and it's working out to be great for all of us.

Sick Kids Are No Fun...But Sick Mama?

I don't know how these things work out, but they always do.  The whole family just can't seem to get sick all at once and get it over with, or one at a time.  It's all got to happen in these weird phases that just make everything all the more complicated.

Generally the kids are the first to come down with something.  Link's had a weak immune system all his life and gets sick at the drop of a hat.  He's already had his first trip to the hospital, IV and everything, all in time for his third birthday, what a way to celebrate?  Happy birthday, you have strep throat!  Since birth if someone around him is carrying a cold or the flu, we'll know pretty soon, Link will come down with it, though he's gotten better these days.

Typically that's how it goes.  First he comes down with it, and most times it's only been him.  Thankfully he's been a lot better lately.  He doesn't get everything that everyone else gets.  I guess his body is finally catching up on resistances, something that's made me much happier because he was once sick almost all the time.  I was inspired to put him in a bubble to protect him from all the nastiness in the outside world, but if I'd done that his immune system never would have gotten stronger.  It just meant suffering through one kid that got sick at the drop of a hat with things none of the rest of us would ever catch.

More recently it's been both the older two that get sick first.  They catch the flu or a cold, probably because they're exposed to so many other kids.  I don't like sounding like kids are breeding grounds for disease, but let's face it, kids hang out with a lot of other kids, and often a big variety of them.  Adults, on the other hand, generally only see the same groups of people.  Kids also pick things up at the park or playground, and everyone knows the way diseases travel in school.  Adults don't really have those kinds of factors in our lives for the most part.  On top of that, kids immune systems aren't as strong as adults in most cases, which means they're much more likely to come down with something.  Kids also do crazy things like share snacks and drinks, pick their noses, and forget to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze.  No one can really blame them.  That's just kids being kids.

So the kids bring home something and are sick and miserable.  This generally ends up with the kids up all night and miserable, and fighting all day because they didn't want to get the rest they needed.  I should be used to it by now, but what parent truly is?  It's never fun to have sick kids.

However, I've got to admit that when we're all sick at once, it's so much easier.  It's almost like we get to get it done and over with.  Granted, Chesh rarely gets sick, so there's always someone to take care of the sick people in the house, but even when he's sick too, we generally end up putting on something entertaining to watch while the whole family mostly ignores it and sleeps the day away, for once getting the rest we all truly need.  It's just too bad that never happens.

Instead two or three days after the kids get sick, that's when it hits me.  Maybe it's because I spend so much time trying to handle the kids when they're sick, but it always kicks me in the butt every time.  What's a small case of the sniffles for the kids turns into a major head cold for me.  They get a cough that lasts a day or two.  I get a persistent, wracking cough that lingers for weeks and doesn't seem to want to quit.  They get the flu and a little stomach upset and I end up in bed with a stomach ache for days.  Somehow it doesn't seem fair that I take care of them so they recover quickly, yet in return I end up being kept down for much longer.  What's worse is they seem to take the whole mentality of "when the cat's away" and go crazy, or worse, start arguing, whining, and causing trouble so I have to get involved when really I'd rather just lock myself in my room, buried in blankets with a perpetually hot tea by my side so I can sleep until I'm well.

It's just so frustrating that every single time this happens, I end up sick a couple days later.  What's worse is most times it ends up interfering with what the kids want to do.  I end up sick on the day that they have a play date, or I end up sick when the kids have their co-op.  It just doesn't seem fair to them that they have to miss these things because I'm sick.

If only the world were different, so that moms never got sick.  Then moms could be at home to take care of their children when they were sick without having to worry about their kids missing out on things.  It'd be nice if moms didn't have to take a sick day from work to care for their sick child only to have to take another a few days later because things turned around and now they're the one not feeling well.  It's just too bad the world doesn't work differently.

Baseball and Softball...? Maybe Next Year...

I wanted to sign the kids up for baseball and softball this year.  It's a spring sport and I know the kids love spring sports, or at least Link does.  I figured as much as I would love for the kids to have music classes, I think it's just going to have to wait until later.  It's become really clear that the last thing they need is more arts in their life.  They've got plenty of that.  What they need more than anything is an opportunity to run around and burn off some of that energy.  Besides, team sports are good for kids.  It would help them build strength, a healthy lifestyle, be tired enough to go to bed on time, and it would be great social time.

Unfortunately, the world just didn't work that way this year.  I didn't even know about sign-ups until three days before they end.  Technically I could still enroll them tomorrow, but sports are expensive and I just don't think I can swing it.  As much as I'd love to, it's just not in the cards.  We've got to get a lot sorted out in that time.  It would be different if we knew about it sooner because I could have budgeted for it, but sometimes things just aren't meant to be.

With everything in our lives on trying to get our car situation sorted out, it's probably for the best.  Sure, we don't have to worry about the season starting until late March, but we'd have to get our schedule in order, get all their equipment, and everything else.  On top of that, we've got the co-op to worry about and Chesh starts his new job the day before their season starts.  Until we settle into a routine, it's going to be a bit crazy to try and get all of that started at once.

As much as I love the idea, I think we're going to have to wait until next year for spring sports.  This year I think I'll take the kids to the park and help them learn the basics, catching and throwing, at least.  Next year they should be in a much better position to play, and they'll at least have the familiarity with the equipment they'll be using.  That's a start, right?

This whole thing got me thinking about my own involvement in team sports as a child.  I know a lot of people devalue sports, especially girls.  They would rather their children be involved in academic or artistic pursuits. It seems like not very many people I know see much point to sports.  I've heard a lot of negative comments about what competition teaches kids and how a good day at the park can give them just as much exercise, if not more.  I got that, but that's never how I felt about it when I was a child.

It wasn't until I was in 7th grade that I started to have anything to do with sports.  We learned about field hockey in gym class and I loved it so much that I wanted to play more often.  A drop-in team was formed and we actually played a few games against other schools.  It was a lot of fun.  We weren't a winning team by any means, but it was a good group of girls that loved the sport and loved playing the game together.  We really felt like we got something out of it.

When I hit high school, everything changed.  For most of my high school experience our team was still the biggest losers of the league.  Even so, we tried our best and had a lot of fun doing it.  The team really came together.  Even my freshman year when I was the youngest player on the team and felt completely out of place, I still felt like I had something to look forward to.  By the end of the year I was gladly talking to my team-mates, even if I rarely saw them in school.  It broke down the structure of grades because it didn't matter that there were seniors talking with a freshman.  We didn't care.  It was all in the name of the team.  It was like we'd bonded and become a family.

Maybe that's what it is about these sports teams, it's better to be on a losing team.  When you know you're going to lose every game it's not that big of a deal when you lose.  It's even better when you win.  The game becomes all about playing your best and having some fun doing it.  After all, winning and losing don't matter so much when you're having a blast.

Even looking at my own father, he still plays team sports today.  He's a bit of a jock and plays just about every sport under the sun, but he loves it.  That's one of the reasons I got into team sports.  It brought me closer to my dad.  Sure, I was never much good at volleyball, softball, or soccer like my dad was.  I still had fun and it gave us something to talk about.

I've decided that no matter how tight things are, I'm going to make sure my kids get to play baseball and softball next year.  Link will love that.  Bunny Boo doesn't seem to care about it so much, but I think it will be good for her to try it even once.  I know what she's really looking forward to is summer soccer.  I hope to get them involved in that too.  Honestly, I plan to find a way to manage getting each of my kids involved in some sport every season, just so they can try it out.  If they love it, we'll do it again next year.  If they hate it, well, no big deal.  At least they tried it, learned a little about it, and made the decision based on an actual experience, not just because they didn't want to try.

If nothing else, I've learned one thing in all of this.  We're going to put away the money for the kids to join their sports and sign them up as soon as they're able.  That will give us plenty of time to get the gear they need and get them ready to play.  It also means none of these last-minute problems will happen again.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Most people may not see me as a sports-mom, but you know what?  I really kind of miss playing when I was younger, and I think the kids will love it just as much as I did.  If they don't, we can always find something else they like doing, but that will be an entirely different adventure.

Lazy for Homeschooling, Yet Somehow Still Productive

You know what we did for homeschooling today?  That's right, nothing.  We didn't work on writing.  We didn't work on reading.  We didn't talk about math.  Link didn't even read the e-mail from his grandma about the cool stuff she's got to say on the subject of germs.  We did absolutely nothing, yet I think it was perhaps our most productive homeschooling day ever.

Why do I think that?  For starters, my daughter actually read.  She didn't really read much, but she was sitting next to the baby I take care of after just having fed her (because she loves being helpful) and my youngest brought her one of those boxed sets of books.  He wanted to "read" them.  However, I guess he decided they were boring when they were no longer in their box, so he just walked away.  That's when my daughter decided to do something incredibly out of character for her.  She picked up the first book and started reading the first chapter quietly to herself, asking questions when she came across something she just didn't get.

What was this book that had her so captivated?  The book was Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! from The Flat Stanley Collection Box Set.  We'd parts of the books before, though most of the time we'd never finished them because she just wasn't interested in finishing stories back then.  She liked to read half a book and then start something new.  However, this time she was plowing through it like a champ.  Who knew she'd just pick it up and read it for no reason at all?  I'm so proud of my Bunny!  She's actually reading!

Link didn't do anything overly educational, but he did a lot of "creative writing" type practice.  He was sitting by himself just making up stories.  I'm not entirely sure who he was telling or if he was telling anyone at all, but it was amusing to see him sitting there, quietly telling stories without any toys or physical action going on.  I wouldn't be surprised if I had peeked in to see him holding a book, but I didn't bother to check on him.  I didn't want to interrupt him.

My littlest one decided today would be a good day to color.  He finally started using his Easel and his Crayon Rocks that he got for his birthday.  I can't tell you how much he loves them.  It took him a while to actually start using them.  Crayons weren't so much his thing, but he's discovered that these are just perfect for him to hold.  He had to ask the other kids what colors each crayon was before he could draw with it and was incredibly proud of what he'd done.  He's finally starting to sink in to something a bit artistic.  We knew it wouldn't be long!

It was a very relaxing day, aside from the points with a cranky baby, but it was nice.  It's good to feel like we've really accomplished something, even if we haven't really done much at all.  Even I got to do something since the book I'd ordered came in today.  I'd ordered Theatre Games for Young Performers to help me with my theater class at the co-op.  Since I just got it, I couldn't resist paging through it and came up with some great new ideas for my theater class, and a few things I'd forgotten from my own theater games from when I was in school.  Even I couldn't avoid learning without even really meaning to!  It's wonderful.

I kind of wish every day could be like today, casual and relaxed, yet everyone is filling their day with incredibly educational things.  It would be perfect.  I keep hoping that some day my kids will really take control of their own education, but that's still a while off, I think.  However, it's days like these that really make me think that letting the kids work towards their own educational goals, even if it's just half the time, could be a realistic goal for our family.  It's amazing how productive time that's not scheduled for work can be when you just let it happen.