Steady Saturday

A much better start to this morning!  No reading in bed first thing, but I awoke to the sound of children chatting happily and all playing together in their rooms, and when we came downstairs they just carried on 'learning'.  Hmmm, do all Home Edders feel compelled to permanently be on the watch for spontaneous learning I wonder?  Maybe I'll relax more about it when we've been doing it for longer - or maybe I just do it so I have something to blog about...!  Anyway, Youngest watched a recorded episode of Disney's 'Little Einsteins' (a preschool exploration of classical music and art); Eldest resumed the 'nose-buried' position with his new Star Wars book (you may not think sticker books are that educational for a ten-year-old, but it somehow prompted him to ask what DNA is, & we had a lovely little conversation about genes etc before he got reabsorbed into the world of droids, stormtroopers et al); and Middle's creative streak continued with drawing a cartoon picture of a lynx, copying it from a recorded episode of the TV programme, 'Deadly Art' (a spin off of our favourite 'Deadly 60').

Hubby was off for a long run with friends this morning, so we went to visit family while he was out, where Middle and Youngest had some games of 'pairs', they all played with lego and magnets, and Eldest drew some Star Wars battle scenes, completed with his stickers...

After lunch we had an 'at home' afternoon - there were lots of little 'around-the-house' jobs that needed doing, such as lawn-mowing, car-cleaning etc, and today was the day to tackle them.  We do like to have fun family outings planned on Saturdays and/ or Sundays, as it seems to help the boys to have some differentiation between weekdays and weekends - see Keeping Weekends Special - but last weekend was particularly full-on, and there are times when Mums & Dads just need to get stuff done - today being one of those days.  We do have fun plans for tomorrow though, and the boys got to help with Daddy's jobs and snuggle with him on the sofa during work breaks - and then had pizza for tea - so there was still a different feel to the day.  It may not have been the nost exciting weekend ever, in terms of new places to explore, but I think it was a more successful day than yesterday!

Oh, and I forgot to say: I got my HEAS (Home Education Advisory Service) subscription pack through, with membership card and other great resources.  If you're new to Home Ed, I really recommend you go and have a look at their website, I've found it really helpful :)

PS Added later... Eldest wanted a game of Battleships with Daddy today, so I took Youngest and Middle to bed after pizza so he and Daddy could play then.  A 'Mummy story' was requested by the younger two (yay), so lights went out & I made a story up again, this time inspired by Middle's two sand-filled toy lizards that he'd been playing with today, called Lizzie and Mike.  Lizzie and Mike went on an adventure in the desert with a friendly camel called Boris in my story.  Youngest had told his story before me, recounting the camping story from the other day, and then Middle went after me, with an epic story about his lizards, that got far more creative than mine, and added lots of his own ideas.  Next time I'm going to try to tape their stories - they're so much fun!  Love bedtimes :)