Play date

We had a very nice 4 hour play date with my friend J and her 2 kids. Her son C is F's very close friend and J and A get along well with her 4 yo dd E. The boys played with F's soldiers for hours and had a blast, J and A drew lots of pictures with E and they all played with our toy kitchen. Me and my friend had a nice time talking about adult stuff, eating pizza and just had a good time.

We are back to having more of a schedule with our 'schooling' F is doing math daily again, we finished the Swiss family Robinson and he did a book report on it. Me and J are working on her reading with flash cards that we made, and she writes out words that she wants to know. I also made a memory game with numbers to hep the girls recognize their numbers to 15. J loved it and thinks its great :). A liked it as well but was not as into it because it was harder for her to remember where the numbers were... but I figure we can play as much as they want. It's great because none of these educational tools cost more than the stock cards that I paid a few dollars for a long time ago. We are also working on phonics and reading lots of books where I point out words to J, which she asks for. The kids retain more when they are interested in what they are doing at the moment.

Yesterday we celebrated Three Kings Day, we made brownies with walnuts (for the sweet treats for this holiday) and the kids and I read about how the holiday is celebrated in various countries. We also had a discussion on the origins of the holiday and about Jesus. F is more interested in our religion and as he has questions I try and answer them, but a part of me thinks maybe it is time to go to a church of our own. I talk to them about my beliefs and try and instill in them a respect and understanding about God and Jesus but maybe a good church is essential. It is hard to find one where I am comfortable and where I think my children would be comfortable.

Monday we did our errands and had discussions on why it is important to know math so you can use it in real life, such as in the grocery store, laundromat and such places. We usually discuss how they will need to use what they learn in every day life, as well as when they decide to further their education.