My Dorks!

I say this with much affection, but my children (and hubby) are dorks! When Karl and I were dating I would refer to him as "My Dork!" With all the brain functioning going on around this house, you would think Karl and I only know how to breed brainiacs.

OK, so maybe I am being a bit prideful here! My children are just weird compared to some children their own age.

This past week, I borrowed some short educational videos from our library system. I was intending the videos to be something to keep my children from making their 30 minute lunch into an hour and a half ordeal. This is usually done by giving them something to listen to or watch so they are busy putting their food in their mouths and not philosophizing about whether or not the latest read, joke or outing was good or not. The videos are about some topic we are studying from either science, history or art. One day the video was an overview of the formation of Chemistry (on a 5th grader level). After I finished my lunch I sneaked off to check email and make phone calls. The children have recess time outside when lunch is over, so this gives me some time to make these calls. While on the phone with a friend, I went back into the kitchen to retrieve my calender to see Anton quickly mopping up milk from the table. When I asked what happened. He sheepishly exclaimed while he was pouring his milk he was so interested in the creation of the periodic table, he forgot he was pouring his milk and it over flowed. I chuckled and shook my head thinking "my dorks!"

A few days later I was putting in a video on Animal Behavior, we were studying instinct or learned actions. Anton looked at me and said, "Oh Mommy, that looks like it could be another one I might forget I am pouring my milk." Whiling giggling, I replied, "Then I had better pour it for you."

Oh how they make me laugh!

Family Fun Fridays

It all started when Karl and I had the children go to a small private Catholic School on Fridays several years ago in CT. The school opened it's doors to home schoolers for art, p.e., science experiments, music, field trips, etc. I would drop the children off at the school at 8 and pick them up at 3:00. During this time, I would get a chance to work on projects, go grocery shopping alone, etc. Since this would be a full day for everyone, Karl suggested we make it a pizza night so I would not have to worry about making dinner while getting errands or projects completed. For the kids, it became the moment when the weekend would begin to unwind from a grueling week of schooling and activities.



Many of those nights were spent watching a movie with our pizza, but some times we would opt for something else. Since the children are older now, we have moved on to some intricate games or puzzles.





For puzzles, we have enjoyed the White Mountain Puzzles. Some of the other ones we have completed are the State Flags and Birds of the Backyard.

When it comes to games, Cranium Rules! The Family Fun game, Zigitty, and of course Whoonu are our favorites!

One of my favorite games is Blokus. Anton is really starting to like this one too as his spacial reasoning skills improve. Thus far, I believe I am the champ but have yet to clear all my pieces and save the single block for last.

Last year, Karl's parents gave us this game. We had never heard of it, but one day, Karl decided it was time to give it a try. This game is similar in strategy as Risk but more taming in the world domination drive. In this game, players try to acquire resources to construct roads, settlements, cities, and ports. The first person to reach 10 victory points wins the game. It takes us over two hours to play the game out. Once you get good at this game, you can purchase additive sets for the game to include Seafaring, Knights, and Merchants.

Now, people have always accused me of giving my children educational toys and not mind numbing "just for fun" toys. I do not disagree, but in this case, I am innocent. Karl's parents had no idea we would be studying American History this year for school, we had ended with the colonies last year. The game gives the children a chance to build up their settlements into prosperous living, to see the need to barter and acquire resources to move forward. But we have had some simple games also; like playing Greed. Greed is a simple dice game where one rolls six dice to acquire points. The greedy part come into play when you must decide if the points you roll are enough or do you want to chance it and continue to roll with the possibility of loosing it all. We also play card games like Skipbo and Phase 10.

Family Fun Fridays has been something set into our schedules and mind set now. Having created this tradition through repetition for fours year, it has created some fond memories. I actually had taken the concept for granted until one day when the children and I were picking up pizzas. They told me how another young girl had told them how lucky they were to have their parents let them have pizza every week and do something together. This girl tends to spend a lot of time away from her parents who have very busy lives. It struck me as very sad and then snuggled my two a little tighter that night on the couch over a family picked movie.