Deep sigh.
Time to move on, then!
First thing - Maddie was inspired to create.
Shortly after that I called Trev to his room - we were talking last night what New Year's Eve meant, and the cycle of the year, and how it's pretty much the same as the weekly cycle - as in it always starts over again.Grammy gave him a Dinotopia calendar for Christmans (along with the pogo stick) and so I wanted to point out the significance to him of the Very First Day in the calendar. Today.
"Tuesday," he said.
"Exactly!"I remember reading on Soule Mama a while back her relating that her children didn't understand arbitrary time lines, but they understood the changing of the season, and cycles that related to them. I thought it was a beautiful and inspiring thought.
.
Feeling ambitious - like she can clean and cook and polish and play and write and inspire and be inspired all in the same day - their mama asked the children what they'd like to do.
"Mmmm, how 'bout arts and crafts?" said little son.
'What?" blink. "You really want to do crafts?"
"Mmmm, no. I just wanna pretend. But you guys could!"
"Oh, I see. Well, we can do lots of other things while pretending - how 'bout your new Operation game today? Or a game of cards?" I wasn't trying to pressure them, I just really was looking for playmates.
"Mmmm, maybe," little son hedged.
"I want dominoes!!!" shouted Maddie enthusiastically.
There we go. "Dominoes it is!"
(Trev chose to join in on the fun.)
Which led to magnets.
Which let to plastic magnet shapes.
Which led to cuisenaire rods - and measuring what blocks made up half, and then what made twice.
And letters.
"I want a d!" D is for Demanding Damoiselle, no doubt.
Which led the Mama to remember that I wanted to look up prism experiments, get out our prism, and play with that a bit."Hey! That looks like the white light they used on Magic School Bus (Makes a Rainbow)!"
"Exactly! It's a prism."
"I wanna pway with da prism!" from Maddie."Let's get shoes on and go outside...."
After we took it outside for a few minutes we came in. I sat down to upload the morning's pictures, then noticed the gorgeous icicles shining and reflecting out this window... "Hey, Trev. Do you think an icicle can be used as a prism?""I don't know."
"Let's go find out."
Turns our water reflects light, but blocks it. I'm going to read up on that later, and find out why, exactly. Minerals? How far down (say, into the sea) does light penetrate? I know of the three zones, of course, but what about the rainbow? Isnt' that reflection and defragmenting? Is it just because the icicle is frozen, making it a solid?No doubt all folks know these things but me, but that's one of the greatest things about not being limited to a classroom or a rigid curriculum - you get to learn lots and lots of wonderful things - whenever it suits you!
Mad (as opposed to Madd) drawing on Magnadoodle for a while.An' then with magnets.
"Snow doesn't become water, after all," Trev piped as he walked past me, coming in from the back patio.
"Sure it does."
"I meant - snow doesn't become ice."
"Actually, often it does, because the snow melts, and turns to water, then the water freezes again and turns to ice."
"I'm conducting an experiment!"
"I can see that."
"Maybe even the greatest experiment of All Time!"
"Oooh, how exciting!"
"Wanna know what I'm doing?"
"Of course!"
'Well, my plan is to melt this snow (in the frozen planter box) with this water. Then the big rock will sink. Then the water will freeze again, and the rock will be buried!"
"Aaaah - sort of like how fosssils are made!""Yes! I am making fossils!"
It continued...
"Can I borrow your jacket?"
"Sure. Whaddaya want it for?"
"Well, this icicle is making my hand cold...."
And off he goes to experiment with covering his icicle with snow, then bringing it back into the house to the sink to melt of the snow, 
and I think the icicle...."Maddie started an independent investigation of her own.....
Evidently the Ben10 scope was Most Inferior - she very shortly insisted on the real thing.
Aaah... another scientist in the family, then.
I vehemently take back what I said the other day about her not knowing what she was doing with that microscope - obviously she is quite serious, and certainly knows what she is about!
"I want you to help me look at mic-ro-sope. This one. (one of the prepared slides)"
Fifteen minutes or so later,
"Baby, how 'bout the litebrite now?" (Sheesh, give a Mama a break - she's gotta blog about all this stuff!)
"Okay. You bring it up here."
She got all set up with that - then it was time to check on her brother.
What's he up to?
Just reading a favorite dinosaus storybook.
Next it's time for a settling tellie program (Arthur) for Maddie
"Hey! A microscope!!!"
"Is there a microscope on Arthur?"
"Yeah!"
A minute or so later..."Do people swim?"
"Mmm, yeah, people swim. I can swim, and Daddy can swim. Though I don't swim all that well, and certainly not like a fish...."
"I can swim!"
"You can!?!"
"Yeah - I can put on my swimsuit..."
"Yes, you can, Baby."
..and Trev is on his leapster, playing Fosters. (Amazingly enough - Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends appears to be one of the most educational ones (Leapster software) - phonics, sight words, silent letters, etc. Huh!
Oooh - now Ruff Ruff Ren is on - I love that show! (Yesterday I learned how to properly make a bacteria culture for studying - remember those failed slides the other day?...)
Obviously I have not gotten any of my stuff done today - so I am off to try to remedy that!
Good day to you!
What a rich and beautiful morning. :)
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