Since we have come home we are all sharing one computer – Peter’s laptop has broken and it looks like the kids computer has crashed.  Sharing a computer is very hard work!  Today my focus was on getting some office work done while Peter was out of the office!    This meant the kid’s activities were more independent and less directed.

I took Daniel with me grocery shopping and though I would love this to be a time where we talk Math he still needs a lot of moral instruction.  When we are not working on his self-control issues he is full of curiosity so all those answers get talked about.  One day we will get to math at the grocery store!

Daniel also delivered the invitations to his birthday party – he was very excited to be able to do this.

Meanwhile back at the ranch…. Josh, Jess and Nomi were working on their chores, spending time with the dog and then to their desks.  I set them all a copy work task.  Joshua had read something in his devotions he wanted to copy.  The previous night Jessica and I started reading “Beautiful Girlhood” together and there was a paragraph there that took her fancy so she used that as her copywork.  Nomi is into parrots at the moment and wanted to read and copy some information.

Here was an example of the self directed and motivated work that the children can do when they have a stretch of time to do it in (without pressure of completing). 

Admittedly Joshua just got in and got his finished – he had other things to be writing!  But it was an opportunity to work on his organization; a finished piece of work – straight into the notebook! 

Jessica and Naomi though made a decorated notebook page from their copywork.  Jessica just trimmed her copywork piece, glued it onto pink paper and worked on some creative lettering for a heading.  Since the first chapter of “Beautiful Girlhood” was about comparing girlhood to a rosebud while I was shopping I found a scrap-booking decoration of a rosebud – she loved that and used it in her title. 

Early in the information that Nomi was copying it mentioned that parrots are largely from Australia and South America.  She took some tracing paper to the map, traced those two countries, labelled them, mounted them on coloured paper, trimmed them down and stuck them onto her copy work.  She has then continued with more copywork around the maps until she has completed the page.  This is a first for Nomi.  Not only the copy work, but doing extra, not only being decorative but directing her own learning.  Peter and I were very excited as we reviewed her work tonight.

What else did the kids do today?  Josh did a math lesson (actually two lessons in the one sitting).  Jess worked on Daniel’s birthday party – the games to be played.  Nomi and Daniel played Lego.   They watched a video.  I read a story to Nomi and Daniel (Nomi and I discussed Alliteration).  Jessica and Nomi played the word version of Rummycub. 

Joshua had a very sad thing happen to him today.  If it weren’t so sad and upsetting it would be funny.  For real, the dog ate his homework!!  Since the weather has changed Joshua has been enjoying reading and writing in the shade of our garden.  He set himself up and had to ask me a question, and in the short time he was inside the dog ate his story.  Needless to say the dog got sent to “ISOLATION” – into its cage.  The funny thing was that after a few hours the dog was still locked up and when I asked Josh to let her out Josh wasn’t sure he was ready to forgive her.  It was funny as Josh realised his heart – and it was towards a dog!

To help Josh regain his story I let him use the computer – this spurred me on to do something about our one computer problem.  After Josh did some typing to fill in the gaps (the eaten bits) he set up the kid’s computer on a different power source to try and isolate the problem.  This was a good observation activity for Josh – the tangle of cords at the back of a computer needs observation and a clear thinking mind.  Still looks like hard drive has crashed! Again!