Our interesting, full, unschooling day

I was just reading last night that, to be a successful unschooling family, you need to live an interesting life. Today seemed like an interesting day:

While I was getting breakfast ready, I laid several flashcards of the 220 Dolch Sight Words on the table and suggested the girls play a game together where they each take turns taking two cards that they can name.

This quickly evolved into the girls using tracing paper to trace several words onto a few pieces of paper in a sort of random design, then xeroxing it, decorating the words with markers, then setting up a store "selling words," complete with store sign and price tags.

At 10:30 am we all went to a toddler music class. Technically it's Benjamin's class, but he mostly just looks around, sometimes tries to reach the light switch, and wants to be held. When I handed him a scarf to dance with, he shook his head no. The girls like the class even though it's for one and two year olds. They see themselves as helpers.

Then we went through the bank drive-thru and to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change. The kids got to watch some Barney while we waited for the oil change. I'm pleased to see that Rachael is close to seven and still enjoys Barney and has no disdain for it. Benjamin is twenty months old and doesn't seem to have any real interest in TV yet.

Rebecca (age four) has been telling me for days that she hasn't had candy in a while, and we need to go to the candy store. Both girls brought their purses, which have several coins in them.

I know Rachael knows that four quarters make a dollar. She knows how to recognize all the coins, and how many cents each is worth. I know Rebecca also knows at least some of that.

Anyway, we head to Fuzziwigs at the Avenue. Rachael has just enough money to buy a pack of lemonade-flavored Hubba Bubba, and Rebecca has just enough to buy three big gummi/jellied dolphins. I also buy some Jelly Belly jellybeans for all of us to share.

Since it's lunchtime by now, we go next door to Johnny Rockets, which we've never been to before, for burgers and fries and flavored sodas. We all get cherry flavored soda(in retrospect, I should have gotten vanilla.) Rachael said it "too much cherry" and we were able to exchange it for a regular Coke. I wasn't thinking, and got too kids' meals as well as something for myself. Way, way too much food.

The people in the booth next to us had a German Shepherd under the table and I asked if they would mind talking to the girls about it. They were both very nice. The blind man looked to be about twenty years old and said he went blind about six years ago after surgery for a brain tumor. He said most blind people prefer to have a cane instead of a dog, because having a dog is such a big responsibility. But he said that, for him, it's been great.

When we got home, I put Benjamin down for a nap and me and the girls had "booktime," where I read aloud to them on the couch.

Rachael picked Snow White out of her Disney Treasury book. Rebecca picked a Sesame Street magazine. She pointed out to me a page in the middle of the story (of about 3-4 paragraphs) that she said she was able to read to herself yesterday. I asked her if she wanted to read it to me now, and she said no.

[I have the feeling she is learning to read but prefers to keep it kind of private for now. For example, there were two days about a week ago that she got my paperback copy of Anne of Green Gables, announced that she was going to read her book now, and then sat for about five or ten minutes looking at it. That must mean significant to her.]

Then the girls went down the the playroom while I'm sitting here typing and Baby Ben continues to nap. Rachael just drew a picture called "Stagestruck" to send to SS magazine in the hopes they will print it.

This weekend I got the Disney movie Cinderella out of the library, so maybe we'll watch that later. We watched it about a year ago and Rachael was scared of the cat. But, she told me, she's older now and maybe it will be okay.

In addition to that I somehow managed to wipe down the fronts of several kitchen cabinets and do two loads of laundry. (Although the laundry hasn't been put away yet, so I guess that doesn't quite count.) Mondays usually tend to be my most productive days.