They are at such a fun age right now. They are excited and interested in lots of things. I know that sounds generic so let me think of some examples. We've started doing a Homeschool Afternoon once a week where they stay home with me and we do stuff. When we made the original "list o' ideas" they got pretty excited. Especially William. I love how his eyes light up and he starts wiggling and getting more and more excited. Ryrie was excited, but he was also a bit reticent. Wasn't too sure he wanted to miss that afternoon of school. (Personality differences.) For the next few days Will asked everyday what we were going to be doing on Thursday. He pins me down to deadlines. (Personality). One week we made dioramas. Ryrie's was a cheetah and a rhino in their habitat. Muddy pit, river, trees, dry brush. Will's was a saber tooth tiger (arctic kind...) and a polar bear:
The next week, Ryrie decided not to stay home from school, so Will and I worked on a Quillow by ourselves and we had a lot of fun. Lest you think I am extremely domestic, I'll tell you what he said when he first heard the sewing machine. "Mom, we don't hear this sound very much at our house! I guess (named a friend) hears it at his house a lot though!" He also said, "It's sure quiet here with just you and me! It's fun--kind of like a date!" He talked my ear off the entire two hours we were together.
I love how the boys delight in the cute things Tommy says or the funny things anyone says. They really like to get into a joke and get involved in conversations. That means a lot to James and I because we can really connect with them in a lot of ways. Growing up is exciting that way. The other night the four of us stayed up later than Owen and Tommy playing CLUE. After the first round, when they were kind of getting the hang of it, I mentioned that you can sure learn a lot by listening to what the other players say. All through the second round, Willy was making secretive markings on his paper, raising his eyebrows, and looking extremely "in the know." Afterwards, he confided to me, "Mom, I didn't really get what you meant by what you said about listening to the other players." I looked at his paper which was full of marks. :-) Ryrie had a lot of fun playing the game, but when I said, "you boys are sure catching on, eh?" he started crying, then said he actually had no idea how to play.
The boys like me to support them at school but are embarrassed of me sometimes. I'm trying to be sensitive to that without being overly sensitive about it. :-) I took O and T out to watch them do a cross-country run and afterwards I could not get them to give me a high five or even pose for a picture:
I don't know if I should worry that they are quite competitive with each other. One week, during piano practicing, I was sick of reminding them constantly about something. So we said if they could remember all by themselves they would get check marks that could eventually earn them a prize. They got really into this and of course had to see how many check marks the other boy had received during their practice session. The competition seems friendly enough right now, and they are pretty good sports about recognizing their strengths. The other day we had a friend over and they were playing floor hockey in the other room. I overheard Ryrie trying to convince his friend that he needed Will on his team because he was such a good goalie. "Show him all your best moves, Will!" he encouraged. It was pretty cute.
Well I know my posts are getting pretty long, so although there is always more to say, I'll stop for now.
What good little boys! And what a good mom you are. I'm interested in this "homeschool afternoon." What a good idea! But how does it work? Did you, like, clear it with their school teachers first? What kinds of things do you do? Where are the little boys during it? It sounds really fun.
ReplyDeleteNo! Don't stop!! I want to hear more and more of this kind of stuff. What a great record you are making of the most important stuff in the world.
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