After a bit of breakfast we went to the thrift shop (our local library). We always go there instead of the library now because paperbacks are 50 cents! This beats late fees at our local library and the selection is much better. Also, our local librarians really dislike children so it is a really unpleasant library indeed. We bought several reading books for under $10 plus a top for Abi and a giant Union Jack to fly on Yebo for when we eventually go to the UK by boat! Hoorah!
I was happy to find some books I can use for teaching, the Dorling Kindersley, Physics and Chemistry Visual Dictionaires as well as a DK Birds around the World Identification book. I found a couple of rather boring looking geography and history books tucked away and shoved to the back of one shelf upside down. Apparently Abigail had found them before me and decided they didn't look interesting so hid them from me! The cheek of it! However, I had to agree with her that they looked incredibly boring. So, I will try to get some of the Horrible Histories books when I can find them on Ebay.
We came home and had lunch. Abigail helped me make turkey sandwiches which is a very big deal because just a few weeks ago she didn't and wouldn't help me with making lunch and I really needed her to because of having put my back out.
For the next 6 hours they read their new books! Aaron is still enjoying Garfield and Pokemon comics and Abigail is reading something she found to be a follow up on a series she was already familiar with, "The Tail of Emily Windsnap". I read 2 chapters of, "The Mutiny on Board the HMS Bounty" aloud to them. They actually went on the replica HMS Bounty 5 years ago but they don't remember it. It made a big impression on me at the time and I think this book will be enjoyable for all of us. This one is by William Bligh - I read one before for myself that was no an autobiography and it didn't paint Bligh as particularly nice. It will be interesting to see how Bligh's own book tells the same story. The truth will probably be somewhere in the middle of these two books. The one I will read aloud to the kids is one of the Great Illustrated Classics and abridged I think. I can't remember all the other books they chose but I think there was a Captain Underpants and an RL Stine. They love choosing their books and I know they'll read them if they like them. I just have to weed out any innapropriate ones before we check out. Today there was 1 Lizzy Macguire book (I just don't like her because of the focus on vanity and the books are poorly written) and one book Aaron found about a criminal vampire that is trying to survive and curses a lot - it looks good but not for the kiddies.
I got them each a new folder, Goodwill had a brightly colored gheko folder that Aaron liked and Abigail got a colourful hearts folder. Amazingly, for a boy who doesn't like to write... he has just spent a good 2 hours writing and filling up his folder with information about dinosaurs that he has drawn, studied, traced, researched and written about, together with maps and charts from different periods in history! All on his own volition, I love it when that happens. Writing his spelling sentences was like torture to him last night but today he happily writes out an entire report basically on dinosaurs and what he knows of them. I once considered unschooling which I soon decided couldn't work for us. We do have days that we call "unschool days" whereby there is no book learning but I myself and both of my kiddos need and want more structure to our lives than a full on radical unschool method would allow. It is at times like these that I wonder now, would he be able to write that report on dinos if I hadn't tortured him with spelling?
Spelling tests were not so good today. They both handed in their spelling words, together with their stories they had written using their spelling words. But there were mispellings on paper and during the oral test I give them so no game time today. They usually do poorly when they have been away from it for a while so I half expected it. Next week, they will study more and do great but today I am the meano mom.
Math and Reading Skills books haven't been touched yet today but I told them that they could do them tomorrow (Saturday) as long as they did them before any weekend game time began. Sometimes you have to go with the flow and I have enjoyed the peace and quiet this afternoon. Ahhh, reading days rock. Latin I am confident we will get to next week!
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