9,10

Well, yesterday was a bit weird. We went to E's piano lesson, then to the VH library and the HW library, and when we got home there wasn't enough time to do much, so I let her read her new Magic Treehouse book until lunch. After lunch we drove out to Trussville for the Escape School presentation, which was excellent. Then home again, and she finished both the MTH book she'd just started and the next one by dinner. Last night we discovered the reasons behind her recent requests for a night light (after sleeping without one for months) and her being so tired in the mornings: when I went in about 9:30 to check on her, she was reading _Pippi Longstocking_ by the (very dim) light of her nightlight! What an uproar! I explained to her that no one could understand how much she loves to read like I can, but she still needs to take care of her body as well as her mind and that means getting enough sleep! So, no more books in the bedroom! (She got back to reading Pippi this morning before school, by the way!)

Last night I sang "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" with T, after which he asked, "Mommy, who took her body away?"

This morning we started with narration of "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" from the Hirsch. She was fantastic on the story part, completely couldn't remember the morals--my girl loves narrative, that's all. Then I read The Antarctic Ocean by Ylvisaker, and wrote a few things she remembered in her notebook--not sure that's much use, but we did it for the others, so I guess we'll finish out. Then I read the next chapter of _What's the Difference_ by Lacey, about the difference between bison and buffaloes. The book mentioned how a strong buffalo could fight off a lion, so we went to the computer and watched this video about the buffalo calf being rescued by its herd after being pulled in a tug-of-war between a pride of lions and a crocodile. I mentioned that the croc and the lions weren't bad guys, just carnivores who have to eat meat to live, but it was pretty obvious where the sympathies lay around here. Back to the couch, where I read North, South, East, and West by Franklyn M. Branley, and we messed around a bit with compasses--unfortunately it was too overcast to go outside and draw our shadows, but maybe we can do that tomorrow. Then E read to T: North, South, East and West this time by Allan Fowler. I had E do a simple map worksheet I got here. Then she cut out and labeled the African animals and we taped them into her notebook. Then we all went to Georgia's for recess--Tuck was thrilled that he could go too, but I had to go along because Jennifer was nervous about having 4 kids.

After we got back we had lunch, then E did her math--working on the tens column and the ones column. And then I got out the Perler beads and she made a present for Daddy's birthday while T annoyed her intensely by just messing around with the beads. Now she's making a new bead thing and he's doing play-doh, which he's been asking for all day.