Quick Note About Workbooks

I love them.  It's not a mushy love.  It's a good, working relationship.  Solid.  Practical.  Born of necessity and worked its way to love.

After two days using our Singapore Math workbooks and Second and Sixth Grade spelling/grammar books, we finally feel like we are in our groove.  Workbooks are something the kids know.  They read a direction.  They fill in an answer.  Sometime there are cute pictures on the pages.  Eyecandy of sorts.  It's all good.

Today we got our math lessons and English lessons done in under ninety minutes.  There was no crying or whining or pounding on the desk screaming.  Remember that post of long ago?  The one where I learned to let my son work through his issues during his online math tutorial?  Yeah.  I like the workbooks.

Now, that's not to say that we were done "learning" in ninety minutes.  Cady also baked brownies (by herself).  She read a wrote a ton hiding behind the counter, peaking up now and again to make sure no-one could see what was going down in her private, lockable diary.  She rehearsed her part in her theatre group's play.

Asher read a bunch on his own and looked through the science experiment book for future reference.  He was going to bake bread but we ran out of time.  He's saving it for tomorrow.

They worked at fine-tuning the art of shopping at "The Sal."  We also spent some time in the hobby shop and library.  Then when their friends got off the bus, they played outside for nearly four hours... until it got dark!

Remember when the threat of not being allowed outside to play was terrifying?  Now it seems like we often have to force our kids out of the house... the draw of pulsing light and magical sound eminating from tiny electrical boxes proving too big an adversary for ordinary sunlight and browning grass.  Over the summer, that was us. 

Now, without the competition, they are happily out in the yard creating games, jumping on the trampoline, hanging with friends, swinging... and whatever else they do... I'm not sure all the time because I don't watch them that closely when they're in the back yard!

Anyway... workbooks and playing outside. 

Sounds like a retro, vintage throwback.  But that's the way I roll.