Mr Bat had a half day on Thursday and worked from home, so he was available most of the day and did a fair bit with the kids that I don’t now remember. I had hunted out some more old workbooks that I had stashed about the place, so in the morning K and I went through them, and she did various pages from a phonics book (consonant blends, at which she kicked arse) and played the “jigwords” game, which involved lots of sounding out and word chunking and presented her with no trouble at all once she got the hang of it. We also looked through an old maths book which was all about using manipulatives to practise skills. We did a couple of exercises from there, and K keeps asking to do more, but we really need for me to sit down with the book one night and work out what I need to have on hand, and then organise it so that when she asks I can just pull something out, rather than feel overwhelmed by having to magic up a set of cubes or pop sticks or substitutes thereof.
The kids and I went to the library, post office and lolly shop after lunch. Our holds weren’t available, so we only borrowed two books each to make sure we didn’t fill up our cards, plus I found My Neighbour Totoro which I knew K would enjoy. We picked up a parcel at the post office, and also three postcards for the homeschool swap we’re doing. I gave K 50c at the lolly shop and told her to look at the labels and work out what she could buy with her loot. When we got home, Mr Bat finished up his work and went off to the hardware store while the kids settled in to watch the new DVD.
Friday it rained solidly almost all day. K’s passionate interest in paleontology continued, so I figured that, instead of going to craft morning, it was the perfect day to all tuck up in bed and watch Walking with Monsters, which I’ve never seen before. So we had a shameless DVD day. K ended up watching all of Walking with Dinosaurs as well, which I didn’t feel the need to sit through since I’ve seen it many times already. She asked ENDLESS questions about evolution, etc; I really wished I had a remote so that I could pause the movie while I answered them! H watched most of the monsters with us but got bored and watched Playschool in the other room instead. He also played with Duplo, and engaged in various imaginative games with me as well, and generally came in and out when he wanted connection. K was much less fractious than she usually is when she watches “too much”, because she’d spent a couple of hours connecting with me while doing so, instead of us doing our own thing all day. So that was interesting to observe.
Since they’d done bugger all physical during the day they were pretty restless in the evening, but I suggested that K go on a torchlit walk outside after dinner and look for critters, which she did until she got too cold. Then they had a bath, and Mr Bat read and told stories to H while I finished reading Little Town on the Prairie to K. We shall have to have a hiatus on Laura for the next few nights as our requested copy of These Happy Golden Years hasn’t arrived at the library yet. Poo!