Joy in Work-- Thursday

9-13-07 Thursday

Worked at the childcare this morning, and got called in to work the shift this evening, too. Also had a long appointment in the next town that caused us to meet our weekly homeschool group gathering, where normally the kids play with their hs buddies for a couple hours and have a great time. We’ll be there next week.

So far today we’ve discussed styrofoam and its properties and effects on the environment and why we didn’t think fairies would use it as building material, Marian made a fairy playhouse out of paper cups, tape, and decorations for her “sister fairy, Elina” (first I’ve heard of this), we discussed bees and honey and hives, and talked about bears and their diet. We listened to some of the Tao Te Ching, I read them The Magic Bicycle {Doherty], Pooh’s Pitter Patter Splash (Disney), Guess How Much I Love You (McBratney), Polly Squawks (Parent), and The Orphan Singer (McCully) which triggered a long discussion about 18th century Venice, orphanages, musical education, and the moral issue of a family anonymously giving up their toddler as an orphan in order to get her the education that her talent deserves and they can’t afford. I had a long appointment this afternoon which wasn’t particularly kid-friendly, so Marian did some dot-to-dots, a hundreds worksheet page in a math workbook, and some knitting, while Leo and Sophie rhymed words to each other, looked through some library books, and played with stuffed animals. Now we’re home and they’re watching the tail end of “Growing Up” on Animal Planet, featuring the story of a Lynx.

….

This afternoon all three played on my computer at www.literacycenter.net and www.jigzone.com (online jigsaw puzzles) for a total of about 15 minutes, Marian administered her self-made verbal Harry Potter quiz game which ending in a rousing chorus of “Snape, Snape, Severus Snape", we observed the bird carcass and decided to toss it tomorrow, and then we stopped by the shelter where we discovered we’ll be fostering 3 more feral kittens on short notice to save them from being euthanized on Monday. Shelter dude and I devised a top secret plan to save the adult one, but I promised secrecy and will assure y’all, as I did the kids, that this cat will NOT be euthanized Monday. Afterwards, we stopped by the college on the way to work, where the kids greeted some of their favorite adults. Discussed nieces and nephews and other male/female familial relationships, dukes and duchesses, and beatlegeuse stars. We did some distance energy healing/support for my sister, and worked with some Arthurian Tarot cards. We listened to 90s music and adult alternative, and watched an episode each of “Dirty Jobs” and Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”, and read Snowy (Doherty), Turtle and Snake Fix It (Spohn), Weather Report: Rain, Snow and Ice (Merk), and Leo and I both read Bug in a Rug(Graves) to each other.

After work, the kids smelled and gently touched about fifteen varieties of flowers outside of City Hall, we searched unsuccessfully for a Roald Dahl audiobook in honor of his birthday tomorrow, and on the way home they spotted the baby moon and sang her song:

There’s a little baby moon lying on her back
With her little silvery toes in the air
And she’s all by herself in the deep blue sky,
But the funny little moon doesn’t care.

We would have looked up Dean Martin and read a chapter of our new chapter book, but it’s almost 2 hours after they usually go to bed and we’re beat. There’s always tomorrow. :)