Today is Monday!

Today went rather smoothly. Nikki sat quietly and played while Ben did phonics and reading. We all went for a walk and played fetch with Shadow. I did phonics with Nikki while Ben did handwriting. Nikki got bored with doing school in the time it took Ben to do his copywork so Ben and I worked on math while Nikki played with Shadow. We all sat on the couch and read about everyday life in Ancient Egypt. Today we read about Egyptian houses. Ben was FULL of questions. I could hardly get a paragraph out without Ben asking questions (What was the red paint made of?) or comparing ancient life to modern life (They're just like us. We have a pond and a fruit tree in our back yard.) He is amazingly engaged in the text. I have to say Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors (Broida) is a fantastic book (despite it's very dry title). It is engagingly written, full of tons of historical facts and tidbits, and has projects associated with every chapter. The Way People Life: Life in Ancient Egypt is also pretty good.

An Amazon shipment arrived this afternoon with a couple new books. A quick glance through them reveals some high points -- Tutankhamen's Gift and If I Were a Kid in Ancient Egypt look great. Pyramids - 50 Hands-on Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt looks disappointing -- the projects are no more detailed or engaging than the stuff you can download for free on the internet.

The kids really wanted to go to a park with a playground this afternoon, so we did. Umm... why?! We were there for 2.5 hours -- they spent 15 minutes of that on the play equipment. They spent the remaining time clambering about the creek. Now... I'm not complaining, mind you. It's just that the water at this creek isn't the cleanest. I would have taken them to a park with a real stream if they hadn't said that all they wanted to do was play on the structures. :-)

Ian... can you tell what even yesterday evening this picture is depicting??! Ok. Now that Ian guessed correctly I can tell the story... On Sunday Ian put on one of those mud masks. I didn't realize he was in the bathroom -- I thought he was working in the living room on the couch. I walked into the bathroom and he said, "Boo!" Well I jumped about 3 feet into the air and screamed so loudly the kids came running. :-)