Happy, happy, happy

Today both boys declared to be a great day.

I picked up the kids from their sleepover by 9:30. On the way over, I listened to a shiur about Jewish people receiving the Torah, which was not over by the time I got to my in-laws. I continued from the spot where I stopped once we were driving over to the chiropractor. 3 yo protested quite loudly, I think she could not follow. The boys did not seem too eager to listen, either. Moreover, they did not really want to go to the chiropractor. 

test spin

We got there late, and the kids were not interested in the books I packed up. 9 yo asked if he could lay down on the roller bed, and the other kids wanted to do it, too. Then we went to Hobby Lobby. Originally I was planning on buying plaster of Paris for 9 yo and letting the kids look around and choose whichever crafts and supplies, within a budget. 9 yo did not find plaster of Paris and the kids put a few random crafts in the cart. I got more acrylic paint for me and went looking for watercolors and specialty paper. I figured that since the kids are sketching Pokemon and 9 yo enjoyed blending our cheapo watercolors, they might benefit from slightly higher quality products. While I was looking, the boys stumbled onto a craft aisle with solar panel cars. They both found kits which they liked: 6 in 1 kit for 9 yo and transformer for 7 yo. They themselves decided that they will dump the other crafts from the cart and keep just these. The prices were a bit higher than what I expected, and I probably could have shopped around online and found them cheaper, but I decided just to get them. The age range was also 10 and up and I anticipated having to help them quite a bit.

Assembling their cars

When we got home, the boys went straight to their kits. I had to make a phone call ( ironically, to a veteran unschooling friend, since I am quaking in my boots here!), so the kids were left to their own devices. Well, they did get stuck and needed help, but they followed the directions and progressed quite far in their assembly. Overall, they worked on these models from 1:30 till 5, when it was dinner, and then for another hour till bedtime. We all just had fun with them, and, to tell the truth, this is what I wish I could spend my time doing. 

Waiting for the sun to come out

During dinner, I got a call that another homeschooling family will be joining us for Shabbos. This casually brought up the topic of Shavuos, more related to food than to Judaism, yet, we digressed into why we eat milchig and 9 yo remembered about Moshe adding a day and postponing Shavuos. Then he quoted a line that he heard from a shiur this morning... basically, he was listening! I added a few more ideas that I heard before I picked them up. 7 yo piped in that he wants clay to make Har Sinai. We also discussed what exactly the Jews heard while on Har Sinai and why we count up instead of down.

It is funny, since I was complaining to my friend how Torah learning does not happen spontaneously here, unlike secular subjects.