A Random List of Unschooling Today

While I mostly sat and read, suffering from random dizziness post-illness:

- Whilst still eating cereal (and arguing about which one was better, somewhat aggressively!) they all decided to play schools. Jenna put up a posted of Doctor Who characters and tested them on fictional aliens. Morgan took over as teacher for a little while and they did gymnastics and singing. Jenna got out her favourite Mythology book and explained the names of the Greek gods and goddesses (again). Morgan got a sticker (well, an orange post-it note) for knowing that Minerva is the Roman version of Athena (I reckon she knows this via Jenna's adoration for all things Harry Potter).

- Jenna read some stories to Rowan and Talia. The Hueys in It Wasn't Me (again). A Very Vegimal Christmas (again - and with all the voices). Dancing Nadine. The Bog Baby. Ten Seeds. Backpack Baby (again again - Talia adores Backpack Baby so much she frequently carries her doll around in an *actual* backpack, and tells people "Ackack baby SECRET!" at which people try to pretend they know what she's going on about haha)!

- Morgan made mud pies in the garden. Our garden is pretty near one BIG mud pie right now (mostly due to lots of play on soggy grass, there is no local flooding here so this is merely the usual early-Spring gardening fail since I rarely pay much attention to the garden over Winter and the kids still play out there every day on the unhappy lawn).

- Rowan and Morgan built a fort on the upstairs landing, and packed bags for their "camping trip" with their idea of "survival supplies" (it involves a lot of books, lipstick, and silk scarves).

- Jenna browsed Pinterest and then Design Seeds, and wrote in her journal for a while afterwards. She seems to have made herself a tab system for her various current interests, and labels stick out of her journal at all angles.

- Talia wandered back in, and Jenna dressed her in a cape and superhero mask. She wandered back out again, apparently happy.

- I started plotting some projects that came to me in the middle of the night, and looked up the cost of supplies. Jenna saw them over my shoulder and got very excited, and spent an hour or so sketching ideas for a Roman-inspired mosaic for the garden. The current leading ideas are either a labyrinth with Minotaur, or sea creatures and greek key patterns. (I ordered supplies, and am inwardly quaking slightly at the prospect of yet another hugely ambitious craft project!)

- Jenna took her current book of choice upstairs and read a few chapters in the fort, which had been abandoned by the sisters in favour of a stint making up routines to Sound of Music songs. Morgan spent some time with the playlists on Spotify.

- They all had a picnic lunch of olives, carrot sticks, salted popcorn, digestive biscuits, and raisins. A lot of popcorn ended up on the floor, as usual! I put Star Trek TNG on, and Jenna stayed to watch while the others went back to their game.

- Rowan decided to clean the muddy boots from the garden, and make a pretend computer from part of a pizza box from the recycling.

- Morgan and Jenna played an animated game of top trumps with the Doctor Who cards, and then argued over how to organise them by theme/character/powers/etc.

- Jenna got her recipe books out and started suggesting meals she'd like to make this week. Was annoyed with me that tea was already in the slow cooker, because she wanted to make carrot and lentil soup tonight.

- Morgan came in with some pillows from her camp and bumped into Jenna "accidentally" which turned in to a noisy and good-natured pillow fight with both eventually giving up in a fit of giggles to take the pillows back upstairs (where I could hear them singing "Consider Yourself" which I believe they are rehearsing for drama group, as Morgan joined this month).

- Talia threw a stack of books off the window sill (again). Morgan played with a mirror. (Me: "Morgan, are you using that mirror to look up your own shorts?!" Morgan: "No, I'm pretending I haven't got any legs!")

- Jenna made dumplings for with our stew, and Talia played with her stamper pens, while Rowan had a nap (she *must* be feeling under the weather). When I came back into the living room, Morgan had set up what appeared to be a library and was stirring an empty glass bottle (um, that would be my precious antique glass bottle find!) saying it was a potion. Jenna and Talia started playing this new role play game. I brought some interestingly shaped and coloured jars and bottles in for their game, and mine was returned without fuss when I casually asked if I could "put this one away now".

- The game evolved into a circus skills competition (somehow!) just before Martin got in from work. Jenna and I had a protracted debate about the function of companions in Doctor Who, stories about personal power, how characters are developed and what the elements are we most identify with, and whether/which story lines respect the secondary characters as powerful in their own rights.

- Rowan put on one Blue Planet, watched half of it, switched over to a Planet Earth instead, and laughed unrestrainedly and admiringly at the "clever camels" eating snow. She rocked in her rocking chair, chatted about what she was watching, and dismissed every comment Martin and I made with, "I KNOW!"

...And I stopped taking notes at 7pm, as the children were starting to ask for stories and snuggles. :)