Happy coincidences and sunny days

Sayer again blasted through 7 pages of ETC 3 this morning. Took under 10 minutes. The long vowel sounds are seriously easier than the consonant blends of books 2 and 2 1/2. And she keeps crowing about how easy it is :)

After she finished phonics she played a math game on the computer for a little while. Then she and Duncan got a special treat outside - I got out their wading pool and filled it up. They got on their swimsuits and went outside to have fun in the water. There were some complaints because the water was a touch on the cold side - very unlike the heated pool where they have their lessons! I tried warming it with two tea kettles full of hot water, but the pool is big enough that the gallon or so of boiling water had next to no effect. *Maybe* it went up one degree, but that's it. Still, they had fun. Played in the water for a while, then played around the water for a while. It was a lovely warm sunny day, so I took the laptop outside (and discovered that our wifi network reaches the backyard!) and sat in the shade while they played.

After they'd had enough we came inside to read books. I grabbed one of the library books I had checked out and told Sayer it was time for her to read to me. The book was called 'We're Riding on a Caravan' by Laurie Krebs. It's a story about traveling along the Silk Road in Ancient China. Sayer read the story to me, then I read the historical info at the back of the book to her. We enjoyed the book.

The kids entertained themselves for a while, then Sayer came to me and asked me to read her some history (!). So I got out Story of the World and climbed up next to her in her bed and opened the book to the next lesson. Which, coincidentally enough, was about Ancient China and the Silk Road. I had NOT planned for that, and am quite happy with the coincidence :)

We read the lesson, then Sayer did the map page and the coloring page. Tomorrow we're going to do the review questions and narration for the lesson, and the craft activity - make a bowl and decorate it with blue paint in Chinese pictograms or pictures, then glaze it with white glue and water. She's very eager for the craft activity. :)