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The day seemed dreary but Spring was at her finest showing off with snow! It was definitely a Qwirkle, hot chocolate and Doctor Who kind of day. Although, we never quite got around to making the hot chocolate. Oops! The public schools had a snow day but not us. I mean, you just don’t plan to not learn for a day, right? Learning is like breathing, it just happens! (In this house it does.)
Aja played with LEGO most of the morning. He then played in the snow and watched a little Doctor Who. LEGO is simply an expected, daily event in our home. The snow was a real treat, but it wasn’t sticking so it wasn’t as much fun as it could have been. As Whovians, watching Doctor Who is always fun for us…reruns or not! Even though it’s silly it opens up a plethora of subjects for us to discuss. Mostly science type questions. As a homeschool mom I like that very much!
Last Christmas we bought our family a game called Qwirkle. It has won the Major fun! Award, Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and the National Competition Winner for Mensa Select award. Toys Are Tools state, “Only the most patient and strategic thinkers will prevail.” Very true! Playing Qwirkle requires the use of “visual-spatial skills, cognitive flexibility, and it helps kids to practice inhibiting impulses.” “Working memory, executive functioning, flexibility, and crossword puzzles” are all words used to describe the skills needed to play this game. It sounds super impressive, right? Well, at first Aja didn’t really seem to understand how to play. This surprised me since he is usually able to pick up on most things quickly. I was almost ready to put the game away so I wouldn’t frustrate him any further when we finally worked it all out. Yay! We even found our own word for this game…FUNTASTIC!
Today was Nissan 14 on the Hebrew calendar. It’s traditionally known as Pesach or Passover. We read one of our favorite books called The Secret Seder by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. It’s a realistic story set during the time of the Holocaust. It’s about a Jewish family hiding out in a small village in France, pretending to be Catholic. In spite of the risk, young Jacques is determined to attend a Seder supper held secretly in the woods. The author captures the tender emotion of just how meaningful the secret Seder is to those in attendance. The illustrator adds to the story in a beautiful way. This book is a sobering topic that sparked a great conversation about faith in God.
The two pictures below are from Pesach from a previous year.
Normally, we attend a Seder supper, but not this year. I’m sad to have missed it. We may celebrate one of our own later in the week. I know it’s supposed to be held on Nissan 14 but I also know Pesach is too important to skip since it’s so rich in Messianic significance.
After dinner, Andy and Stephanie retired early so Aja and I decided to have a movie night. We couldn’t find anything to watch so we looked up old Sci-Fi movies. That is when we discovered “The Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton. (It stated it was rated “G” but “G” it was NOT! It showed disturbing images of dead bodies. One of those bodies was a topless woman. I was hesitant to continue the movie.) This is not the best movie I have ever seen but it sparked a great talk about crystals and how they grow. Crystal experiments are now lined up for tomorrow’s agenda! (Hey…it’s snowing too…I wish we had a powerful microscope to examine the snowflakes!) Science is my favorite subject to do with my not-so-little guy!
