Both kids home - 1st day

Today was the first with both kids at home and the first day to test my patience. I found a math game site for a modest subscription fee (ixl.com), so Madelyn spent some time on it. In order to "pass" a level, she had to answer a number of questions correctly. She was in her grade level, but once the questions became less obvious, she wanted to quit. Her modus operandi for quitting is to whine and squirm until the patience of the overseeing parent is destroyed. I had to leave the room a few times to keep from caving. I gave her the option to "continue and pass the level" or have to "do it all over again another day--losing all the progress" she had made.

She worked at it for an hour -- whining the whole way. She passed the section, though, learning as much about persistence as about number patterns.

Nate cleaned his room for a fresh start to a new life. We visited the bookstore, the library, Pizza Hut, and Meijer. Madelyn used her own money to buy a stuffed toy. We stood in the aisle and figured out the tax by counting by 6s -- precisely the skill she had been practicing on the website.

We all did ten minutes of free writing in the afternoon --write whatever you want, just don't stop and don't read over your work until the time is done. Madelyn continued in her writing curriculum, learning to add details to describe a noun (in this case, her "wand").