I really owe my wonderful children a post. I love watching how these kids choose to spend their time. I can honestly say I approve of 98% of the things they choose to do with their time. They are anxiously engaged almost all day. Our recent exception was the week it rained and rained and rained...I can really believe the idea that weather changes behavior. They packed more naughtiness into that week than they had in the last six months! Enough said.
Anyway, I wanted to record some of the things I catch them doing.
Lately, I've been catching Logan either reading to his siblings or helping Annie read. Oh how this makes my heart swell! Logan has had his nose in a book since the day he was born. He really was the funniest baby because he would stare at a picture book for very long periods of time before he could even sit up. There was even a time as a toddler that he didn't touch a toy for months because all he wanted to do was look at books. Annie wasn't quite that way, but has loved books from the start. Alex has also loved them. It has always been common for these kids to spend hours perusing books every day.
I caught him helping Annie to read one Sunday afternoon here.
Some of the other things they do are building and imaginary play. They love to build with legos, blankets, patio items, etc. In fact they use just about anything to build. The other day we discovered quite the creation in the family room. They'd used chairs, the piano bench, blankets, and toys to create a covered wagon. They were pretending to be pioneers crossing the plains. Across the room they had created the Salt Lake Temple.
Their favorite imaginary play lately has been 'Little House on the Prairie'. They've been playing at this for weeks. They pretend to build log cabins, farm, and then pack up to move on again. They reenact the situations described in the books.
The thing I love about their imaginary situations are that they are always real and things that real adults do. It pleases me because I can see they are seeking to become responsible adults someday. I love seeing that they take these roles seriously enough to mimic them. They don't play ninjas or superheroes (not that it's necessarily bad to play these things) because those things aren't part of their world. I'm also pleased that they don't pretend to do bad things. This is huge for us because I believe that the things we think shape who we are. Acting something out through play really engrains that something on a child's mind. Therefore our standard for our childrens' play has always been, "We don't pretend to do something that would be bad in real life." This may explain to friends why we don't play guns, swords, or bad guys, and we don't have those type of toys.
Something else I catch them doing a lot are puzzles and drawing/ writing. They have a desk in their room that is full of random drawings and writings that they've done over the last six months or so. These are too precious to part with (in their opinion). They will spend hours working on puzzles when I let them get into the school closet. Lately Logan has started enjoying word puzzles too. I love that they enjoy working their brains!
I've said it before, but I firmly believe the reason these kids play so well and choose such worthy occupation most days is because they don't have a digital media option. With no tv or video games they literally have zero digital time every day. The exception only comes in when we watch a movie as a family, or I use the computer to show them information that we can't find in our books (that is even very rare).
Last week we had one day that was pretty much perfect. While the other days were good, this day was one to remember. It started with five hours of school versus our normal two or three hours. That was a result of the kids, not me. They just didn't want to stop. In fact, we didn't even stop while we ate lunch. We poured over a USA map during lunch while also discussing George Washington. The only reason we stopped kidschool after five hours was that I was tired and ready to move on. It was amazing. This was five hours of intense concentration and curiosity. I sent them outside to play (they played Little House on the Prairie) and put Alex down for his nap. Before long they were back inside and doing this:
I was impressed. After so many hours in books (history books no less!), I thought they'd be ready to move their bodies for the rest of the afternoon. After Logan read to Annie for a while, they pulled out the USA puzzle again. Then until dinner went something like this, "Mom! Did you know Salt Lake is the capital of Utah?! Mom! Michigan is next to Canada! Mom, where did George Washington live?" I was impressed again. This was our day from 9-5. They had a full adult work day of serious concentration! We had absolute harmony all day long. Wow, wow, wow.
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