Learning From Each Other

It never fails, I walk into someone's house and I (in)conspicuously start taking in my surroundings.

You see, I hang out with a lot of home schoolers and any home school mama will tell you that we can be a freakishly nosy bunch.  What books are you reading?  What games do you play?  What chores do the kids do?  What classes are you involved in?  What do you eat?  What music do you listen to?  What technologies do you use?

And the mother of them all:  What curricula are you using?  What do you like?  What do you dislike?

Also, if you're not a homeschool mama?  I'm still looking to see what you've got laying around.  Because, if you have kids, you are a teacher.  You are doing things with your kids that mold their pliable little minds.

Here's the thing that always catches me off guard:  Other people do the same thing.  They walk into my house and look at whatever is laying around in the living room or stacked on the school table or crammed on the shelves in the school room.  They ask about the games in our game cabinet, laugh when my kids sing Ray Stevens songs, and ask who our piano teacher is.

It's not unkind or judgmental: It's gleaning.  It's looking for ideas for our own family.  We all want the best we can give our kids, right?

Once a year, I host a gathering of homsechool mamas.  We leave our children with their daddies, bring our schedules and favorite schooling (or non-schooling) ideas and daily outlines and recipes and we sit and talk and share all. day. long.

It's a beautiful thing.

So, since I can't have all you lovely people over to my house (I mean, you're welcome, but it might be a bit of a commute for some of y'all), I'm just gonna toss out our 8 favorite games we love to play in our home. 


1. Perfection



I loved this game in a big way as a kid and when I ran across it again as an adult, I snatched it right up!  Fair Warning: The kids laugh and shriek and yell a lot when they play this game.  Yours might not, but mine do.


2. Spot It


We all love this game, including the cute little round tin it comes in.  It's kind of like playing Match, only with a wicked twist - there are multiple pictures on each card.  You have to be the first to match one of the images on your card with one of the images on the up card.  When you 'Spot-It' you snatch the up card and start all over.

3. Set

 Another visual perception game.  This one stretches your mind in several directions at once and still has the favorite factor of yelling.  What can I say?  We're noisy!

4. Sequence












A classic my kids can't get enough of.  I'm pretty sure they play by their own rules unless I play with them.  I love that it takes strategy instead of just luck, like this one...

5.HiHo! Cherry-O & Candy Land


No strategy needed here.  None.  These are the first games we play with the kids, fantastic for pre-schoolers.  They are fun and simple games to reinforce numbers concepts.  I love that the older kids get a kick out of playing these with the younger kids. 

6. Monopoly


Speaking of classics, this one made an appearance this summer.  I always dread my kids asking me to play this game with them, but I'd be remiss if I left it out.  Our kids love it.  I can't define why.


7. Phase 10, Skip-Bo, & Uno


Lookie, it's a three-for-one special!  We love these games.  They are easy to take with us when we travel and everyone can play or be a helper (our kids have always loved plucking the card from our hand and tossing it on the discard pile for us). 

8. Gobblet Gobblers

 

Imma be honest: I have no idea where we got this game.  It appeared sometime back in August-ish after the birthdays were over.  So, if you're the person who gave this game to us, thank you!  We love it!!  It's like 3-d Tic-Tac-Toe on steroids - you can eat your opponents gobblers.  Great for the 4-5-6 year old range.

So, there you have it.  Our 8 top favorites (plus 3 freebies!).  We are getting a handful of new games for Christmas, so this list may look vastly different in February, but for the here and now, this is how it stands.

You're turn!  What games do you and your kids love?

Also, what else would you like to know about that we use in our home?  For schooling or not for schooling?  

***affiliate links included***

Be Merry

Every year, I set out to decorate my home for Christmas.  Every year, mid-December gets here and all I have is a tree and some scattered tinsel. 

Well, there was the one year I put greenery on the mantle.  That was a fait accompli if there ever was one. 

This year is proving no different.  I'm not as laid back as my sweet friend Lora (who I've referred to a lot lately, but the girl is making bloggy waves, so I'm gonna link to her Fantastic Article for Mamas Everywhere again) and I dream of having one of those homes that magazines trip over to use as their 'this is how your house should look' masterpieces. 

Or at least something that's Pinterest worthy.  I do love me some Pinterest and all the fab ideas I glean from it.  I'm not a hater like some folks.  I know my capabilities and I'm REALLY glad that there are so many who can exceed my abilities.  Otherwise, we'd all have blank walls in our homes for four years before we were brave enough to dent the sheetrock with a nail.

My goal tonight was to get the "Give Thanks" phrase off my chalkboard.  Honestly, Thanksgiving is over, we can quit dwelling on thankfulness and blessings.  It's time to put wrapping paper on everything in the house and shop, shop, shop. 

Ha!  I kid.  I try to avoid every store in town for the entirety of December.

For the past several days, I've been thinking on what I wanted the board to say.  I wanted it to reflect Christ and this special time of year as we celebrate His birth. 

I knew exactly what I wanted.

Obviously, I wasn't part of the pep club in high school.  I can't write in bubble letters or form pretty art from mere letters. 

As you can see, it's not exactly flowery or awe inspiring or even Jesus-y.  I guess it fits in well with the rest of my Christmas decor... not quite what I'd really like, but cozy and fun anyway. 

That's what I tell myself.  And my kids? 

They're just thrilled to search for our Elf on the Shelf each morning and do Jesse Tree each evening.  I'd say it all evens out. 

This Is Why Monday Has A Bad Rap

It started off like any other day... the alarm clock went off, Joshua hushed it once, and we snuggled back down for those last few savored moments of sleep. 

Then the ding-dang thing went off again. 

I have a love-hate relationship with snooze.  It's like when you were a kid and visiting with a friend and Mama said, "Five more minutes to play before we leave."  You groaned because your fun time was about to end, but man, a lot could happen in five minutes! I can get some good rest in before that stinking alarm starts sounding again. 

In all honesty, Joshua gets up and I stay snugged under the covers until he's done (and often times longer), but the reality is that we both have to get up and get moving.  He has a job he has to go to and our children are already bouncing around the house busily getting ready for the day and eating breakfast.  They need me to come supervise and referee and kiss boo-boos and read books and make meals.

That's the plan, anyway.  I wrote it on paper, printed it out, and posted it where we could all see it.  Surely, that's what they do before I emerge from my room. 

Courtesy of Life's Mirror Images

 Random photo of me and my sweetheart because I can. 

So our day was chugging along rather smoothly when breaking glass and a scream pierced the Christmas music filled air.  I hollered out my usual "FREEZE" warning as I jumped up and ran to the kitchen. 

Anna was standing with tears streaming down her face, a very strong smell wafted through the air, and a puddle of precious green-blue liquid spread across the floor.  Somehow she'd managed to knock a brand new bottle of essential oil out of the cabinet.  It crashed into then shattered across the floor.  The whole kitchen smelled like a wonderful, soothing forest.  Balance, one of our favorite oils. 

I felt very zen as I blotted up the oil and swept up the glass. 

Good thing, too.  Four minutes after that first crash, somebody upended what was left of a gallon of apple cider all over the kitchen floor. 

I was standing at the kitchen sink washing the excess oil off my hands when the splatter-splat hit my hears and cold liquid started seeping through the back of my pants legs. 

I'm not sure what possessed the child to turn the jug upside down.  I am sure I just sighed as I informed the child to clean up the mess and mop the kitchen floor. 

I went to the living room and texted Lora Lynn about my insanity only to hear she was having her own moment of crazy.  

Imagine.  A mom with a lot of children having a moment (or two) of crazy.

Things settled out for a bit.  We were all ridiculously laid back (Balance users can totally understand this!) and just cruised on through lunch.

After lunch, my sister Amy appeared on the scene and promptly broke a mirror.  She dropped it on the kitchen floor.  I guess I should have warned her about the jinxed mojo of the room.

Not long after that, a certain two year old was caught red-handed playing in the girls 'kits' and this sweet little two year old managed to paint her face, the faces of a couple of baby dolls, a spot here and there in the girls bedroom (it blends in well with the other spots that the girls have painted), her brothers leg, and even two of her toes!  She's a rosy-cheeked little smiler with lots of curiosity and I tried very hard not to giggle as I took in the scene.  Her poor mama probably didn't have to work as hard at not giggling as I did. 

Speaking of nails and zen states... my own nails are a lovely hue of glittery teal.  I'm not much of one for anything other than a deep crimson on my toenails, but my new nail-do has me giggling and wondering if I'm having a mid-mid-life crisis...

Yep, teal colored nails and yoga pants. 

Oh, yoga pants!  If you haven't seen me giggling about this on facebook, I'll go ahead and share it here, as well.  It'll do much to help chase away the Monday grumpies. 

Seems you're getting a lot of random stuff.  Think I'll release your eyeballs for now.