Homeschooling

All 4 of us ( kids + me) stated watching a new show about a month ago, I am not sure when the habit started- maybe 3 years ago but my daughters and I started watching shows from beginning to end. We got DVD’s from the library and were able to watch all kids of shows - commercial free. We watch pretty much all the little House on The Prairie episodes, All the Full Houses ( a LONG few months for me ! ) and most recently we are in season 4 of Stargate Atlantis. I was quite surprised when my 4 year old son who jumped right in and is now watching along with us. I think of us all he is enjoying the most. He loved Ronin, Colonel Sheppard and Rodney ( Dr. McKay). he balled when a major character died recently.

I myself and quite petrified of the Wraith- horrible life sucking creatures. The show is made in Canada and one of the main characters, Rodney is fodder for hilarious inside jokes for Canadians. Recently he made reference to Particpaction and I just about cried laughing and wish another adult was there t appreciate the inside joke.
The show can be a bot hokey- and probably too scary fro MOST 4 year olds but we are loving it. Watching Stargate Atlantis is now a nightly ritual for us.

My son was watching a bunch of TV today- he is fascinated by a show I had never heard of until recently, harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs and watched quite a few on TIVO this morning.

I loathe certain shows- anything that is jarring, fast edits and cuts and loud music make me crazy. A lot of the cheap stuff for over seas seems to be made this way.
TV shoes made for kids that I like are: Big Comfy Couch, Little Bear ( this is a favourite of mine for several years now!) I used to like Bear in The Big Blue House but seems to have disappeared.
Anything soft and gentle with a low key story line where not much happens is good. DS went through a stage wehere he loved a show called Toopy and Binoo as well as Caillou.
These were also pretty good but Toopy and Binoo would send my husband from the room screaming!

If you are looking for some new board game ideas- try some of the European ones that have become very popular. One from Mayfair Games and All in Wonder are good bets.
They rules are generally easy to pick up and the game play fun without being to stressful- allowing for conversation and social time… Some of our family favorites are Settlers of Catan, Blokus and Ticket to Ride. We also play a lot of one called Carcassonne. The games are good for about ages and up.
I am not much of a traditional board game player- I loathe games like Life, Monopoly and even Scrabble. They just seem so pointless and maybe not enough stress in them for me, Though I have to admit I do LOVE Boggle.
One of my bigger challenges is finding people to play with- or finding time. You can play some of these games online but the fun for me is the socializing