Shopping cheap.

We started off the morning with a trip to the local thrift store with the kids. My sister had tipped me off about algebra math software she's seen there so I thought I'd go pick it up. Unfortunately, I already had the software and it's a dismal and boring drill-type program that no kid should have to endure.

We looked around and I found a collection of new looking Franklin and Little Critter books, a Spill and Spell game and a set of plastic building gears. Very cool stuff. Thrift stores and yard sales account for about 80% of our learning supplies and they're why I get a goofy grin whenever somebody assumes we must be well off to be able to afford to homeschool. Add in the workbooks I picked up at an army surplus store and this month's homeschooling expenses total about $8.

After that it was a doctor visit and grocery shopping. Sounds like pretty ordinary stuff but there were many interesting conversations about how a flu vaccine would work and the math and merits of stocking up on sale items.

At home Harry played with his Thomas wooden trains. They're fantastic toys and putting faces on wooden trains was a brilliant idea. It gives a toy that encourages building and organization a social aspect that dinky cars don't have. It's like dolls on wheels and Harry will spend hours retelling stories from the DVD's or reworking those stories or telling whole new ones.

Catherine went right to her drawing. I was moving a large mirror and had gotten the moved-from part done but not the moved-to part so it was leaning up against a living room wall. Catherine sat down and worked on self-portraits. I wish my scanner hadn't died because then I could show off what a great sense of perspective she has. From there she went on to drawing geometric patterns and colouring them in.

The rest of the evening has been chats, a few sibling spats and cartoons.