The Jasons Great Outdoors: Normal? Well...isn't constant change normal?

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Normal? Well...isn't constant change normal?

We said a sad farewell to the Goodwins, and then it was back to school work. The kids had a few pretty intense days of catching up. Our goal is to finish their workbooks before declaring any official start to summer. Last spelling test is this week, and Ethan is waiting on his sister to finish her math workbook (in the mean time he continues to complete supplemental work). I gave the kids a particularly difficult challenge this Friday. We have had a "tin can robot" kit in the closet forever (I mean, I think it has made two moves with us!) Well, they are at the age where it wasn't impossible for them to do it on their own, so I laid out all the parts, and the directions. Gave them the necessary tools and broke it down for them. They could not leave the classroom until they had created a working robot. Oh the look on their faces... Fear, excitement...fear. The first questions were of course, " May we use the bathroom?" To which I answered, "Go now."
"Can we ask you for help?"
"No."
"What if (Fiona/Ethan) annoys me?"
"Deal with it. Do you think Daddy quits when his boss annoys him?"
I shut the door and they began. Quiet chatter in friendly tones led to some progress. Then some yelling...Ethan ran around the house and found "Gorilla Glue". I (as a responsible parent) reminded him that he could glue himself permanently to anything, and then informed him I wanted to know nothing about why he needed the potentially deadly substance.
An hour and a half later the kids emerged exhausted and smiling with a working robot...granted a backwards moving robot. With a simple tweak from me we had "Mr. Roboto" running smooth (and forward).
Definitely need more projects like this!!!!
Gammy and Ellie arrive in 5 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!