I have a habit of posting my own blogs in my fellow blogger's comments. Personally, I love lengthy comments, but then I see so many people apologizing for leaving such a lengthy comment, and I wonder if other people mind my own lengthy comments. Plus, my habit of leaving long comments in response to other people's posts often leaves me with little time to write a post of my own. So today as a comment of mine was growing and growing, I decided to make it a post of my own and link to it in the comments. :)

ConservaChick wants to know: What do you do about downtime? You know, that time after the school and "kid" chores are done, and before the afternoon activities start (between 11:30 and 3:30)....what do you do to keep your kids constructively busy. Whether it be during your homeschool day, or the summer months.

Well, we're never done by 11:30am! But that's not what you asked...;)

First of all, I read aloud to them for at least an hour a day. We have history reading, missionary story reading, and fun reading. While I'm reading, they sometimes play with quiet toys (legos), but only if they don't become a distraction. Presently, we're reading The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, George Washington: Man of Prayer and Courage (Sower Series), and we just finished the Lamplighter book Little Sir Galahad. We'll probably start one of the Trailblazer books next. We also have a stack of picture books from the library that I read to my pre-readers. Everyone else has their own books to read, so that's always an option. Read!

Beyond that, they play. They

• play house
• have tea parties (with accents)
• put on shows
• take shoe boxes and design and build massive doll house structures with them,
• dress up and talk to eachother with British accents and scold their children,
• listen to CDs and make up their own dance routines,
• play with dolls, Barbies, horses, doll house, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, and Only Hearts Club dolls
• build with K'Nex, Lincoln Logs, and legos
• build massive train tracks and play with trains
• rearrange the couch pillows into separate "rooms" and play housekeeper & master (again with the accents)
• carry the kitten around and play with him
• play games
• play the piano
• work on the computer with Mavis Beacon teaches typing
• and...

and whenever they can, they go outside and play. They

• ride bikes,
• ride scooters,
• pretend to go camping,
• dress up and play Little House on the Prairie,
• play with dollhouses,
• play tag,
• play soccer,
• give the Barbies baths,
• run around with the puppy,
• jump on the trampoline,
• and...

I'm not very creative myself, and I don't initiate any of this. I really don't play with them myself either. The only thing I do is say, "No, you don't need to watch TV or play on the computer. Go play!" They figure it out. They've had years of figuring it out, and they also have inspiration from the books I've read to them, or they've read themselves. If they don't want to play, they can read, or color, or make up their own crafts, or write letters to friends. We also have lots of board games. Lots! But that's another post in and of itself.

We've been completely off any type of a schedule for months, so this play usually happens in the morning, and then we get started with school and work through the afternoon. It's not ideal, but it works out okay in the winter because it's so cold, but we need to get back on track and start lessons earlier because they'll want to be outside more in the afternoons in the spring. They're not too happy about doing Math when the school kids get home from school!

Just like any kids, my kids can get sucked into the TV very easily, so we don't turn it on. If we do, they whine and complain when I turn it off, but if I don't, they might ask to watch something, but rarely pitch a fit when I say, no. There was a span of time when I was pregnant/nursing, and they were younger, that I depended on the tv as a babysitter. We watched a lot of TV for a few years: Playhouse Disney, Dora, Blues' Clues, Veggie Tales. No longer! Now, they might watch it once a week, usually on weekends or during our home fellowship group. I've even recorded great shows like Drive Through History, on the DVR, and we haven't watched them, because we rarely turn the television on during the day anymore. There are plenty of other things to do. Also, we don't have Nintendo, or Playstation, or anything. We have friends who have it ALL, and when we're at their house, my son (and sometimes my husband) like to play. I'm content with that! :)

As a result, my kids are creative and rarely get bored. I'm sure if they did, I'd find something to do with them (like wipe down all the kitchen cabinets, or clean the baseboards). :)