We just bought three new games and tried them out this morning.

1.  The Way Things Work.  Based on the successful book series, this board game teaches basic physics principles and scientific trivia by using three different levels of play geared toward all ages.  The third level, or PhD level, involves doing actual science experiments.  The level one game was fun for both kids...Alex is anticipating the higher levels now that we now the basic concept of the game.

2.  Pounce.  This is an ingenious game to develop hand-eye coordination, number recogition, and fast addition/subtraction skills.  There are plastic, brightly-colored mice with long string tails that are "pounced" upon by a big plastic cat head.  The goal is to pull on the tail of your mouse before the cat pounces if you see the number called out prior to the roll of the dice by the cat.  The kids were in a fit of giggles by the end of it.

3.  Tip-Over.  This is a solitaire puzzle game that involves using the cards given to set up the puzzle with different height pieces.  The goal is to tip over the pieces with your little red dude until you reach the red box at the end.  The kids both played this for a few hours.  It is great for developing critical thinking and strategy.  Alex did very well, and even Megan was able to get to card 5 of the beginner level.

All three games were a great way to spend our unschool morning.  After we played games, the kids and I sat down and read "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic", chapter 2.  It was about the tattletales.  They both enjoy this series immensely, which is fun for me since I remember reading it when I was younger.

Last night, we watched "White Fang" based on the Jack London book.  Both kids thought they would hate it, but were enthralled by the midpoint.  I will say there are several scenes during which I had Megan cover her eyes and ears...the illegal dog fight scenes in particular.  I could see nightmares stemming from that.  The end had all of us smiling and goosebumpy!