Busy doing nothing

So, I finally started a blog about home educating my daughter. How ironic that I chose a day that was one of those nothing days. One of those, 'oh no, I'm not doing any educating' days. But the inspiration took me, and so here I am.

That's one of the joys of home education, now I come to think of it - and one of the responsibilities. When Astra says, hey, I am interested in this, I am inspired by this, I can go and explore that interest with her, right now. There is no need to say, ohh, but we are studying THIS right now, that will have to wait (and be forgotten). We can follow her interests as they arise.

But still, life has it's routines, and for us Wednesdays are 'clean the house' days. We have a horde of people arriving for a French class on Thursday mornings, so we must dust and change the beds, clean the floors and clean the bathroom. It isn't supposed to take all day, but it nearly always does. I wish I could tell you about yesterday, when we went to the woods with our friends, learned some history about the trees and about the future plans for the area, and looked at maps, and made some beautiful woodland art. Or the day before yesterday, a different woods and a different group of friends, where most of the learning was of the social kind. On Monday we baked a sourdough cake, our first experience with sourdough.

But I digress. Today, because that's when the inspiration to start a blog grabbed me. So, we got the house clean. Okay, *I* got the house clean. Astra 'kept me company'. Some of the time. The rest of the time she was.....figuring out a halloween costume for her teddy bear (he is currently sporting a pink bikini), patiently cutting out strips of paper to make halloween paper chains, finishing off the halloween decorations from the comic I'd bought for her, cuddling her guinea pigs and giving one of them a bath, playing princesses and other far noisier games with Daddy, watching some Moomin cartoons, playing the keyboards with me, playing at her being the guinea pig that baby fly and I have just bought from the shop. Ohh, and here's the educational bit, she delivered a parcel to me with some gifts inside and a handwritten note that said, thank you very much for my card. It was written in cursive writing! She showed me what she had copied, a little note from her great aunt. I'm stunned that she managed to copy cursive writing, and it was completely legibile. Such a surprise! What else...oh yes, we also drew a halloween picture together on her whiteboard. I have to say that her witch was MUCH better than mine. I wish I could draw. Thank goodness my lack of ability doesn't seem to be catching.

So, a 'nothing' day, educationally. We just cleaned the house really.