The Magic Box

As I am sure most of my readers know, I have been busy getting things set up in the house for our first year of homeschooling.  This has been a bit of a challenge, since the only place really big enough is the basement.  It may not have drywall or carpet, but the boys love the space.  This summer I had let some things accumulate...specially the pile of stuff I needed to take to Savers (Goodwill no longer accepts toys).  Between one huge run to Savers, and then placing everything else at the top of our driveway, we now have the basement reclaimed.

Now I am in the process of doing inventory of the supplies I have, creating the lesson plans I want to follow, and ordering what I can when I have the extra cash.  I have discovered that Oriental Trading has a very wide selection of items that are affordable and practical.  (And no, I am not being paid by them.  I do not get paid for this blog at all).  I placed a rather large order, and received the box when both kids were awake.  I was very excited to see what exactly I had ordered, so I opened the box right away and started going through it.  First I pulled out some music scarves, which of course Carter spotted.  I opened them up for him and they started dancing around the house just like they do in story time.  Pierce was making up activities like how high can it be thrown, who can make the biggest circle, etc.  They were so happy to have their own scarves at home.

After we played with those for awhile, I started putting some other stuff away.  I had purchased some alphabet stampers, some car stampers (they create different patterns as they drive through the ink pads onto the table), and some gems.  I never knew that stampers could occupy a child as much as these have occupied my guys.  According to Daddy, both boys used the alphabet stampers for a long time while I was away this weekend.  Pierce made sure he showed me his work of art, and started pointing out each letter that he had stamped.  Carter can now recognize "X" as well.

This morning, Pierce independently went into the stamp and sticker drawer and pulled out the race car stampers.  Originally I thought in my head that he cannot use them, since they are designed for one of my lessons.  However, I agreed to let him use them, as long as he shared with his brother.  Wouldn't you know that the boys played the entire half hour that I cooked breakfast and emptied the dishwasher?  It was amazing!

Tonight I finished unloading the box and putting it away in the respective homes.  I tried to do it without Pierce realizing what I was doing, since he already had started calling it the magic box.  I thought I had escaped, since he was busy showing his friends how to launch rockets with his behind (long story), but as he was getting ready for a bath, he wanted to pull out the gems to make something fancy.  This time I did have to decline, and I felt bad doing so, since I know he just wants to be creative.  It's alright.  He followed it up with, "what else do you have in that box?  It is a pretty cool box that has fun stuff."  Maybe I will need to start creating a weekly magic box for the boys.  Load it up with craft stuff and just let them go.  I think I will give it a try.