Kids New Toy

I haven't posted recently because between the sleep deprivation that comes with a 15 week old new baby and not homeschooling right now I have been a little busy. I decided to give the older kids some time off for the summer to play with the new toy their father got them.

For some odd reason he thought a Wii would be a good idea. While I understand that it will help keep them busy I had some serious reservations about having a video game system in the house. I have found over the last couple of weeks that I can totally use it to my advantage. They want to play because it is new and I want for them to get their chores done early in the day. The rule is no playing until their morning "missions" are done. I have been totally amazed at how fast they can now complete their stuff. What used to take us an hour or so to get done is now complete in less than 30 minutes. They are also taking turns with the games, playing fair, being competitive yet supportive of each other and generally doing better all the way through the day. While I would like to stand on my soap box about how addictive, bad and horrible video games are I am, at this point at least, unable to do that. Now mind you that they are only allowed games rated E that I have been through myself they are doing great with it. On top of everything else I think they are learning self control, moderation and teamwork too. Talk about a win win for me.

We will be back on track with the school work hopefully next week so it remains to be seen exactly how the video game system will play into that. Hehehe hopefully they will get their work done faster and more efficiently so we can have more time to play :)

I just love watching them work together and everyone wins!!