We had a better start to this morning because we didn't have any interruptions this time! We have finished The Science of Discworld and started a little book of stories by Terry Gillian that were put together as a freebie for a cereal company.
As soon as we got up though Ram was back onto the computer. He was playing Popcap games all day! Some of them are very educational so I don't mind from that point of view, but I would really like him to get outside a bit! Usually we spend all summer outdoors getting lots of nice vitamin D to last us the winter!
On of the games he was playing today was Bookworm Adventures. This is not only a spelling game, but it also involves Greek myths. Basically, the bookworm has to attack all these monsters with words to try and kill them. Each monster has information about it on the screen, written in an amusing way. You wouldn't pass a GCSE in Mythology, but it is great for reinforcing what we have already learned, and is useful as a starting point for getting into all those wonderful monsters of the Ancients.
The way the game works is you get a grid of 16 letters which you use to make words. The longer the word, the more power it has. Once you submit the word the bookworm goes over to the monster and bashes him according to how much power the word has. Then it is the monsters turn to bash the Bookworm. Each has a power bar and the loser is the one that runs out of power first.
In the afternoon the boys came to cut the grass. I usually take them out a glass of squash (or tea when the weather is normal English weather) about half way through. Ram was playing Bookworm Adventures and I was helping him, when I explained that it was time to take the boys a drink. I got up and went to prepare it, and Ram, on his own accord without me having to tell him, went out to tell the boys that their drink was ready!
While we were out there I suggested that Ram stay out and get some sun, but he went straight back inside. I stayed out for a few minutes to have a chat with them, and suddenly Ram came out in tears. He said that his word wasn't long enough because I wasn't there to help him and he had lost all his power in one go!
I quickly excused myself from the boys and went back inside, as I know that if I don't things only escalate and get worse very quickly. If he needs me, he needs me and me delaying things only makes his need to have me beside him stronger!
But it was too late and his heart had gone out of the game. So it was back to his new game bashing the Gnomes on the head! Oh well, more eye/hand coordination practice!
I am really beginning to think that Ram is a vampire. Not only would he not go outside today, but when he came out of the study for supper he even closed the patio doors which we normally leave open all summer!
But I did get a chance to get outside myself today. About the only things that have grown in the veggie patch this summer are the nasturtiums. I pick their seeds and buds and pickle them in vinegar to use through the winter as poor man's capers. I put them on pizzas and make tartar sauce out of them, as well as using them in things like fish or chicken pies. So I hulled a load of the plants from the veggie patch and sat in the sun and picked all the seeds off.
Then in the evening I had six pounds of plums to stone. I need to freeze them as I don't have the time or the sugar to turn them into jam at the moment, so I sat at the picnic table on my own with a glass of wine stoning plums. I wish that Ram would have come out and helped because the village was really quiet and it was funny watching the jackdaws rousting in the trees. It reminded me of the song 'There was 10 in the Bed' because every so often one would suddenly squawk and fly away, and then they would all fly up, wheel round the tree, then settle back down again until the next one squawked and flew off.
But Ram will find out about it anyway. When the Dxh comes tomorrow I shall tell him about it at lunch time and Ram will be there and will listen and learn. Purposive conversation can work both as a reinforcer of previously learned material, and as a way of introducing new things too!
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