Teacher prep day?

Today I spent an inordinate amount of time grading papers. My kids have been working through some workbooks more aggressively now that one of their co-ops has ended for the term (possibly for good). Since these are workbooks and not tests, they get to rework mistakes with me---joyful times for them, I'm sure. S-man did his after taekwondo when his dad was home with the other Star Wars DVDs they have been so anxious to watch. As you can imagine, some of his math problems took about a half hour longer to correct because he was caught up discussing the plots of those DVDs. (They have read several Star Wars books so already know the story.) I wonder if they would have learned to read sooner if I had used Star Wars-themed books?!

As I mentioned, the kids watched Phantom Menace of the Star Wars trilogy. They have been dying to see the second trilogy! We didn't allow them to watch it when they were younger because they tended to get scared easily and it is violent! Because of these movies, the light saber battles around here have been more frequent and so very loud! Why is it boys are so loud? Should I be glad they are and take over my husband's MP3 player to play quiet tunes? It seems like most moms of boys of my acquaintance say the same thing so maybe it is good that they are so normal!

Jewell stayed pretty quiet today after an eventful morning of practicing catching the ball after throwing it up in the air. She missed one throw, and it hit her eye. It swelled up pretty good and is a definite purple. She passed on going to gymnastics today; she said she was afraid she would bump it although it doesn't hurt. Nothing seems to be broken, and her eye is all right. I just realized I didn't take a picture---not that she's going to want it memorialized anyway. I hurt for her. The plus was that we got some together time while I read some stories to her. (By quiet, I mean noise wise. Once we got the swelling down, she played as usual minus the light saber battles. She knows from experience that someone commonly gets whacked and wanted nothing to do with it today.)