Qwirkle

We've been on the lookout for new games. Snail's Pace Race and Goodnight Moon weren't really fitting the bill anymore. As Calvin gets older we were looking for games that would challenge us all a bit more. We found Camp, which allows all of us to play to our own abilities. We also picked up chess, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Connect Four, Guess Who, Memory, and a number of others, but I was still looking. Qwirkle came highly recommended by the online homeschooling community so I ordered it.

I'm not a reviewer and I claim no knowledge with which I can rightfully judge these things, but I am really excited about this game. First, the tiles are solid wood so they feel well made and make for a good tactile experience. Second, it not only requires an ability to follow rules but also involves deep strategy; It challenges the player not just to recognize colors and shapes but also to consider complex categorization and grid formation, and offers a challenge that will grow along with the player's skill set. I see us playing a lot of Qwirkle around here.

Chess

Speaking of games. A few days ago he asked us about the chess set sitting on our bookshelf. It's a set that Jon brought back with him from a choir trip in Budapest—a pretty set of varying woods and simple carvings. Calvin was curious but it had been years since either of his parents had played and we were both a bit shaky on the general rules. At the used book store on Saturday morning we happened across a chess book by Usborne, aimed specifically at kids (or somewhat slow adults). For $2 it turned out to be a great find, and timely, too. We've added a few new rules to our repertoire each day since and we're slowly working up to a full game, or at least to one that makes sense. I've always wanted to learn how to really play chess. I think by the end of this journey I will owe most of my knowledge to my son.

Games

There's a game craze going on in the online homeschooling world right now. By that I mean that we're all talking about games. That makes sense since many of us are experiencing winter and much (though not all) time often spent on exploring outside is now spent exploring our living rooms. Insert games, though, and the living room can be a fun activity for the whole familiy.

Every Friday night we enjoy family game night, eating a picnic-style dinner on the floor and playing a game together (We also have several afternoons that are Calvin and mom game afternoons, yadda yadda). We're still entering the real game age, but our tastes are developing and we've put together a top ten list (in no particular order) to share with our wider online community. That means you.

• Camp (this is number one with all of us)

• Go Fish

• Hi Ho Cherry-O

• Monopoly

• Memory

• Guess Who

• Connect Four

• Dominos

• Zingo

It should be noted that with this list of our "top ten" games (I know there's only nine) I have exhausted our game list. Jon and I have our own repertoir of games, like trivial pursuit, scrabble, and Boggle, that we play after Calvin goes to bed, and that a few of our "adult" games (all clean) could be adjusted to accomodate Calvin, like Facts in Five (one of our favorites). And there are a couple of games that we used to enjoy that Calvin has since outgrown, like Snail's Pace Race and Good Night Moon. For the most part, however, this is the extent of our gaming experience. Not for long, though. Thanks to other homeschooler's sites, like Ordinary Life Magic, to which I Have linked this list, I am now salivating to add a number of other games to our collection, like The Amazing Mammoth Hunt, Blokus Duo (for two), and Lost Cities (although that might be for a couple of years from now).

And thank you to all the other homeschooling moms out there who have shared their gaming preferences with us so we'd know where to go from here.

Five little snowmen

We had to retire the pumpkin and turkey tail feather counting rhymes/games, but this is our new winter felt fun.

Five little snowmen sitting on a hill
Five little snowmen sitting verry still
The sun came out and melted one away
Now there's four little snowmen sitting there today

etc., etc.

Family game night

Milton Bradley would love us. I remember back when they started their "family game night" ad campaign on T.V.

Yesterday Calvin and met, for the first time, with the Ann Arbor Unschooling group for an afternoon of games and fun. It was definitely fun. It also reminded me that games, board games, card games, dance around the room acting like a ninny games, have long been an ingredient of the family institution. At least for some. When we got home I dug around the in the basement, but the majority of our games (except perhaps for Twister) are mainly for the college age crowd and up (I'm thinking Calvin wouldn't do so hot with Trivial Pursuit, which we own five editions of). So today I dug around in my childhood basement, the basement of parents' home, but most of those games were just a tad too old also (Connect Four was a hit at the gathering, but more as a construct/deconstruct activity, not a game). So, as sad as it is, we resorted to buying new. In the future we'll watch yard sales and resale shops, but I just didn't want to miss the moment in this case.

Hi-Ho Cherry-O. Remember the 80s? Or even the 70s? It goes back even further than that, and has continued to change with the times. It's not the same game, and I'm struggling with a real feeling of remorse, having found a number of old ones, even the 1960s true original, on ebay.

This is the game I remember, or at least something close to it

The new game is a tad more colorful. It also comes with an optional variation for cooperative play, which is a great idea for family game night, but I'm pretty sure we could have come up with it on our own.

I think it's just nostalgia that is disappointing me. Who cares what color the cherries are? It's the same plastic (I think), and the same cardboard (really, it didn't get flimsier!), and probably the same amount fun. My real comfort lies in the hour of pure joy we enjoyed as a family; Friday night, picnic on the floor in the sitting room, family game play—I think we have a new tradition.

Did you know family game night came with its own ninja?