we got schooled

We played "school" tonight after baths. At first, it was just me and the girls while Simon bathed and the game started out as "Mom, sister and baby". Ella was the mom, I was the sister and Josie was the baby, obviously. But then Ella morphed the game into school. She was still the mom though so we were homeschooled. But there was a principal (played by Josie) so I guess it was some kind of crossover between the two. I sat on the floor with my "backpack" (an H&M bag with a pouch of pencils, small notebook, storybook and erasers) while Ella sat in a chair with a quilt on her legs. She instructed me to get out my notebook and write the sentences she gave me. It was so fun to pretend to be like Ella for a moment. I kept raising my hand to ask for spelling help which she tired of quickly and said, "Let's just pretend you're in the first grade so you know everything, ok?" 

When Simon and Dad entered, the game morphed further. Simon wanted to be the dad who came to pick me up in the car, so he was awarded that role. Daddy played another student in my class. Ella decided we all needed make believe names. I was Susie, Daddy was Freddy, Ella was Miss Isabella and Simon was Johnny. Josie was still the principal.

Again, I kept raising my hand; this time it was mostly to tattle on Freddy. "Miss Isabella?!" I said, "Freddy keeps touching meeee!" She put down her book and got up from her chair. "I guess I need to write down the rules and go over them with you." She said in a stern voice, looking at "Freddy" with a sideways glare and clenching to hold back a smile. She posted rules on the wall that said: 1. No touching, 2. No yelling, 3. No looking at other people's papers.

Then it was time for a test. The test was to draw a picture of our house. "Freddy" was lying down in the bed and seemed to doze off. When it was time to turn in our test to see what grade we got, I got a 4 (which is an A in Ella's real school). "Freddy" didn't draw anything on his paper. He got a 1 (which is a D). As we wrapped up our game, Ella handed back "Freddy's" homework. On it she had written next to his sub par score, "Next time, do what we do."

Then we all loaded up in Johnny's car (two miniature chairs, a step stool and a bouncy seat to act as Josie's car seat) and Johnny (dad) buckled us in. As we "drove" home, he told me, "When we get home I am putting you straight to bed and I'm going to change over the laundry."

It was a very educational evening. :)