The Time of the Board Games

One rainy Saturday I found the kids playing board games in the garage with their granddad. They were playing "Gobble Up" and chess. To me this Saturday served as a clue that we may benefit from an upgrade. Upgrade we did.

The kids loved Carcasonne instantly. It is a relatively simple game, but it requires strategical and forward thinking. Both kids, 7- and 9- year old, picked the rules easily and settled into the game with enthusiasm. They also appreciated the game as it came, for the fun experience, not for the win. Their 9-year old cousin also enjoyed it.

Then I introduced Ticket to Ride-Europe. We had played the junior version during a toy expo in Chicago. The europe version of the game is more complex, with more and longer journeys. This game requires a lot of strategical thinking and patience. Again, it was hit with both kids and their 9-year old cousin.

Rainy days, we are ready for you.

The next game I will introduce will be Settlers of Catan. I consider it a more complex game as one needs to plan, to trade, to bargain, and of course, one must keep track of his own victory points. I think we will like it.


Update: We did like The Settlers of Catan. It is a much slower game. A few great things came of the first round. First the kids experimented with a few strategies and realized on their own that one had to mix strategies and take advantage of all rules in order to gain points. Second, the kids learned what bargaining/trading is all about. They have not realized yet that they can trade in a any-to-any ratio, but the concept, at least, is colid. I am impressed. Next week, we will go to a board game expo and check out Pandemic. I think they will like it too and maybe we will upgrade to that one as well.

This year I have not paid consistent attention to the third grader's reading progress. I was hoping to have her read from a required list of books, but I failed to stick with this. I was hoping to cover grammar and spelling consistently. Alas, these also fell through the cracks. Thankfully, not all hope is lost since we had done a good job with spelling in the previous two years, and with grammar through portuguese. Yet, I decided that until the end of the school year, I will resume the required reading book list, and will require a daily narration and discussion of the completed daily reading.

The first book was "Where are you going, Baby Lincoln?". It is more complex that I envisioned but to my delight the third grader had understood much of the character development and parallelism. She provided a great narration, great opinions and conjectures. The next in the list is "Rickshaw Girl". In between the required readings I have allowed one "pleasure" read. The girl picked "Ribsy".

Our portuguese reading is Wonder. We are taking it slow but are already a quarter in. I love the statements which the English teacher introduces the students to. We discuss the characters' responses, and craft our own opinions. This book is magical. It is full of meaty material to concentrate on. Especially with my third grader already exhibiting the signs of growing up.

In portuguese, with the third grader we are reading stories and going over the LP program for third grade. With the first grader we are reviewing the Math program for first grade. When I learned English, I learned it through math. I was comfortable with math, and I used my math knowledge to figure out the corresponding English vocabulary and once I felt confident I little by little translated most other areas as well. I figured with the reluctant portuguese speaker, a familiar subject is worth trying.

The third grader is steadily moving on in piano Suzuki Book 3, and is almost finished with violin Suzuki Book 1. The first grader is almost finished with piano Suzuki Book 1. This year we will have two graduations, hopefully merged into one. Both kids participated in a music competition and came short 1 point each. The third grader has two more competitions in May. Both kids will perform at the fifth annual bulgarian piano concert in Chicago.

This summer we will keep a low profile. We will stay put, mostly. We will go to Niagra and Phoenix. In the winter, we will travel to Brasil, and next year Spain!

Update 4/30/2017:

Before we close the month, we opened and tried the remaining board games that we have. We love Splendor. It is very quick and it offers good strategical thinking. It involves some math in which we are all very strong so it is wonderful to compete more or less on equal footing with the kids. Seven Wonders is a great game. I familiarized myself with the rules and will most likely lead the kids into it next week. I thought that the directions were good but the Quick Rules were rather weak; I assume they were meant for players who had played before and served as a reminder. Both games are sturdy and of great quality and I expect them to last for a very, very long time. The last game I have my eyes on is Pendamic but I will wait for next year; there is no rush- we have a great selection and we are excited about it.

Then there are also the usual supsects-Spot It, Connect Four, Bananagrams and Gobble it Up!. These are all quick and straightforward, and again, we compete on the same footing- nobody is at disadvantage or advantage, With a quick turnaround it is easy to do a redo and have  a new winner. Rainy April 2017 has been the board game month in the house.