Court

Shelly and Archer had a conflict that involved accusations and a ruined... "something." Of course the argument eventually devolved into "yes you DID!" and "no I DIDN'T!" So I convened court in the kitchen, commanded the kids to get chairs and took my place as the judge. I then instructed Shelly to tell me the story of what happened.

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl." Trying not to laugh, I told her she needs to tell me what happened to her thing that Archer ruined. "He RUINED it!" Well, what did he do to ruin it? Tear it? Cut it up? Set it on fire? She looked at me in bewilderment and said, "Why would he set it on fire?" Ugh. Let's try this again.

Archer, what's your defense to her accusations? "What's accusations?" Obviously our time in court didn't resolve the issue. But it did distract them from fighting with each other. And we even had a vocabulary lesson slipped in there without anyone noticing. So I'd say it was a success!

Court was followed by a story telling period where Archer told us about a little girl who somehow ended up in Antarctica with penguins, polar bears and snakes. You'll be relieved to know that the little girl did eventually make it home safely after a scary journey down a snow tunnel and a chase by the mamma polar bear.