i taught mayan how to play scrabble last winter, and we had a few great fireside games. sure, i give her advice on how to better play a word and help her build words if she's stuck, but i also make her add up her own points. its a well-rounded home-school activity: spelling, math (addition, value, and intro to multiplication), stategy, and of course, vocabulary. i was amused by the results of last weekend's game, as there were some...how should i say...grown-up words. i put down "sex" (i think mayan believes the origin of this word is from that show "sex and the city") and she turned it into "sexy" for 14 points. we both had a chuckle over "fart" (my play, actually.) and while i was hesitant, i could not resist the huge score on the right side of the board despite to potential uncomfortable explanation. luckily though, it began as "abort" ("you know like 'abort mission!', to cancel or call off..." i explained) and the next turn i happened to have an "ion" and no questions were asked. plus i got 30 points for it.
