Christmas Break - We Made It!

 Christmas is one of those Very Special Days that, unlike some other holidays (looking at you Easter), is always, always on the same date every year. And yet, I am always, always working through my Christmas To-Do List at the last minute. 

I've come to accept this about myself and no longer fight against my procrastinating instincts. 

We've been able to move at a more leisurely pace this holiday season compared to previous years - another silver lining of the Pandemic Situation. Other than scrambling to get packages sent to my brother before he moved out of the country, I've mostly been able to take my time and stay on task. We've been enjoying cookie-baking and movie-watching and lots and lots of Christmas stories (so far my plan has actually worked and each week I've been able to pick up a new pile of Christmas books from the library). 

Tour 1 Week 10

 

I may have gone a little overboard with the Christmas and Advent themed books this year.  But that doesn't look like an abnormally large stack of books, you might be thinking.  

I have 55 more on hold at the library. Fifty-five. 

It's a problem. 

Unless it works out as I hope and the books I've requested become available at a steady trickle over the course of the Christmas Season. In that case, I'm a genius. What's more likely, however, is that I will become bombarded by a sudden influx of Book Availability and will have more library books in my home than I can be trusted to keep track of. 

I blame the Pandemic. Like most people these days, our regular activities have been cancelled or moved online. Sure, I already home schooled, but that previously included a lot more busyness.  Homeschool co-op and religious ed classes and science classes and community college classes and sacrament prep meetings and volunteer work and fencing practice and dogsitting and...you get the point.  

Now we have time. Time for morning snuggles and reading just one more story. Time to just sit and look at beautiful books and figure out the story from the pictures when it's still too hard to read it all on our own. 

I'm choosing to see the Silver Linings of this whole Pandemic Experience. 

Tour 1 Week 9

 

I was sure I would have this post written days ago. On Monday morning the week stretched before us; lazy (but productive!) days off our normal school routine, Thanksgiving visit with Nana and Papa and decorating for Christmas.  I decided we would take a much-needed break from our usual school work since we've been moving along since September without any time off. Yet somewhere there must be an unwritten rule that vacation time moves faster than regular time. 

This week included more mask sewing, Thanksgiving, (I found myself in a grocery store the day before, despite my best efforts), and finally, Christmas decorating. I'm trying not to get too excited about the prediction for snow tomorrow...

Honey Farm Tour

 

I realized after I took this picture how creepy those bears look.  It probably would have helped if I'd taken them out of the plastic bags but I'm lazy.  So there will just have to be a creepy army of honey bears staring at me from my kitchen counter instead.  

Because that's definitely better than the effort it would have taken to remove them from the bags to get a decent picture.  

I wanted to try and fit at least one more field trip in before the holidays and impending cold weather are upon us. 

Not to mention the Raging Pandemic.

Tour 1 Week 8

When I was in high school, I lived away from home at a dance conservatory in Florida. While it was the opportunity of a lifetime, I missed not only my family, but the usual signs that mark the changing of seasons.  I enjoyed evening bike rides to the beach and the occasional day at the pool, but as the school year marched on, I lamented the unchanging weather. No crisp, fall air. No changing colors of leaves. As the holiday season approached and strands of Christmas lights appeared on the palm trees, I longed for snow and cold. Fortunately, I spent holiday breaks back home in the Midwest - my parents at the ready with my winter coat when they picked me up from the airport. 

All this to say that my appreciation for the seasons has remained and I've come to relish the changing weather that each time of year brings. 

I could do without summer though. You know, if we could pick a season to get rid of. Fall, Winter and Spring are really all we need, right? 

Proof that sometimes they get along...

Indiana weather can be predictably unpredictable.  We have consistent, seasonal weather that's punctuated by days of unseasonably warm or cold weather.  It becomes necessary to take advantage of the pleasant weather days whenever possible because you never know when they will return. 

Mother Nature likes to keep us on our toes like that. 

Tour 1 Week 7

 

The beautiful weather returned this week - a welcome change after a stretch of cold, rainy days. Even the native wildlife seemed happy to see the sunshine again.

We were able to move some of our homeschooling time back to our enclosed porch/sunroom area - something I will truly miss when the winter temperatures set in.  Maybe with a good space heater we can occasionally enjoy the space anyway?  The combination of the Pandemic Situation and longer stretches of time staying at home come winter will probably force us to get creative. 

Happy Halloween

 

    Given the ongoing Pandemic Situation, we decided to opt out of trick-or-treating this year.  If I actually thought this decision would seriously disappointment or otherwise scar any of my children for life, I probably would have considered it.  But given their ambivalence on the matter, The Husband and I decided to make the decision for them and simply plan an extra fun evening of festivities at home.   

   

Besides, the six year-old spent most of the week dressed up as a pirate anyway, so that totally counts. And we obviously still had a big bowl of candy available because we aren't monsters.  

The boys did express interest in pumpkin-carving, so we made that happen.  

Tour 1 Week 6

 

    We've reached the Jigsaw Puzzle stage of the pandemic.  My dining table has been covered with puzzles in-progress for over a week now. The recent Birthday Boy started it with his new Star Wars Mandalorian puzzle (obviously I bought it because - Baby Yoda). We are re-watching Season 1 and eagerly anticipating Season 2 later this week.  This seemed to start a chain reaction of puzzle-doing and I ended up making a trip to the Dollar Store to pick up a few puzzles for Little Guy, who desperately wanted to be included in all the puzzle-making fun. 

    Because, yes, we had an extensive collection of puzzles that went untouched for months (years?) and now that I finally unloaded them to goodwill everyone is asking me where the puzzles are.

    It's the natural cycle of things when you have kids.  

October Birthdays

I have to admit that I feel a twinge of jealousy over the the fact that two of our family members have birthdays in October. 

Okay more than a twinge.

A birthday in October means celebrating in a season of crisp air, leaves crunching beneath your feet, faint smells of apple cider and wood-burning. 

A birthday in February means celebrating in a season of cold to your bones, long, gray days, seasonal illness, and the realization that spring is nowhere in sight.  

via GIPHY             (Actual Footage of me in February)

Given the Pandemic Situation, we decided to take full advantage of the beautiful weather with celebratory activities outside.  For my husband's birthday, we enjoyed a sunset horseback ride at nearby Koteewi Park followed by dinner on a patio. We've had a few dates over the years that included horseback riding - especially during our getaways to Brown County. I think I might add "learn to actually ride a horse" to my bucket list.  

First I have to make a Bucket List.

Tour 1 Week 5

 

    This is what my desk often looks like in the middle of our school day. We do the bulk of school activities here or in our enclosed porch room (we don't really know what to call it), depending on the weather. 

        As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to take two weeks to cover our Week 5 topics. It was nice to take a more leisurely pace with things and get in at least most of the reading I had planned. One of the biggest challenges for me is that I want to read all. the. books. I am a big fan of using literature to teach anything and everything.  

Wolf Park

    Nearly every day I learn something with my boys or from my boys.  This week the most interesting thing I learned is that buffalo never, in fact, roamed in North America. Ever. 

That's right - the song is wrong. 

But it's in your head now, isn't it? 

Not a Wolf. Or a Buffalo.

       Bison however, come in two versions - American and European. As their names suggest, that's where they live. Likewise, there are two types of Buffalo - Water (found in South Asia) and Cape (found in Africa). Since this is not a Wikipedia page, I'll let you do your own further research into the matter, but let's just say that the song is wrong, we've all been lied to and it's generally blamed on confused explorers. 

Tour 1 Week 4

    Did you know that if you soak an egg in vinegar for 24 hours it will dissolve the calcium in the shell therefore making it feel just like a reptile egg?

Neither did I.

    This week for science we learned about the desert habitat, camels, and reptiles.  The boys even asked me to read more from the science book (Sassafras Science Adventures) for bedtime one night because they didn't want to be left in suspense.  

Tour 1 Week 3

     I suspect that most moms out there share my love-hate relationship with Perler beads.  It's a Fun New Thing to pull out every once in awhile to keep the kids occupied.  I love the creativity and the peace and quiet it buys me.  I don't like how, no matter what we do, the tiny beads inevitably end up all over the place. More than that, I hate how the creations sit around waiting to be ironed while children relentlessly nag kindly remind me to iron them. 

    Despite my misgivings, I decided it would be fun to break out the beads while we finished learning about Saint Kateri Tekakwitha this week. I bought this book as a birthday present to myself right before the Pandemic Quarantine and have enjoyed using it to stitch saints.  She also sells her patterns on Etsy, if you're interested but don't want to buy the whole book.  I took her recommendation to use the book with Perler Beads and the boys really enjoyed it.  

Pandemic Playdate at the Park

 Last week's outing was more Play Date than Field Trip. Youngest Boy was SO excited to see his BFF and I was equally excited to spend time with one of my favorite mom friends.  

    Social interaction is currently a challenge to navigate - especially when you A. take the pandemic thing seriously, and B. feel like you're surrounded by people who don't.  But I have no intention of staying cooped up in the house forever and want to take advantage of the beautiful weather as of late.  

Tour 1 Week 2

     Lest you think I'm some kind of Supermom with a clean, organized home, clean, organized children and a "perfect" home school life - you should know that to buy the peace and quiet necessary to even write this blog post I'm letting the younger boys binge watch Phineas and Ferb.  Sometimes I make them watch something a little more - educational. Wild Kratts being the favorite, or more recently Mythbusters Junior (science!).  My older boys were Mythbusters fans - it definitely appeals to every boy's desire to blow things up. 

        Basically I had to bribe the six year-old with morning television viewing in order to break his habit of getting in bed with me every morning. Early in the morning.  Some could argue the middle of the night.  Let's just say that being woken up each night, sometimes multiple times, to the sound of my bedroom door slamming open, followed by a not-so-small child climbing into bed with me and pulling on my hair was making me rather grumpy in the mornings. He's always had this weird playing-with-mommy's hair obsession - sometimes it's adorable, most of the time it's just painful since no matter how many times I try to explain it, he just does not seem to get that my hair is attached to my head.  Also it's impossible to sleep while someone is pulling on your hair.  

The television habit has continued, but I did make a Video Games Only on the Weekends Rule.  

It's all about balance. 

Koteewi Park Field Trip

     I mentioned in my previous post that I hope to get the family out and about to someplace fun and interesting as part of our home schooling each week.  My current criteria for such outings is: within driving distance, free/economical, educational and mostly outdoors.  My goals for the outings are: driving practice for teens, airing out the children and complementing subjects in our home school studies. We had beautiful weather which was timed perfectly with our field trip plans at the end of week.  

    We have recently been studying Native Americans and also wanted to do our suggested Observation Walk for science. So we headed to nearby Koteewi Park. This sprawling park is about a 20 minute drive from our house, so we packed a picnic and set off in the late, late morning - thus giving time for one of the teens to join us.  The park has several, seasonal activities - archery, horseback riding, zip lining, snow tubing and walking trails. We've been to the archery center several times over the last few years and may be going back next month for a certain boy's birthday.  But this time we focused our visit on the small Nature Center and replica Native American Village.  

And We're Off

     I like to officially start our new school year the first week of September, preferably after a week of vacation. This year, however, we made the disappointing decision to forego our annual trip to the lake. Between financial concerns and logistical concerns (is it really vacation if you have to bring your own dishes and towels?), not to mention the whole pandemic situation, we thought it best to put those plans on hold. I say "put those plans on hold" when what I really mean is cancel. In all honesty, those plans are on hold until we try again next year.  But that seems to be the theme of 2020, doesn't it - cancelled plans and disappointment. 

Yikes. That was depressing. 

    Really, my point is that life moves on and I am excited to start our new school year and forge ahead - despite whatever plans Coronavirus has.  As I've mentioned before, this is my 13th year homeschooling. It still sounds crazy to say that out loud.  I will say that our homeschooling has rarely looked the same from year to year.  Sure, there are some constants; some tried and true components that make up our overall learning plans each year.  One such constant has been involvement in a co-op.  Since our move back to Indiana a little over six years ago, we discovered and joined our local chapter of Catholic Schoolhouse. 

Let's Try This Again

    If you've known me for a long time, then you may remember that I used to write regular blog posts. This was something I was able to do with greater consistency when the boys were much younger and there were fewer of them. When I look back on those earlier and often harried days of mothering and homeschooling, I'm glad I took the time to blog about our adventures.  It is true what "they" say - the days are long, but the years are short.  Fast-forward through the addition of more boys, more moving and more busyness, to today. 

    This year I graduated my first-born and could not be prouder of him. The only disappointment was deciding to forego the family celebration we had planned - thanks Coronavirus.  

    Amidst the disappointment of foregone celebrations, I remind myself that this pandemic won't stop everything. My boy will still embark on a journey of continuing education in a highly competitive program at a world-class university. He opted to do his first semester online - his choice - we made it clear we would support whatever he decided.  While I'm disappointed he won't have the "traditional" college experience right away, the reality is that even if he'd chosen to go on campus, life there is anything but "traditional."  Mask requirements, social-distancing, classes taught behind miles and miles of plexiglass (or online anyway) - not what my college days looked like.  Although, that was back in the Stone Age. 

    Considering his first semester is costing him nothing (except hard work, of course) while keeping him and his grandparents (who he was going to live with) a little safer, I think he made the right choice.  And I will selfishly enjoy having him home just a little longer.