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). 

This post is a little later than usual because we had a week of doctor's appointments and little else. Rather than space out the family check-ups over time I like to just get it all done in the same week whenever possible. Usually our dentist, pediatrician and eye doctor are very accommodating and try to schedule as many boys at one time as possible.  

It was a very productive and very exhausting week.  

While I was dragging kids to the doctor each day, College Boy was finishing his first semester at Purdue.  I'm happy to report that he survived the first part of his Freshman year and passed all his classes - even his five credit hour Calculus class (!!!). He's now moved his main computer out of his room and re-joined civilization for the duration of his winter break. 

It makes coordinated video gaming with his brothers much easier. 

Meanwhile, the younger boys enjoyed our first snowfall of the year. I try not to get my hopes too high when there's snow in the forecast, but this time Mother Nature actually delivered. There's something magical about waking up to a world covered in sparkling, white snow. 

They spent the whole day playing outside - stopping only for some hot chocolate of course.

Except for the six year-old who doesn't like chocolate. 

I know.

It's okay though because he's developed a chai tea latte addiction instead. 

In between appointments, we've continued with school work so we can achieve our goal of enjoying a glorious two week break.  We have two "modes" of homeschooling - a full schedule and a basic schedule. We default to the basic schedule when life gets busy. Our Catholic Schoolhouse curriculum covers 24 weeks, so some of our weeks won't include that material anyway.  We've completed ten weeks and if we were attending classes with our chapter (we aren't meeting this year due to Covid) we would have completed 12. Since week 11 includes the Civil War I decided it would be a more natural starting point after Christmas break.  

Our Basic Mode of school includes math and language arts for the younger boys - the older boys have continued their separate history and science lessons as well. The younger boys have also been doing a virtual Advent Program. 

After a productive First Semester, we are all looking forward to a break from the normal school routine. We have more cookies to bake, more presents to wrap, more movies to watch and more games to play. I'm trying to savor every moment of having everyone home together. I retreat to my crafting or reading when I need a break from the chaos.  And when the weather is decent I get outside and walk while listening to something - I recently finished the first season of Serial (true crime podcast). College Boy and I are also learning Martial Arts together. We have a subscription to the Great Courses Plus that we try to take full advantage of, so we're starting with a Martial Arts overview course - the youngest two boys have been joining us as well. I'm also letting College Boy teach me programming - there's a certain amount of entertainment value in getting mom to do things out of her comfort zone. They used to request that I play Minecraft with them on their birthdays - I had a surprisingly fun time indulging them. 

Since College Boy is teaching me programming, I'm going to teach him sewing. Or ballet. Or both!  Sewing being the more practical of those options, but if we're trying to match entertainment value, then it really should be some form of dance instead. 

That sums up the last couple weeks around here. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and stay safe!

~ Dori