Winter Break Day One

Day 1 of Winter Break here at Cornerstone has brought the following:

• About 6 inches of snow
  
• A game of Disney Scene-It (chosen by Suzy)
• Some origami creations
• Several rounds of Mad Libs
• Homemade cinnamon rolls for lunch (Here is the RECIPE)
• Some time outside (for kids) shoveling snow and playing, and then again a second time outside for James and Suzy
  
• Watching National Geographic: Animals in the Womb (a little MORE INFORMATION than I would have imagined on some topics, if you know what I mean!)
• Read-aloud the first three chapters of The Lightning Thief
• Lisa did her job training.
  

My camera was left behind at a friend's house, so I can't show you any pictures. And we ran out of time for the second game. All in all, a good Winter Break day.

Winter Break to Shake Things Up

The upcoming week is going to be DIFFERENT here at Cornerstone. I am tired of the same-old, same-old, and so have decided to shake things up a bit.

Several schools around here had "Winter Break" and we usually don't do that enabling us to take off whenever we like in BEAUTIFUL spring and fall weather. However, I think this year, we need a break.

But I don't do well with unstructured time. So, I have chosen some fun learning activities to keep us moving forward this week but still allow us a break from the norm. Friday we have co-op, so we will have four days this week to enjoy this change. Then next week, I'm going to roll out some different learning activities to replace some of our boring ones.

So, this week will include:

MOVIES - aside from the normal entertainment movies, I've found a few educational videos to play (on our TEENSY television).

• National Geographic: Animals in the Womb (DVD from library)
• History Channel: Great Escapes of WW2 (DVD from library)
• Francis: Knight of Assisi (VHS tape we own)
• Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute (VHS we own, and I just realized it is in SWEDISH with English subtitles! That will be an adventure! lol)

GAMES - 2 per day, one chosen by the kids, one chosen by me.

ART PROJECTS

• Origami (found my book and origami paper in a drawer)
• Paper Snowflakes
• Water Colors (just painting)
• Creative Thinking Through Art (set of 2 books I own)

MAD LIBS

READ-ALOUD - We will begin a new book this week: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. This will be the first book I've read to them in more than a year that isn't one I've read before.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
Sledding on Tuesday
Maybe swimming Friday night

We will probably keep our Bible routine going, since once we stop that, it's hard to get moving on it again. It's a centering way to begin our day.

Playing Outside

My two youngest have been amazing me with their tolerance for the cold weather! They love playing in the snow! We have a lot of it.

Yesterday they begged to go out. It was 17 degrees. I agreed, thinking they'd be back in within minutes. They played out for at least an hour, I am sure. I wish I had timed it. They came in rosy-cheeked and very happy. Then they wanted to go out again just before dark, so I let them and they played out for another good long time. Reports are they were making a snow cave. They wanted to go out again after dinner, but I said no.

Wish there were more daylight hours! I do remember playing out in the snow myself after dark, by the lights in the parking lot, all bundled in my snowmobile suit and moonboots.

They played out again today for about an hour, or maybe longer. It was a bit warmer today, but not much. We are supposed to be getting more snow, so I am sure they'll play outside tomorrow too. I'll try to get some good pictures, but that means I have to go out myself.

And how do I get the older ones out there???

And I want to start my family on cross-country skiing as that is the only winter sport I think I could manage to enjoy.