Winter Break Day Four

As Michele pointed out in the comments yesterday, the kids are still being educated. Definitely! I don't do well with unstructured stuff, as I mentioned, especially since we never let them just watch TV all day. And in the cold weather, our tiny house gets small REALLY quick if they are rattling around bored.

They've all enjoyed the activities this week, even David, who has that typical teen ennui. Tomorrow is co-op, so our Four Day Break ends today with the following activities:

• Watching the end of The Magic Flute with Daddy
• My 3rd Live Meeting conference for job training
  
• Making paper airplanes (from a preprinted book)
• Having an impromptu paper airplane battle
• More Mad-Libs
• David listened to The Hunger Games on audio this week (Enjoyed it too!)
• James wrote a bunch more on his book.
• Played outside and made a cool fort (James and Suzy)
• Emily discovered crocus buds in the garden by the back porch.
  
• Visited two libraries
• Grocery shopping with all 4 kids, giving them tasks to do throughout
• Played Star Wars DVD Trivial Pursuit (David's choice - You're surprised, I know. lol)
• David tried to repair my printer (yesterday & today) and my Flip video camera (today) and wasn't successful with either one, but he learned a lot!

If you don't have a paper airplane book, check THIS SITE for some cool planes to fold.

Winter Break Day Three

Since it IS break after all, everyone (except James) got to sleep in today. (I don't think James can sleep in to save his life.... lol)

Other Highlights of Day Three included:

• My second Live Meeting conference
• Francis: Knight of Assisi VHS tape
• The first part of The Magic Flute (yes, in Swedish! lol)
• Scattergories game (chosen by Emily)
• Cutting out paper snowflakes (Try THIS SITE for instructions if you don't know how.)
• Read two more chapters of The Lightning Thief aloud
• More Mad-Libs (great and fun grammar practice! Check back for a post just on Mad-Libs soon!)
• Kids played outside for a while & David went for a walk
• David worked on his essay workshop homework
• A renewed interest in NaNoWriMo novels prompted James to start writing again and Suzy to think about continuing her story.
• Tae-bo workout for me
• Fried potatoes and sausage for dinner
• Homemade brownies for a late dessert

I'm loving our week and considering a unit study on Greek gods and Ancient Greece based on The Lightning Thief. (MICHELE - it's all your fault! LOL)

Winter Break Day Two

Day Two of Winter Break wasn't quite as unique as Day One, but I still think we had a good day.

Highlights include:

• Watercolor painting (after a long search for the paints and paper)
• Read aloud two chapters of the Lightning Thief while they were painting
• Mom's first Live Meeting for job training
• Donuts (Krispy Kreme!)
• Trivial Pursuit DVD for Kids (chosen by James)
• History Channel: The Great Escapes of WWII
• Sledding with friends (weather 38 - lovely for sledding!)
• Two quick library trips
• Mad Libs with Daddy
• Chicken pot pie and blueberry crisp for dinner (both homemade)

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.