Catching up, and doing our last week of school blog post the second week of the new year! We had a great Christmas, with lots of family time and relaxation. For the first time, in possibly forever, we took Christmas break off like you would traditionally. We have always schooled through because it is easier to stay on schedule than break and re-start. This last summer was the first summer we took an official break as well, after year-round schooling since Michael was about three years old. It was nice to not have to plan anything and to enjoy a lot of down time.
The last week of school in 2021 we fit quite a bit in! Our weather report showed that we would be getting snow come Christmas day, and that it would stay for over a week! They ended up being right! To prepare we worked on adding some protection to the field chickens house, re-stocked our wood pile, and unhooked all the hoses and water spitgots. Emmet like to help make kindling for starting the wood stove. It isn't our only source of heat, we have a heat pump as well, however it is the main source. We set the thermostat for 55 and if we want it warmer we have to start, keep fueled, and maintain the wood stove. All three boys enjoy taking turns starting the fire and maintaining it.
Gingerbread houses!! We opted for easy and made them from graham crackers this year! I was able to source A LOT of dye free candy this year, and the boys were in heaven getting to decorate with lots of options.
Our co-op hiked part of the Banks-Vernonia trail this week! We had fun playing on a hillside and exploring the woods off the trail more than we enjoyed hiking. It was so cold!
Our anatomy unit is starting to gain footing!! Getting all my ducks in a row sometimes is difficult! We studied about the circulatory system. We traced the oxygenated blood and de-oxygenated blood on a human body shape, then constructed models of the heart. We counted our heat beats, ran around in circles, and counted again, then sewed a heart shaped pillow to add to Mr. Skelly's skeleton.
Running in circles around the table to increase our heat rate! We also read a chapter in Story of the World, we have been focusing on Africa and British hold in the late 1880's.
Snow!!! Not only did we have predictions of snow for Christmas, it snowed this week as well! Co-op came to our house for Thursday and they all sled for about five hours on a very tiny amount of snow. By the end I think they were mostly sledding on mud!
Catan! This was the game of Christmas break! We had not played in a while, so when Michael brought it out we all wanted to play it again and again. We also have a few expansion and played those. This week we played Catan three times, and then about four more times over the break. ha ha.
One day my stomach was bothering me a lot, and Michael decided for school writing he would write the chore list. He did a good job assigning chores. Emmet wrote things he likes on the white board as his writing assignment of the day, and then once the chores were done they all played Nintendo while I rested.
It was a great last week of school and a wonderful Christmas break. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays!
The Dillmans
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