Week in Review - What Have We Been Doing On Christmas Break?

We've been on break since Thanksgiving week and it's been SO, SO, SO wonderful!  We purposefully started on August 2nd and plan to continue through the second week in June in able to have a long holiday break.  I am hoping that we can make this a new normal for our homeschool but we will not be able to start back to school quite as early next August due to a swim meet my two older kids will be attending out of state.  But, I am still hopeful and will definitely be looking at the calendar long and hard to see if I can make a long holiday break happen again next year!

So, with lots of extra time on our hands, what have we been doing?  Well, we've definitely been watching it snow.  This past week, we got a TON of snow!

My boys, and even Amber, have spent some time playing out in the snow.  I just ordered a new pair of snowpants for Mason since he's grown SO MUCH since last year.  I have no desire to venture out in the snow but I do enjoy watching the snow from the warmth of my kitchen.

Amber has been doing a ton of reading, watching movies, and working on holiday projects.  My heart swells when I realize that somehow I've managed to instill a love of the homemade in her even though I don't do homemade nearly as much as I would like.  She spent the greater portion of one day working on a fabulous collage for her best friend.  Although you can't see all of the detail in the picture - it is really impressive and I know her friend will love it!  She also sewed a ski hat for her cousin, and made a really special Christmas card for another friend.  When she's not reading or watching movies, she's been quite the busy elf.  Of course, she still has swim team every evening, too.

My boys have been playing, playing, playing!  I love seeing what they find to do when they lots of time for free play.  They've played board games together and video games.  They've also played with toys they haven't played with in a while like Mighty Beanz.  Mason has spent time helping my husband at his workplace and with snow removal.  While Duncan is taking an extended break from swimming, Mason has swim team every evening. 
So, my kids have been busy - what have I been doing?  Well, I've been tackling some big projects that I never find time to do during our busy school days.  I completely cleaned and organized our pantry.  I didn't take any "before" pictures but I just have to show off my "after" pictures.  Every time I walk into my pantry, I feel happy!

I've also been working on cleaning and organizing in my little craft room.  I love to scrapbook and to sew but I haven't made any time to do either activity in a few years now.  I've promised myself that 2011 will be different and I even have a date set with a dear friend in January to work on our photo albums!  So, I'm newly motivated to organize my craft room.  I'm so very incredibly blessed to have a space just for me so I'm getting it organized and ready to use!  Things are pretty messy right now but I'm making progress.

I've also been very busy with holiday preparations.  After decorating for Christmas, I've been wrapping presents, getting packages ready to mail, and preparing our Christmas cards.  Other than just a few more gifts to wrap, I'm just about ready for the holidays!  I have to make fudge next week and I'd like to make some Christmas cookies as well.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about our school subjects and the remainder of our school year.  I've written three evaluation posts so far about our progress in math, reading, and spelling/grammar.  I'm looking forward to starting back to school at the beginning of January with a renewed spirit and focus.

I've also been reading, watching movies (we saw Tangled at the movie theater and LOVED it), and playing games with my children. 

So, that's what we've been doing over our holiday break  If you'd like to read about what other homeschoolers have been doing this past week, check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.