My Weekly Notebook: Spring Break

 

Life this week...

We took a full week and a few days from the previous week off for spring break. We all needed a break, and with April coming home I knew we'd just want to play all week. Now it's over and time to get back to school (for April) and homeschool (for us). I'm actually excited to get back into our studies. There are so many things to learn!

Homeschool this week...

I did challenge the boys to do some math for a reward. Alex did about half a page of math. The rest of learning last week was all self-directed. Alex learned how to solve a rubik's cube (2X2 version) by watching videos on the tube. We did some reading of picture books from the library. We went on a few field trips, one to see alpacas (which I will talk about in a bit), and the other to see border collies perform at the library.

Mom-school this week...

I did the spring break challenge for my clogging class. We had the week off for dancing/clogging too, but she gave us a challenge to put some of the moves that we have learned so far together into a dance. I stewed about it all week, I thought and thought about what I could do. Nothing came to me so I thought I wouldn't be able to submit a video. Turns out I just needed to set my dance floor back up so I could just tap it out. I could only think so much before I just needed to physically put it together.  

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

As I mentioned earlier, we went to see alpacas for a field trip. It was so fun to see alpacas up close. We learned a lot. We also went bowling, to OMSI, and painted pottery. So many fun outings! I am hoping to have posts up about these outings soon.

Building an arch at OMSI

 

My favorite thing this week was...

We did so many great things this week for Spring break, it's hard to pick just one. But, I'd have to say the favorite was visiting the alpacas

My kids' favorite thing this week was...

Icees/Slurpees. Alex discovered that he loves them over spring break. He would do anything for an Icee while we were out and about. I think it was probably his favorite thing all week long. Here he is with his Icee and cake pop snack from Target...

      

Something I accomplished...

I fixed Alex's bonsai tree LEGO set to have the pink blossoms on it. It was tedious but kinda fun. I love how springy it looks.

 

What we're reading...

I finished reading this Dear America book. It's about a girl who started a school in a small town in the late 1800's. I really enjoy this time in history and this book really painted a good picture of the struggles. I enjoyed it.

 

Movies/TV we watched... 

We watched a lot of Stranger Things (the first 2 seasons to be exact) over spring break. 

Outdoor time...

We went on a walk at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. No pictures, but it was a beautiful walk. All the times in the past that we've tried to walk at this particular place we've just walked the first 5 minutes and then something happened that we had to go back. It was nice to finally make it past the first 5 minutes of that walk and see more of the refuge!

I'm cooking/eating...

We had lots of goodies! Like this brownie ice cream sundae...

 

Other thoughts from the week...

We celebrated dad/hubby's birthday! It was a small celebration. We also went to Red Robin as a family.

 

I'm grateful that...

Summer is just around the corner. I am looking forward to warmer days.

Happy Pi Day!

Our pie day dinner and dessert!

Marie Calendar's pot pies...

Chocolate Cream pie from Shari's...

We also had pizza pie for lunch from Papa Murphy's. The best thing about this pi day...I didn't have to cook!

Do you celebrate pi day?

Weekly Wrap-Up: Is it time for spring break yet?

Life this week...

It's almost spring break. It's almost spring break. It's almost spring break... That's what I have been telling myself all week. I wish I could say we were going somewhere exciting, but we're not. At least April gets to come home next week! We are looking forward to just doing stuff around us like the tulip festival. Just looking forward to exploring around Oregon!

Homeschool this week...

I don't have much to report on for homeschool last week. We did a lot of the usual subjects like math, science, reading, journals, etc. In science Alex started learning about the human body and Aric's science lessons are about computers and robotics right now. They're doing different topics for science, but it's often the case that they listen in on the other's lessons and reading as I'm doing it with them. I really like the conversations we have during our school time.

Mom-school this week...

I started a new research project for moms with brain fog to see if these Dyslexia games books would help. I did 2 pages a day for 5 of the 7 days of the week. It was suggested to create a calm space to work, so I lit a candle some of the days. I really liked the ambience that created. I enjoyed doing the pages. Doing any of these learning things for myself really has helped me to focus and keep my mental abilities sharp.

I used crayons to color these shirts.

All of these shirts are designed with things that make me happy

A page of patterns to complete. So good for attention to detail!

 

Places we're going and people we're seeing... 

We joined our local homeschool group at the park for a nature day. The park has a merry-go-round that all the kids seemed to love. Just a little while before I took this picture it was literally covered in kids.

I brought a nature scavenger hunt activity for those who wanted to look for things in nature. I loved seeing a lot of the kids take one and give it a try.

 

My favorite thing this week was... 

Going out to breakfast with the ladies from my clogging class on Saturday morning before we went to dance at the local farmer's market. It was such a great opportunity to get to know them better. I had been thinking that we needed some outside of the class time so I could get to know them all better, then they invited me to breakfast! They all seem super nice and I look forward to doing it again next month!

Things I'm working on... 

Cleaning up the backyard. It needs a lot of work that just hasn't been done over the past decade. We have a lot of junk back there, and it's just not a nice space. So, I have decided to start beautifying it by working on small sections at a time. I started with a section last week and in it I found some treasures. A lot of coins, some legos, and a really pretty rock. I was kinda amazed with the amount of money and legos that I found in one area of dirt!

Random things the kids worked on... 

Alex built his LEGO Harry Potter Chess set that he finally earned enough money to buy. He loves the end result.

 

Something I accomplished...

I did a few things this week!

The first is this centerpiece decoration for St. Patrick's day that I made. I had this jar and put green and yellow (gold) tubing in it with some lights. I was pretty impressed that I actually figured it out on my own! I haven't been real creative for a while so doing this kinda surprised me. 

Second, I made this LEGO mosaic for another St. Patrick's day decoration. It's a rainbow mosaic that I put up on the fridge with a sign that says Happy St. Patrick's Day.

 

 

What we're reading... 

We are currently on Book 5 of the Harry Potter series. It has been so fun listening to them again with Alex. He is really enjoying the books.

As for other books we have read... T is for TarHeel, A North Carolina Alphabet by Carol Crane is one we read for a North Carolina study. I really like these alphabet books.

 

Another one we read..The Crayon Man by Natascha Biebow. This is a true story of how the Crayola Crayons came to be about. I always love learning about how things were created.

 

Movies/TV we watched... 

We watched Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (movie for book #4). We also started Turning Red on Disney +. 

Turning Red, a new Disney movie

Outdoor time... 

Some outdoor time was had while washing the van! 

I'm cooking/eating... 

I had bought a ton of french bread for a ladies night dinner at my house and ended up having a ton leftover so I made it into pizza the next night for the family. It was really good!

 
Other thoughts from the week... 

Crayons can be a really fun art medium! I have started using crayons again and I'm trying to convince my kiddos that they aren't just for preschoolers. After reading the book about the invention of crayons I decided to pull my box of Metallic crayons and color some of my mom-school pages. I love how these particular ones color! But, I also love all the color choices.

 

I'm grateful for...

A week full of great accomplishments and time with my family.