Mid February Update

Okay, so this week we've been rather busy! Lots of lessons being done, including adding in some supplemental work online through Discovery K12 . Which is a free online curriculum which tracks attendance and work done. It includes three extra curricular: Spanish, coding, and health ... along with the regular subjects: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and History. The longest thing is their reading which is a half an hour required every day. Each of my children take different amounts of time to get this work finished but they seem to enjoy it and it has taken our normal school day hours and just about doubled it but without doubling the work I'm putting into it. It also includes tests in various subjects which allows Elder Cracker Jack to practice his testing skills, especially since he wants to return to public school in the fall and that means he'll be going to high school where there are tons of tests. We may or may not continue with Discovery K12 for the girls depending on how they respond to it and at this point neither one of them has any plans on returning to public school.

We're looking into a semi-local co-op as well for the campers. If we don't take advantage of the classes offered through a separate program then they still will reap the benefits of get together and field trips which I think is a wonderful thing and for the entire family to join it's only $25 for the year. This will also allow me to talk to other homeschool parents and give me people whom I can bounce ideas off of. 

We've played outside a little (BBBRRRR has it been chilly around here!) but only for about a total of four hours. We are still taking part of the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge and last year we actually made that 1000 hour goal. Of course we were in Kentucky and now with 639 hours left to get in before September and being back in Michigan I'm in for a real challenge. It means that from now until the first week in September we need to average about 25 hours outside each week! I know that once the weather heats up that with all the parks, beaches, and other outside activities we can do around our new home that we'll have some weeks with nearly double that 25 hour goal, but at this point it seems rather daunting because we're finally in the throws of winter. 

We were at Grandma and Papa's house from the end of August until the very beginning of January and so we spent Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas at their home. We had a blast but are really enjoying our new home now and are finally getting back into our own rhythm. Here are a few pictures from the time we were there:

Noni had bought me those Hello Kitty pajamas for Christmas and they are so warm and comfy!!!

I'd love to post new pictures of our house and the first home improvement project that we've already finished but I haven't uploaded those photos from my phone yet so they'll have to wait. This upcoming week we have lessons, several appointments, and hopefully tons of outside time to come! I will attempt to get a new house post up sometime during the middle of the week and a new weekly wrap up posted next Friday. I'd have had this one posted this past Friday but I was rather ill for the last couple of days and am only now feeling well enough to get back up and do things.

And for those of you who look for my crochet creations here's a pretty set I made last year but you've never seen: