There are no two ways about it, this is the time of year where we only have about 25% of our school work left to go and we have 20+ weeks to get it done in.  That puts me in the position where I give myself PERMISSION to take days off.

So we took a day off and went to Chuck E. Cheese with some friends.  We had a great time. 

The kids all have such different spending personalities with how they go through, or don’t go through, their tokens. 

Johanna had a lot of fun.  It was the first time she has been able to play there.  She was so little the last time we visited.

And I have to say the salad bar at Chuck E. Cheese’s is a mother’s delight.  Wow.  What a salad bar.

And Pepsi on tap.  I think I made myself sick with so much Pepsi.  ♥

 

Here are some of the things we do…

On Monday, Tabitha made some pictures on the iPod and then copied them onto paper. 
Why not, right?

Tuesday morning they were playing some kind of boat game.  There was the boy boat and the girl boat.  They tried to stay out of the sharky water.

Then this happened. 
Still not sure who declared war.  No one was hurt. 

Meanwhile, someone was collecting vegetables in the kitchen.

Later in the afternoon, Tabitha recreated the band at church. 
So many uses for Pampered Chef spatulas!

This is what we do.

 

 

“Daddy is fixing up the basement to be a fun place to play.  I can help him by staying up here. That’s what he’s been telling my big sisters.  He says, ‘Girls, you can help me the best by staying upstairs.’  So, I am helping Daddy, see?”

I couldn’t be more grateful for this warm winter.

Now – I do predict we will have more bugs and varmints after this not-cold-enough-to-kill-yucky-stuff winter where food was plentiful.

But fun was plentiful as well, as evidenced by this cool racing game.

 

Sometimes non-homeschoolers I know ask me about the way we homeschool.  They question the lay-out and the physical aspects of it.  Many picture a school-room type setting, or at least a dedicated work-area.  While there are many homeschoolers that approach things that way it has yet to be the case for us.

First and foremost, we are dining-room-table homeschoolers.  The majority of the work over the years has been conducted there. 

Our second most frequent location is the living room, or family room couch.  Head gear optional.

 

This year we’ve had a new obstacle.  Johanna.  Whenever I would try to do the kids’ language and reading work, she’d try to insinuate herself between the student and I, or between the book and I.  This was a real problem.  Our first solution was for the girls to take her up to their room to play while I worked with Nigel and Stewart, and then have one of the boys play with her while I worked with Marie.  This worked to an extent, however she really got tired of all that time in their rooms and she destroyed their bedroom on a daily basis.  By Thanksgiving it really wasn’t working.

So we started a new plan.  Each morning after Bible, I’d head to my room.  The kids would then rotate through my room while the remaining kids would hang up downstairs with Johanna.  This meant she had a lot more room and variety to play.  The kids and I would do school on my bed, snuggled into the pillows.  I had one friend jokingly share how she envied how I got to lie in bed all day. 

A new problem developed. 

All those hours on my bed were making my tailbone sore.  Yes.  I just admitted that on this blog.  MY BOTTOM HURT.  Now, I didn’t realize what was happening.  Truthfully, it took me a long time to figure it out.  But now that I have found the problem, there was only one solution…

Yes, that is a card table and chairs in my BEDROOM.

My life is so weird.

But the view is exceptional!