a fresh take

 practicing our scissor skills 

even little sister is doing it!

It's the first week of January and we have thrown ourselves feet first into the thick of it.
Back to homeschool, back to school, back to community commitments and back to healthy/active living.
I'll tell you, it's been hard for me. Really hard in fact.
After weeks of celebrating, relaxing, sleeping in, and having as much wine and chocolate as I wish, I was starting to feel depressed and slow. I knew that we needed to get back into it, but I really had zero motivation. Yet despite having no motivation, it was a phone call on Monday morning at 9am  from my friend Leanne in Whitehorse, that had me get my butt out of bed and realize that I did need to get on with it. It went something along the lines like this:

" Good God woman, are you still in bed?" ...
"ummmmm ... yesss, aren't you?" ...
"No, because, it's a school day, yes, even for us homeschoolers" ...
"Oh right".

CRAP. So I got out of bed and improvised my homeschool morning ( I mean, I sorta kinda had a plan). And that is how I got myself back in gear. So here we are. Into our week and doing not so bad.
It is very very very cold here. It's been around -40 for the last 4 days and it's been hard on all of us (especially the dog and kids!). I usually depend on an afternoon walk, just to break up our days, but that has been near impossible with these temps- although I did get out for a walk with Ryder one day. It was cold, let me tell you!
And perfectly planned, I had our homeschool unit on hibernation decided upon long before this cold streak came our way. I think the kids are having fun learning about animals and how they survive in the winter. Animals are always fun to learn about.

So far:

~  we've read these three books.

•  Over and Under the Snow, by Kate Messner. 
• Animals in the Winter (Let's Read and find out Science)
• Hibernation, by Margaret C. Hall 

~ made a burrow for a little ground squirrel. It was a collage of sorts, and it was fun talking about how they store everything they need in their little burrow

~ made a similar poster 
~ read and practiced this poem 
~ made bear bread

We also plan on:


~ watching some videos about hibernation online
~ writing out some journal entries
~ re-reading The Mitten, by Jan Brett. We will retell the story. There are tons of fun activities on line for this story.

Also in other news, I am currently doing the 21 day fix (a workout/eating plan) so that I can get in shape for Hawaii (that is my goal!). I have never actually done one of these things, but I have seen so many people succeed at this one. The only thing that I am not following is the Shakeology plan (an expensive meal shake). It's pretty simple to follow and mostly involves  portion control, 30 minute workouts everyday and whole foods (no sugar, salt, processed ect). I have my moments, that's for sure, but am happy and know that it is good for me. But why on earth do we still have Christmas chocolate lurking in the house- torture!

Happy New Years and all that jazz.
xox

not 21 day food approved ... be he sure liked it!