vacation week

This past week was our Thanksgiving Holiday week. So we did a whole lot of what the kids are doing in this photo. Not much of anything in particular. (Although actually, if you were to ask them, they were doing VERY important work -- lying amongst scattered Pokemon cards and toys, each carefully studying the Pokemon guide book -- J teaching himself how the play the game, and Zoo Boy looking at all the great Pokemon cards that are illustrated in it.) No movement circle, no curriculum story, only one night of Family Story Time (and only because Zoo Boy insisted on it), no Special Story Time on Friday night. No homeschooling classes (they are between semesters). In fact, the only organized events we had this week were the Thanksgiving Feast class at the children's museum on Tuesday, our actual Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday, and J's Tae Kwon Do class yesterday morning.

Of course, we DID do other things. On Monday, we went out to the horse farm to meet Annie, who came to live with us later in the week (and is seen here this morning, settling in with Lacy in the pasture). Both kids got to ride her and we spent a good chunk of the afternoon visiting with and petting her, talking with her owner, and meeting the other horses and donkeys on their farm. On Tuesday we did a bunch of Christmas shopping, then spent the bulk of the afternoon at the children's museum. Wednesday we spent most of the day working on getting the house ready for guests, and did a bit of baking as well.

Thursday was of course Thanksgiving Day. We decided to start hosting Thanksgiving Dinner at our house a few years ago, when we realized that Thanksgiving is both The Map Man's and my favorite holiday. It seemed a natural that we should become the place to gather on the holidays. (I mean, other than the fact that I don't cook.... But I manage to pull it off every year. I considered sharing my secrets with you all this year, but didn't ever quite get around to it. Maybe next year! Or maybe it'll all just remain a big secret....) We've had a moderate crowd the last few years (both sets of our parents, my sister and her family, one of The Map Man's brothers and his family), and we're hopeful that our number of guests will grow as the years progress. After the turkey went into the oven Thursday morning, the kids and I made napkin rings out of cardboard tubes and silk leaves, then folded the napkins to go in them for an autumn tree sort of look.

Yesterday we continued the festivities at my parent's house, where my brother and his family joined the rest of us for some holiday camaraderie. The cousins had their usual bunches-o-fun playing together, and we all made our Christmas holiday plans together (which is what the rest of my family loves best, so we leave that pretty much up to them).

In the meantime, some of my Enki Education First Grade materials came in, so I'll be looking for time to start reading through the First Grade Teacher's Guide. I also need to put the finishing touches on my Winter Kindergarten Curriculum (which will include a few First Grade component for J as the semester progresses). This coming week will be the 12th and last week of our Fall Semester, and I'm excited about some of the additional activities I'm going to work into our Winter weekly rhythms.