Year 8, Weeks 15 -17: Christmas Cheer!

      I don't know about you, but after Thanksgiving things seem to speed up and slow down at the same time! Our homeschool days feel long and even though it's the same work, nothing new or added, it drags on. But then the countdown to Christmas Day gets shorter and I realize that I still have presents to buy and wrap, cookies to bake, fudge and hot cocoa to prepare and I have to figure out what kind of December cake to bake before the New Year arrives! I don't think I've mentioned it but my goal for 2020 was to bake a different cake every month. I chose to do it because Little Toughie was three when we started to eat Paleo and I stopped baking. She missed out on a lot of goodies. While we still eat Paleo-ish, I figured a cake once a month is fine. Plus, we share the larger ones with neighbors, thus giving a treat to our friends while not taking in too much sugar.

     Are you done Christmas shopping yet or are you a last minute shopper? Are you one who likes the adrenaline rush of finding that perfect present right as the clock counts down to 11:59 pm? Well, that's not me. I'm now somewhere in between. I used to be really good at getting my shopping done by the end of August, no later than the end of September. Yeah, I can't do that anymore. For one, I've never been a fan of shopping. The introvert in me doesn't like crowds and if I do shop it's always for something specific, so I don't spend a lot of time "window shopping". Secondly, the stores I would normally shop at have closed! Borders, Toys R Us...what else? I can't even remember, but I've resigned myself to online shopping and gift cards. All of our family live elsewhere anyway, so online shopping just makes even more sense.

     As for our homeschooling I have to admit, we're bored. The kids and I are bored. As their teacher, I am bored. We've spent the past four years reading plenty of books based on the time period in History which we were studying, all the way from Ancient History to Modern. What we're reading now is indeed review. We're condensing those four years into two, studying World History over this year and next in preparation for high school. But the books that Sonlight recommends as their spine, or main history text, is underwhelming. It's supposed to be geared toward 12-14 year olds but compared to what we've used the past three years, this is feels like it's best for 9-11 year olds.

     Perhaps it's for the best that it's that way, for now. Little Toughie is taking that writing class via Circe (she actually said she's going to miss it now that they're on a break) and it's a lot of work. So, maybe it's okay that it's humdrum reading. Maybe. Or maybe this mom is just ready for some time off from homeschooling!

     We're approaching our Christmas break and as I finish writing this there are cookies in the oven, cookies on trays ready to be put in and cookies on cooling racks. Later, they'll be drenched in chocolate and topped with crushed candy canes. My little helpers (my kids and hubby) are ready and willing. Anything for my holiday cookies! We'll be off for three weeks total, with two of those weeks focused on things we missed in November because of NaNoWriMo. Mostly the science experiments! Then we take one week completely off. This is where I start planning the next school year since curriculum starts to go on sale late January and I want to take advantage of it.

     I'll attempt to catch up on some reading as well. I've tried to start a tradition where I wrap a new book for everyone to start reading on Christmas Eve. It's the one present they get to open. I did it twice and then forgot. If you need a reading list to either start the tradition or just to snuggle up and read while sipping some hot cocoa, This Reading Mama has two great lists:

Image by This Reading Mama

Image by This Reading Mama

     I can tell you what traditions have stuck...the ones that have to do with food! Do you have a meal that you only have on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Or how about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day? It started out with just cinnamon rolls Christmas morning and something with black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. Then somehow, with the help of the kids, we now have several different standard meals on those days. If I even try to make those meals mid-year I get a resounding, "NO!"

     With that said, I leave you with a very Merry Christmas and a picture of the cookies before they were packaged and passed out for a door-to-door cookie exchange. I also leave you with this, the reason for the season:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Year 8, Week: Happy Thanksgiving!

   

   

     This week we're on our Thanksgiving break and given the last two weeks (13 and 14), it's arrived at just the right time. Our homeschooling is going well. We've found our rhythm, albeit mostly a monotonous one since we're staying close to home. However, we did have a few exciting things happen in the past couple of weeks.

     Week 14 started with Little Toughie's online recital. This was a livestream and it was great to see how all the students were doing, even in the midst of this pandemic. She sang a version of "Fly Me to the Moon". It was pretty spectacular!

     Week 14 also ended with my winning NaNoWriMo nine days early. It wasn't my intention, but my daily goal has always been to write between 1800 and 2000 words. I  purposely buffered it keeping my birthday and Thanksgiving in mind. Toward the end of week 13 I surpassed the halfway mark of NaNoWriMo with a total of 27,177 words. The next day I hit 30,000. The words just kept adding up. When I reached 35,000 it seemed to move at warp speed and in no time I was 44,000 words. I decided to finish, spending most of Friday night and Saturday afternoon finishing my novel.

     In the end, I had written 50,312 words. While I've never ran a full marathon (I've ran a half) it was like crossing the finish line. There were tears of joy and I think I may have been holding my breath during the last 20 minute writing session because when I saw the work count hit 50,017 I had to stop and take deep breaths. My story wasn't quite done yet at that point so I had to get back to it and finish. I'll write more about my experience later on but I can say that I can't wait to do it again next year!

     A380 started our break week with lunch with our church's youth group directors. When it was confirmed that they'd be going it was all he could talk about. We're so very blessed to have young adults in our church to rise up and faithfully walk with Christ, proclaim His truth and lead the next generation. We need more of them!

     I'm finishing this blog after our traditional post-Thanksgiving walk and watching Captain Marvel. We're big Marvel fans! We'll be having a Zoom dinner with my family soon so I wish you all well. Cheers to you and yours on this Thanksgiving.