Our week off

This past week was our off week which was much needed. I would love to post all the adventures and activities we did during that time off, but the reality of it was just relaxing for the week. The bugs (mostly annoying gnats) and humid weather made outdoors uninviting so no hiking, nature seeking, letterboxing took place. Mostly we just read and played video games with knitting and drawing thrown in. Daniel and I embarked on a challenge...to beat Zelda Skyward Sword in 7 days....we did not make the deadline but had great fun playing it. I am extremely embarrassed to say I have clocked over 40hrs playing that thing and only reached about 3/4th of the way through. I tend to panic when the 4 arm skeleton or the other baddies come at me. Also I am not very graceful with the Wii remote....spasmodically waving the thing and sitting on the edge of my seat, sometimes standing up to help with the play...at least I get  some exercise while playing. Daniel on the other hand is calm and makes just slight moves with the controller, almost no energy exerted...

Emma decided her room needed a new look. She is always moving her things around and rearranging what she can but she wanted her bed moved this time. She drew up plans so we had a picture of what she wanted. She made sure we understood by adding labels and arrows.

Saturday was the big move and it turned out to be more complicated then just moving a bed and things. Where the bed was going has a dresser in the spot and where the dresser was going has a bed in that spot, plus a desk, book case, toy organizer and other "things" are all over the room. Add to that the toys that were in and on these things. Lots of shuffling and reshuffling took place. Some of her plans had to change once we started moving things. Her dask would not work where she planned and the bookcase was best left where it was. However...once completed it was worth the trouble: 1) got the areas unreachable dusted and vacuumed, 2) organized her things, and 3) trashed the junk, boxed up old but keep-able toys, purged things not wanted anymore.

Since the room is all clean and fresh, Emma has been in there playing for days. I went upstairs to do some work and found her just laying in her bed. When asked if she was alright I was told "just enjoying my room"

At night she makes sure everything is picked up. Wish I knew letting her rearrange her room would have such a positive outcome...all those years trying to get her to play in there AND keep it clean. I am sure there is some psychology going on about taking ownership and all but I am just glad she is loving her room.

During the week off I was suppose to be getting things ready for the next few weeks of school, making copies, acquiring supplies...lets just say it is a good thing Emma talked me into another week off. I did print off a few lessons from Time Travelers but I haven't made the lapbook yet. I also wanted to evaluate what we have done, how we are doing it, and if it needs some tweaking. For the most part I am satisfied and will continue doing the same, however next year I will drop the science lapbook and do more Charlotte Mason type notebooking. If we do the Elemental Science Chemistry during this year I might implement it then we will see.