Our Week Off with Lots of Learning

I think this was our best week off yet. I knew I had made the right choice from the start to go to a five week on with one week off schedule. However, this was the best break yet. There was a perfect balance of rest,work, and learning.

Biltmore ~ A dear friend gave us tickets to the Biltmore. We were very excited to go spend the day there. We haven't been in several years and it certainly isn't in our current budget. It was a perfect Sunday with the highs in the low 60's! We sure are having crazy weather around here this winter. We toured the house which was very crowded. We saw the Downton Abbey costumes that were on display. We enjoyed ice cream and rolled down the hill in "America's front yard". We then went to the petting zoo and played in the ice cold river and lake. The estate is huge and we only touched the tip of things to do there. Not surprisingly, the gardens were all dead. I really would like to get season passes someday and do a horticultural year-round study with the children.

The top of the hill. This is a serious hill to roll down.

The water was so cold ~ it turned their toes blue.

Two Performances ~ We attended two performances this week. The kids were invited to a free ballet by their dance teacher. We attended a performance by the Yucatan Ballet that was making a very short stop in our city. It was great and had several male dancers, which was nice for Tom Sawyer. He is one of only three boys in our dance studio and the only one in Tween Company. We also attended the last matinee series show for this school year. It was Laura Ingalls Wilder's Life. We enjoyed it, but were somewhat disappointed by how much they deviated from her life story and with some of the mix up of characters.

Epic Nightly Board Games ~ We spent three evenings playing the same Monopoly game. I thought for sure I had the right strategy this time, but alas I was the first one out of the game again! Tom Sawyer won for the eighth time in a row.

Mom Time ~ We met up with the Quirky Mothers group this week. One of my friends runs it and has been encouraging me to join for a long time. We are all moms of special needs children and talk about what is going on in our lives. It is nice to spend time with people who "get it". I plan to do a better job of getting together with them about once a month. They meet more often than that, but I want to put the kids' education first and they always meet during school hours. It is really nice that I can bring the kids and put them at a separate table. The kids liked the bakery at this week's meeting place.

I also managed to read two books this week and start a third!! I hope I can keep this ball rolling. I also managed to scrapbook six pages for our 2014 book.

Projects Around the House ~ One thing I have really noticed about the more intensive educational schedule we are doing this year is how the house gets put on the back burner. I get done the laundry, meal prep, dishes, floors, etc., but not much more. The week off is a great time to get some of those more occasional chores done. This week I got the refrigerator cleaned, the curtains in most of the house washed and rehung, my desk organized, two bedrooms cleaned and organized, and all the hairbrushes washed.

All the Rest ~ We did all of our normal out of the home classes this week ~ dance, drama, math and writing. We also made it to all of our therapies. The last big thing on our schedule this week is to attend Culture Club today. The kids made their first PowerPoint presentation and sent it to the tech lady. I am looking forward to seeing it put in action.

Next Week ~ Next week is full of great stuff. There is a holiday almost every day. We have Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and the Chinese New Year. What an exciting week filled with fun possibilities. With all that fun on the horizon, I am going to have to really concentrate to get our school week off on the right foot. I will leave you with one more picture.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Blessings, Dawn