The Catch Up Days of Homeschool

With unusual snow and ice this winter, we’ve had some sidetracks in our homeschool. We’ve needed to ‘catch up’ here and there in different subjects. So this week I decided we would have catch up days. Catch up days are good not only for catching up but also for switching up the routine. Sometimes it is relaxing to know that you will have an entire afternoon to spend on one subject and to really dig in and get things accomplished.

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We knew early in the week that we’d be snowed/iced in. Based on the weather forecast, all our usual extracurricular afternoon activities were cancelled. So, we had an unscheduled and cleared calendar. Of course, the best laid plans are often sidetracked around here. But I figured we could do it something like this…

It’s the famous Saxon K lesson – measuring colored water on Monday!

Homeschool Catch Up Week

• Basic Three Rs (Before 8:45 (yes it is often later than that), math, language arts) completed before lunch. This can be a challenge for the older ones if they don’t get going on time.
• Lunch and the unit studies we do together. Winter Games 2014 by Unit Studies, Harmony Fine Arts.
• Then a science lesson.

Writing on Monday

We aim to write every week. But this week we spent a whole afternoon. Tapestry of Grace encourages it. Write every week! I allow the older children to choose between (1) a history writing assignment from Tapestry of Grace or (2) a Rod and Staff English writing assignment. Here’s what we worked on this week:

• 10th grader – Rod and Staff descriptive essay
• 9th grader – Tapestry biography writing assignment
• 6th grader – Tapestry persuasive essay using a T chart to list arguments For and Against
• 2nd grader – Tapestry Giving Directions using a sequencing chart

Listening to Mendelssohn (thanks to Harmony Fine Arts) while creating Claude Monet London at Twilight art plus skiing and skating with Winter Olympics – thanks to Nana!

Appreciation of Fine Arts on Tuesday

At lunch I opened up our Harmony Fine Arts study and we listened to Felix Mendelssohn. And I read aloud about our artist, John James Audubon. These match our Tapestry studies so well! We also:

• Sketched the latest Sketch Tuesday assignment – sketch an unusual fruit
• Practiced Beauty & the Beast drama troupe songs and lines
• AND for continuing appreciation of fine arts…the drama girls, Nana and I are going to see Les Miserables performed by a high school group this weekend at a local theater.

History on Wednesday

I pulled out both AiG History Revealed and our Tapestry resources. We listened to the History Revealed CDs learning about key people and events. The younger ones built with LEGO brick sets.

This is what we woke up to on Wednesday. Though it looks pretty but it is ice, ice and ice. We were hopeful the power wouldn’t go out. Hodgepodgedad made sure we had plenty of firewood, flashlights, batteries and emergency supplies.

I have always found it hard to fit a year of Tapestry of Grace into one year! So, we are catching up in these weeks so that we can concentrate on the Civil War in March. That will be a perfect time to study this topic. Our area in Georgia is rich with history – sites we can visit and field trips to plan. I’m hopeful for spring days for just such plans.

It was a winter wonderland when we awoke Thursday morning. Snow on top of that layer of ice.

…The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~ Robert Frost

1. A giant snowball! | 2. Winter neighborhood walk | 3. In the backyard in front of the playhouse. | 4. Snow angels, of course!

History on Thursday

Okay, well, with Daddy home (so thankful he wasn’t stuck in ice on the freeway), we took some true snow day time. We enjoyed. We stayed up late watching Olympics, we slept in. And Thursday morning we went on a nature walk to see about the snow. It was gorgeous. The pine trees looked like God’s paint brushes.

We spent a little bit of time with some wintry favorites, some Tapestry assignments and had an afternoon of reading those stacks of library books.

Science, Living Math, more writing, any extras and Valentines on Friday

It was time for the hands on parts of science for the younger ones and a test for my high schoolers. We also pulled out the writing we started on Monday and edited and tweaked.

Maybe all I could do was mother…And yet, why did I feel so fulfilled when I bedded down three kids between clean sheets? What if raising and instilling values in three children and turning them into worthwhile human beings would be the most important contribution I ever made in my lifetime? ~ Erma Bombeck

A gift for you! Have you enjoyed our lovely afternoon of music and art from Mary Prather, Nana and me yet? FREE Valentine art and music lessons.

**You might also like some of our helpful homeschool habits from When You Need to Catch Up.

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses!

• Collage Friday hostess Mary at Home Grown Learners
• Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

How about you – have you had many a snow day lately?