Quiet December

Greetings from a household on full Christmas break!  Andrew's first day of break started yesterday following a great semester and two wonderful winter concerts that the kids and I attended (and they did great!!  A new season of our lives!!).  And our homeschool had a slow wind-down all month it seemed.  Our Classical Conversations community took our mid-year break right before Thanksgiving.  I've seen especially this year how much CC drives our at-home schedule and work ethic and provides accountability to stay on task!  It will be good to start back up the second week of January.

We were still recovering from illness at the very beginning of the month so schoolwork took a hit at that point.  I think I had another adrenal fatigue crash (they seem to come every 6 months or so and follow what this article by Dr. Lam talks about), and recovery from that takes time and lots of rest, which also contributed our slow month.  We have primarily focused on math, reading, language arts, and history this month with no set schedule - just doing what we could when we felt like it (and sometimes when we didn't feel like it too).  We've really worked hard all semester and the slow December was well-earned and almost required.  Both boys have about half of their required hours for the year under their belts, so it was ok to let go some and relax.  And last week I was involved in three different Christmas parties and needed time to plan and prepare for those.

One morning we rolled up the living room rug and played architect as we built different structures with Contraptions blocks (a huge set of small wood planks and two ping pong balls).  This was Joey's hotel, complete with a pool and dining area with chocolate milk fountain.  

  

And true to form, Hannah made messes.  I think Joey took this picture.

We spent one morning making our gingerbread house.  Last year's house had broken pieces and was a flop (literally!), but this year's was in tact.  There was a lot of nibbling on frosting and candy pieces as they worked and I could barely hold them off 2 hours before they wanted to eat it.  I think we finished at 10 am and I convinced them to wait till after lunch to eat.    

And with that, we are spending our last few days before Christmas finishing up what we need to before the big holiday and prepping for our Tour de Illinois to see our favorite people and celebrate with them too!

Merry Christmas from the Scotts.  We pray that you can take some time to still your mind and soul and contemplate Jesus, the Word made flesh, who came to dwell among us and bring us peace, love, and eternal life!