Getting Ready for Christmas

We are taking about a 3 week break from school to enjoy the holidays together. Daniel is home writing and the girls and I have filled our days with field trips, play dates, and projects. We had a lot of fun outings planned for the beginning of December. The following are pictures from a few.

Here's a picture from our homeschool group's Christmas party. The kids decorated ginger bread houses. A lot of people turned out for this event--probably at least 75 people. The parents did a cookie exchange and the kids also played a few games.

Here's a picture from one of our field trips this month to a nature program led by the rangers at the Columbia Canal. The kids learned about soil composition.

Here's one of the girls' ballet classes practicing their dance from the Nutcracker. We had a parents night out at the studio where the girls read the Nutcracker story, made crafts and played games. Their class did the spanish dance for the rest of the crowd.

This was my favorite thing--free kayaking with the rangers at the Columbia Canal. They taught us a few things about how to paddle and what to do if you fall in. The water was gentle and the weather turned out perfect at 60-65 degrees and sunny for both of our trips. We are scheduled to go out on the river in the spring. We loved being on the water. It's so relaxing and the perspective from down at the level of the ground is so interesting. Can't wait for the next trip.

Oh the joys of homeschooling! Long extended breaks and fun field trips with my kids. I love it.