I have not been keeping updates on winter vacation activities as well as I should have. However, as we got closer and closer to Christmas, I took "time off" from educational activities for my children and allowed them the opportunity to explore activities which, while not usually included in a classroom, proved to be fun and educational for them all the same. For example, one activity Jennifer participated in often was cooking and baking projects.

As the new year rolled around, there was heavy emphasis on art and reading. My children created so much art that my house started to look like an art museum.

Jennifer read faithfully every day of her vacation -- even on Christmas.

Today the children returned to school so thus ends my episode of "homeschooling" when they are on vacation from school. Nevertheless, I am a big believer in making every day a new learning experience for children, so I will continue to expose them to those opportunities.

Today's educational activity for Jennifer: Studying the planets.

Reading time: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

Today's educational activity for Jennifer: Some kind of block game on the computer.

Reading time: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

Another late start on our studies today. The baby was such a handful that I hardly had the time to get Jennifer's lessons ready and get her working on them. But she did complete the essentials, which I am satisfied with.

For math, she did 2 pages in her multiplication workbook. She got all of the problems right, without any help. Yeah!

For science, I did research on the 'Net and put together a worksheet on good and bad bacteria. The word "microorganism" was quite a mouthful for her. I had to help her out with it. She also watched a video here on different kinds of bacteria.

For spelling, she had to write out her spelling words three times each. She got off lucky; when I was in grade school, I had to write my spelling words five times each. I went easy on her.

Just one more day to go with this. I won't be homeschooling her next week on the days leading up to her first day of school. As far as I'm concerned, we have accomplished a lot. Her confidence is growing with how well she has been doing and I hope that will last until her first day of third grade.

We got a late start on the lessons for today. Today was busy and we were out of the house a lot. But it ended up working out; I found a multiplication workbook for grades 2 and 3 for just $1. So we bought that and Jennifer got started on it for her math today. Her dad even helped her to better understand what multiplication is.

For art, I gave her an old sock and she used assorted items to create a sock puppet. It was pretty cute.

For science, I put together a worksheet on the three forms of matter water can be in: Solid, liquid and gas.

For spelling, I created sentences missing a word and instructed her to pick one of her spelling words to complete the sentence.

My plan for music today was to have Jennifer create musical instruments using ordinary, everyday items around the house. But she didn't want to do that. So I then suggested she go around the house and find non-musical objects she could use to create music with. She came back with lids from two pans, a spoon and a pot, two jars of sunflower seeds she shook up and down, her shoes that she banged together, etc. I was impressed with how creative she was in finding things to make music.

As to her reading, she chose a book about volcanoes.

Physical activity was a little compromised today. We did so much running around the neighborhood, that pretty much was her P.E.!

I am beginning to think that printing out worksheets for Jennifer's homeschooling would be a good idea. Today she wrote me a note: "Come on, Mom! Write something I can actually read!" Apparently, my handwriting was too difficult for her to decipher. Apparently, good old pen and paper just doesn't cut it anymore.

This complaint came on the heels of her trying to read the math problems I wrote out for her. I had to read them to her and she did the math. She aced the problems, just not the reading of them. Heh. It was a combination of multiplication, addition and subtraction problems.

For her spelling, I did a word scramble. I am a big fan of the Jumble puzzles, so it was fun to put that together. She said it was very hard for her to figure out what the words were but she also aced this worksheet, as well.

For her reading, I think it might be a good idea to check on which book she chooses to read. She chose one of the baby's Blue's Clues books. Sigh! I told her she needs to choose from one of her books, one which is more age- and grade-appropriate. She has already read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Maybe I can get her started on Harry Potter or Little House on the Prairie. Or even The Chronicles of Narnia! She has already read ALL of her Junie B. Jones books -- and she has a lot of those!

For physical activity, I took the kids to the park for a half hour.

As for science, I was thinking of doing science for only a few days out of the week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But she INSISTED on having a science worksheet. (That's a good sign! Yay!) So I did research on the Internet then put together a worksheet on electromagnetic waves -- the kind that we don't see (like microwave, radio and X-ray waves). She had fun with that! Especially when she tried to figure out what kinds of things we have in the house which use electromagnetic waves. Yet another reminder that I need to print her worksheets out instead of writing them: She circled a string of words that were too close together because she thought they were one sentence, when they were actually a part of a "pick the one that doesn't belong" problem.

I did have plans for a music session -- I read in an article in the September issue of Parents Magazine on ways to create homemade instruments and I wanted to try that -- but we ran out of time. So hopefully we can do that tomorrow.

This is the week before school starts. In order to prepare Jennifer, age 8, I have started to get her reacquainted with daily studies. Of course, she was resistant to doing assignments. But I know this habit will make the transition back to school easier for her.

And so today, I created some assignment sheets. Our printer doesn't work, so I had to use just pen and paper. Which ended up working out fine, really. Writing on the lines helped her to work on her penmanship.

We started with math. She used a multiplication textbook she has as a guide. I also created a "math problems" page. (They call them "math facts" at her school.) It was a combination of addition and subtraction problems, using single, double and triple numbers. She got 4 out of 24 of them wrong. Mostly, she got confused over where to add and where to subtract -- which I found pretty strange.

I also had her read one of her many storybooks. In addition to reading, we did spelling. She insisted on 15 spelling words, even though I thought that was a lot. But she was certain that was fine. So, using a Web site that has lists of spelling words for third graders (the grade she is going into), plus some other words I know she has trouble spelling correctly, I put together a list of 15 words and had her study them while I graded her math sheet. Then I tested her on the spelling of the words. She got every one of them right! Even the words she had trouble spelling before. She even spelled "vacation" correctly. Yay!

I wanted to teach her something about science. She was nervous about this, as it is not her strength, but I promised to go easy on her. I put together a worksheet about what earth science is and the different types of fields in earth science. Then I did a short quiz for her to take to see if she understood the fields. For example, "what is it called when you study the water and oceans of the earth?" She correctly answered "oceanography." She aced this worksheet, as well. She admitted her brain exploded from that assignment, but she was proud of doing so well with it.

For physical activity, I told her to go ride her bike for a half hour. And for music, I told her to play instruments with her brother and be a "band." They even created a song. Of course, I couldn't hear it, but it was so cute to watch them perform it. Her little brother kept wanting a different instrument to play. She got a little frustrated with him but at least she got to play her song.

For art, she drew a picture of a little girl rescuing a cat from a tree.

It was an interesting "school day" that wasn't really a school day. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.