Homeschooling Snow Days

This week we had yet another snow day. Luckily the storm that was supposed to be the storm of the century turned out to be a dud, but none the less, Travis didn't have school. I decided when we got up that it would be fun to have a home school day.

We started with Dinosaur Train because I had to get on the computer and print out some handwriting sheets. When we were all done with Dinosaur train we did our handwriting exercises. Eileen decided she needed to practice her handwriting also.

Next we had "science center" where I used one of my pins from pintrest to show Travis how a bunch of different liquids could actually have different densities. I had all the liquids, but I didn't have any food coloring which they say helps distinguish between the liquids, but Travis got the point.

After that we had "art center" where the kids colored on some paper and then I wrapped in around one of my shoe boxes for our "Legend of the Leprechaun" box. The legend of the leprechaun is yet another thing that I had pinned for the kids. You decorate the box and then leave it out by the light of the moon on the 16th, and the Leprechauns come and fill it with treats and treasures and then hide it somewhere in the house. It sounds suspiciously like the Easter Bunny, but we are going to do it anyway because I love St.Patrick's day and there isn't anything going on around here like there was in my home town when I was little.

After art center Don sat down with them to do Math center. Travis wasn't very interested in math center for very long, but he got through some simple addition problems. I let them have free play time before lunch since they had already read a couple of books when they woke up, so that took care of book center.

This took up all of our morning and kept the kids from going at each other and kept me sane. Travis wanted to do "water play" which is something they have at school, but I told him he could do that in the bathtub after dinner, which is what he did.

Writing center

Science center

Math Center

Running

This week I had to do my long run on the treadmill. I had to really psych myself up for this because I haven't ever run longer than about 8 miles on the mill. So last Sunday I downloaded a movie and got on the treadmill totally ready to run 90 minutes no matter what. I could do it. But then at about 25 minutes Don brought the kids down to the play room which is right next to my treadmill and said he was going out to ski. I thought maybe they could last an hour without giving me too much trouble, but then at about 45 minutes Tyler started crying and I had to stop. He wanted no part of being put down, so I had to settle for a 45 minute run and try again the next day.

Monday I got back on the treadmill fully recharged and ready to get my run in. I usually start out easy and slowly progress either each 10 minutes or each mile, just so I have time to warm up to the treadmill and so I don't feel like I might not finish the run after only 10 minutes. I made it past 90 minutes and ran  10 miles finishing strong. I got the run in and I got over a mental hurdle. Needless to say I was so happy today when I could run 14 miles outside in the warm sunshine!!

Tuesday was workout day and I was able to finish 10x600 at 2:06 with little trouble. It seems my calf issues are gone, but I am running with my calf sleeves on just in case. It really is no fun have calf or Achilles trouble, so I don't want to aggravate it again if I can avoid it.

Food
This week I made some Shepherd's pie. Another recipe I have pinned on pintrest. I made mine with deer meat though. It was pretty awesome, although I think if I make it again I will leave out the cheese.
Shepherd's Pie Recipe
I also made Taco bake which I have pinned, also with deer meat, because in this house that is pretty much all the red meat we eat. That was very good as well and easy since it is made with Bisquick.
Taco Bake Recipe

My sideways Shepherd's Pie