Homeschool - December

Our library now offers free passes to the Northwoods Children's Museum in Eagle River that you can check out for the day.  Our friend group headed up there to check things out and it didn't disappoint.  There was a ton for all of the kids to do and they really had a great time playing with their friends!

We discussed biomimicry and the kids were tasked to come up with an invention mimicking an amazing animal adaptation.  Olivia use tree frog toes to make climbers to climb up walls.  Nolan made an anteater tongue grabber to pick up small lost things.

The kids worked really hard on these beautiful polar bear art projects for the Co-op showcase.  They did all of the work themselves.  Nolan's was done with markers and Olivia's was watercolor and oil pastels.  

We finished our first semester of Co-op with a showcase.  The kids performed bucket drumming songs to "We Don't Talk about Bruno" and "Fireflies," showed off their PE rope ladder skills, and made some beautiful artwork for the art gallery.  Grandma and Grandpa came to watch them show off their skills.  I continue to be so blown away by the blessing that co-op and our homeschooling friends have been in our lives.  This has been the best year of homeschool yet!
 

We decided to start freezing ice blocks to build an igloo!

Olivia got this adorable make your own unicorn kit from Grandma Patti at the Christmas tea.  She loved sewing it together and it turned out so cute!

We had a huge snowstorm and the Rhinelander Schools closed.  The neighbor kids came over and they spent all morning building a huge fort in the front yard.

Our writing project this month was a 5Ws project.  Each kid chose and event or story and answered the 5W questions - Who, what, when, where, and why.  Nolan chose the story of how Athena won the city of Athens in Ancient Greece and Olivia chose the first walk on the moon.

We made suncatchers, bird feeders, and honey cake to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

The kids got these Tubelox for Christmas and built this vehicle that they can ride on!

Both older kids have been asking to start sewing so I thought they could start with making some cloth napkins for our poetry teatimes.  Unfortunately while he was practicing, the needle on the machine wiggled free and I dropped it down inside while trying to put it back.  I need my Mommy to come and help me fix it! 

We joined our friends at Northwoods Golf Course for an afternoon of sledding.  The hill was enormous and while it was fun going down, it was not so fun walking back up.  Simon liked to roll around at the bottom of the hill in the path of the oncoming sledders, so I made lots of trips down and up the hill to attempt to keep him out of harm's way.  It was exhausting, but was a beautiful warm, winter day, and the kids had fun.

The kids drew names to do a Secret Santa gift exchange.  They had a lot of fun carefully picking out things for their buddies, all while staying within the $10 budget. They were so excited to give their presents and it was great practice teaching them about the process of giving gifts.

We wrapped up our December school with a book party for, "The Very, Very Far North." We had to delay a couple of weeks because we were exposed to covid and ended up getting sick.  It made it feel so good to be back together!  We had pizza, and Snow Delights sno-cones, went sledding and played in the snow, and warmed up with some adorable Duane hot chocolate.  It was the perfect end to celebrate our favorite Dart book yet!

Christmas Preparations and Traditions

The kids helped a lot with decorating the Christmas trees this year.  We decided to put our second one in the breakfast nook, so we could enjoy it more, instead of putting it down in the basement.  Miles seemed to love it too, and snuggled in his bed under the Christmas lights for the duration of the season.  

St. Nick paid us a visit on December 6th, leaving each kid an ornament, book, and some candy in their boots.  

Grandpa and Grandma were supposed to come for our annual cookie baking, but Grandma got sick with covid, so we had to do it alone.  We made Peanut Butter Kisses and Buckeye Balls and the kids helped a lot

We decorated the Christmas tree out at the cabin with Uncle Buster, Aunt Sandy, Paige, and Grandma and Grandpa.  We had dinner out there and enjoyed spending time together making the cabin look beautiful for Christmas.  

On St. Lucia Day, (Dec 13) we met up with the Vadis girls to deliver some treats to a few friends and members from church.  We stopped at Grace Lodge first, with the plan to meet with Grandma Ruby and a few other residents for fellowship and communion, but Grandma Ruby forgot and went out to play cards with some friends!  We still met with the other two ladies from church and Pastor Kari offered them communion.  Simon was hungry so he ended up mowing down all of the extra communion wafers Pastor Kari had in her bag!  

After Grace Lodge, we headed over to Bob Kitzman's house to drop off some goodies.  He has a beautiful Christmas Village all over his living room which was fun for the kids to see.  After our deliveries, we headed to Culver's for a yummy meal and a chance to catch up with our friends.  It was a fun evening!

Olivia and Simon were part of Trinity's Christmas Program this year.  They went to church with me weekly starting in November to learn all the words and actions to their songs, "Away in a Manger" and "Oh, What a Special Night." They both did an absolutely amazing job remembering everything.  Olivia was such a good big sister, looking out for Simon and helping to lead everyone.  Simon was so confident and serious about getting it just right.  In rehearsal, if he was unsure of what was next, he would stop me in front of everyone so he could clarify, making sure he knew all the words and actions perfectly.  I was so proud of them - they did such a good job!!

 

One of our last stops before Christmas was the Lights of the Northwoods at Hodag Park.  It's been a tradition to go with Grandma and Grandpa and for some strange reason, we always seem to pick a day that is absolutely freezing!  We shivered as we walked through the path, but had a great time looking at the beautiful lights!

Ory Family Christmas

 

Christmas Tea

 Grandma Patti hosted her fifth annual Christmas tea this week.  Originally inspired from a little doll china Christmas tea set, Grandma decided have Olivia over for tea at Christmastime when she was 2, while Nolan was away at school. The following year Simon was here and he and Livi both attended, along with Grandma Ruby.  After covid hit, all 3 kids were home, so ALL the grandkids started coming for Grandma's annual tea.  And this year, little baby Ruby came to her first tea party!  Livi wore a dress that was Patti's from when she was little.  We think it was made by Great Grandma Ruby.  The snacks were delicious and the kids had fun spending time with their sweet new cousin and the rest of their family.  

Sleigh Ride

We were invited to go on a sleigh ride with our friends, the Kohnhorts and the Foats.  We've done sleigh rides in the past, but it has been several years and the was the first time that the weather was warm and enjoyable.  We went at Western Connection Ranch, where Olivia has taken riding lessons, and her teacher, Addy, was the one who drove the sleigh.  We had hot chocolate and made tiny snowmen and had a great time together with our friends!