Christmas Play Ideas #ButterflyHomeschool

Our Christmas Gift For You Is Play Ideas.

During the holiday season, you might be a little lost about how to keep your children busy. You might need to keep them occupied while you prepare for your Christmas event guests or for travels. Or maybe you just need to keep them busy so they stay out of trouble when your normal schedule is not in play. Here are some mild weather outside play ideas that we have been using, along with some recent photos.

Why Play With Your Children?

Also, if you play with your children, it is a great way to get some exercise AND clear your head from holiday stress. You can use the time while they play to take photos of the children in action. Later, you can use printed versions of those photos for craft projects to create future greeting cards and gifts for close family and friends.

Make A Holiday Welcome Mat

Get out the colored chalk and make your own holiday welcome mat.

chalk welcome mat and holiday greeting #butterflyhomeschool

sidewalk chalk fun #butterflyhomeschool

Mild Weather Outside Play Ideas:

• Sidewalk chalk play – create a hopscotch board
• Freeze Tag – even with a small yard this game is easy
• Frisbee – get a really big one with soft cushy edges
• Hiking at your local or state public park

jumbo disc – giant soft frisbee #butterflyhomeschool

Where To Hike With Your Family

We recently checked out our local library’s complimentary state park pass in Fulton County, Georgia. Library patrons can access it once per year per adult library card. It was a blessing because the park we chose to visit was much much nicer than we ever expected. Also, our unseasonably cool weather warmed up nicely at about mid-day, and was not too hot. Check out our picture gallery of Sweetwater Creek, a Georgia State Park below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~ The Johnson Family: Henry, Donna, Justine, Samuel and Charity

P.S.

Please also check out Mom Donna’s articles over on the Christian Homeschool Mom’s blog. Here is the link to her profile:

http://christianhomeschoolmoms.com/donna-marie/

The series of articles that she shared in Fall 2014 gave tips on why and how to connect or re-connect locally and prevent or stop isolation.

Summer Learning – Swimming and CPR and More

 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION SEASON BY SEASON

SPRING

Our spring activity for #ButterflyHomeschool was tennis (click here to read about it).

SAMUEL SAYS (middle 11 years old – 7th grade):

I like playing tennis. I liked hitting the ball. I liked learning how to serve the tennis ball.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

SUMMER

And now our summer activity has been swimming. We have been learning during June. This was just so right in time for our vacation. We were able to use our new skills during our Father’s Day Family vacation. The oldest girl has taken to the water like a fish (she’s the one with her head under water in the picture).

JUSTINE SAYS (oldest – 12 year old 7th grade):

Swimming was the number one thing I wanted to do for the summer. I feel that everyone should learn how to swim because it is so much fun. I was not scared to swim, but floating didn’t work for me because I could only float on my face, instead of on my back. I also like helping my brother and sister learn how to float when I hold them on their backs.

LEARNING SAFETY FOR THE SUMMER

Just right in alignment with our summer activities is learning how to help ourselves and others be safer if there is an emergency. Read on to learn more about the training that we received from the local firefighters.

Click Image To Download CPR AED Class Registration Flier

CPR AED TRAINING SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

In addition to learning how to swim, we were able to get CPR training at our local firehouse.

If you’d like to register for a class, click here to download the CPR AED Class registration information.

At Firehouse No. 1 in College Park, Georgia, Officer Taylor taught us CPR AED and helped us become comfortable with driving more than half of the chain of survival. I had no idea that an informed citizen could make such a huge impact on someone else’s survival rate. 

CHARITY SAYS (youngest – 8 year old 2nd grade):

I liked the CPR class. I liked pushing the hearts of the mannequins. And the baby mannequins looked so cute! I liked talking with the firefighter officers. 

Become Part of the Chain of Survival with AHA CPR AED Training

I highly recommend that you get yourself and your kids certified, too. If you’re in Atlanta this summer, you can get training for free because it is sponsored by the American Heart Association. If you want the certification option, you pay only $20 at the firehouse after you have passed the test.

To register, call 404-766-8248

Their goal is to get people comfortable with the process of helping the EMT’s out before they arrive on the scene. Training took the fear out of it all for my kids, and I know it will for you, too.

One great perk of our training was the tour of the firehouse. Officer Taylor was wise to tell the kids about that before class started, it gave them something to look forward to. And, of course, the firehouse tour didn’t disappoint. Check out our tour pics below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Thanks for reading! If you liked this blog article, please subscribe (follow) our blog; click like and favorite on our posts; and share our posts with your friends and family.

Sincerely,

Donna, The Mommy Butterfly

http://ButterflyHomeschool.com

Exciting Spring 2014

Over the past month, our family has had some interesting adventures. We will summarize them here and share a bit.

Before we do, can we ask you for a favor? Will you leave a comment and let us know about your family’s adventures, too? We know we are not the only folks who have fun hanging out together and want to hear about your stories, too.

Okay, so, here is what we’ve been up to:

In April, our very generous friend, Kamilah, founder of the One Talent org for girls, invited us to her very generous employer’s headquarters offices in Atlanta. We had a blast, and the food was way beyond our expectations. Thanks, Kamilah and Chick-Fil-A!

#FieldTrip #ChickFilA #ButterflyHomeschool

We also started our Tennis Co-Op / Physical Education Co-Op so that we can have fun while learning with other families. One of the awesome things we learned helped us to get started now, instead of waiting until we have all of our gear in place: when tennis was first invented, it was played by hand. So, no tennis racquets were needed on our first day. However, we are planning to buy them as a group with the other families so that we can save on the price a bit.

#WeLoveTennis #ButterflyHomeschool

We were so happy that our local Atlanta-Fulton Public Library system had so many books about tennis on their shelves. We recommended a couple on the PE Co-Op page (click to go see what we are doing in the co-op and the books, too).

Speaking of the library, one of the main things that we do every season of the year is to read, read and read some more. Here is a snapshot of less than half of the books we checked out last month.

Book reports have already been written, and the kids are now learning the basics of blogging so that they can start sharing them with you, our readers.

What about you: what are you reading right now?

I hope you like our brief update. Leave a comment and let us know what you and your family has been doing and reading this Spring.

Sincerely,

Donna Marie, Mommy at the ButterflyHomeschool.com