Epiphany

Today is one of my favorite holidays in the church year, Epiphany, when the wise men came to visit Jesus. I don't do much to celebrate, so it's a bit odd that it's my favorite. Maybe because it happens after the stress and chaos of Christmas. Maybe because it's underrated. ...Or maybe it's because when I was growing up my mom would surprise each of us kids with an Epiphany present. I remember being so excited to get a present out of the blue! 

As an Epiphany present to my kids, we read aloud for a long time this morning. I have a feeling they'll get me to finish the book tomorrow or Friday. We're getting to the really good part. Things are amping up in the story! This one has a tear-jerker ending, so I need to prepare myself for crying while reading. 

My kids brought their Sodbuster projects to school today and worked on them the whole time we read aloud. They have to make a map of an area in Minnesota to convince settlers to come to the area. They'll make a brochure touting all the reasons to come to their town including natural resources, railroads, jobs, etc. Reading while they worked helped them to keep trucking on the project. They wanted to keep reading, so we made a deal to work on the project after math for 20min if I read to them while they did it. We would've just practiced spanish vocabulary, so it wasn't a hard deal to make.

Unfortunately, I cut into their recess a little bit so we'd end in a good place. They only got 15min outside instead of the covid-usual 20min. They claimed it was only a five minute recess. It did feel really short, especially with the time it takes to put on winter gear. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can keep going outside for afternoon recess.