I however do not prefer this.  It has been awhile since I have felt so confined and tied to a clock.  Our periods are 40 min long, with a 5 min break in between, 1 hour lunch and 30 min break in the afternoon.  The kids get a 5 min warning before the end of a class time.  I am directly involved in 7 out of the 8 classes.  I guess that is my planning period.  I can't leave the house unless I can do it in under 30 min.  And that is only during one class period a day.  Gone is the luxury of hitting Cruces on a work day to run errands and avoid the crowds.  

I love to read and I want to pass on that love to my kids.  Reading is so important to us that our daughter (7th grade) reads 2 hours a day and our son (3rd grade) reads 1 hour.  These are the minimums for our school.  Reading time is split between a personal choice book at their reading level and a classic at their reading level.

I was walking past the Pit and caught a glimpse of Brent in there reading.  Too funny.  He loves doing his school work in there too.  He has a desk in his room and a huge table in the dining room, but he likes to squeeze into the pit and work in there.

Callie's turn to complete her experiment.  She also enjoyed the process and was able to determine the nature of her unknowns.  I think it is hilarious they were both wearing wrestling sweatshirts.  Maybe I should incorporate a school uniform!

We use Real Science 4 Kids.  Both kids are studying Chemistry.  Brent did a simple Acid / Base experiment.  I like how they explain everything, and the experiment worked perfectly.  Brent had fun doing it as well.  Delilah, School Cat, enjoyed it as well.  She kept trying to hint that one was milk, since the liquids were all unknowns.

We went to Spring Canyon on New Year's Eve, so I'm late adding these pictures up.  Unfortunately, we spent the first few weeks of the year sick.  It was off and on, but it seemed just as we were getting better we would sick again.  Yuck.  We all seem healthy now and the Nyquil has finally wore off!

 

Both the kids wanted to go further, but we really don't have the gear they need, so we didn't venture too far from the main park.  Despite this they still had quite a good time.

Spring Canyon is always beautiful.  I love how in some of the pictures it looks warm, believe me, it was quite cold!  I love that New Mexico Sun!  It was quite windy as well.

The kids went much farther than we did, I'm not sure when they would have stopped on their own, but a trip to the winery lured them off the mountain.

They raced back to the car, Callie tripped him and won, Brent jumped that rock right behind him in the picture, I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't end up on his face.