A few days before my son went on spring break, I was talking with some other kids’ parents. They were planning getaway spring breaks. One was flying to San Antonio to stay in their time share, another was flying to Fort Lauderdale.
As much as I would have liked to have taken a vacation on spring break, we did not for two reasons:
1.) it is simply not in the budget (at all!)
2.) my husband’s spring break was a week prior, so he was back to school teaching.
Unfortunately it was cold and windy most of spring break week, but we still found ways to keep busy.
-My son loves to take baths, but he is usually so busy with after school activities and homework that he usually has to take a shower. He enjoyed a nice leisurely bath where he could play with his snorkeling toy I bought on clearance last summer at CVS.
-On the one nice day, we went to the zoo using our yearly season pass. This pass costs $108 a year, but we go several times during the year, and it saves us from paying $8 in parking every time. We packed a snack and made an afternoon of it.
-We visited the library twice. My son enjoyed playing educational games on the computer there, and he checked out and read a Magic School Bus chapter book. I had no idea his reading had improved so quickly!
-We had to buy a new vacuum last week (I’ll try to post about that later in the week), and I kept the box. My kids played with that for one to two hours at a time for three days.
-I had bought a Spiderman activity book and a writing practice book last summer at a garage sale and stashed it away. I let my son use those when the girls were napping.
-We also played several games of Uno while the girls slept. Now that he is nearly 7 and has advanced from Cherry-O, it is even more fun to play games with him.
-We checked out Ice Age and Horton Hears a Who at the library and watched them together.
We didn’t spend a lot of money or go any where special, but we all had fun. There are ways to enjoy a frugal spring break.
(Can I just say how in awe I am of the home schooling parents who are also able to keep up a blog and write! Watching my 6, 2 and nearly one year old kept me so busy I had a hard time keeping up with the house work, let alone blogging!)
I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesday.
Yay for staycations!! Love this, I admit to having to fight the envy bug a bit, I’m not even that much of a traveler but seeing a lot of others taking vacations to ski, Vegas, etc. well, I’ve been ready for a getaway that does not involve going to the grocery store alone lol for years!
Anyhow, I no longer homeschool but you have a lot with mostly little ones. My olders are now grown so taking care of my 6yo disabled little boy plus his 2yo lil brother is way easier then it was caring for my first few kids when they were all only 6, 2, & newborn.
our break started today and i had a week of fun activities planned (near home). the first one was roller skating this afternoon-where i promptly fell and broke my hand ugh! not off to a good start 🙁
Oh no!!! That is terrible. Hopefully it wasn’t your dominant hand.
prayers for a quick recovery and hope that you squeeze in some fun.
Sounds like fun and cost effective spring break! I love when I can spend time with my kids without it always costing a lot. I used to take them to the library every Sunday and then we would go to this little eatery that had kid meals for .99 on Sundays it was AWESOME! Sounds like you had a great time!
That sounds like a fun, frugal day.
We had a similar spring break last week as well. There are a couple free, little zoos in our area and we went with friends. Going with friends always make it feel more special!
I always plan out a couple free activities per month in the summer months to keep us busy without breaking the budget. Our favs are: library programs, local free zoos, free museum passes from the library, visiting different parks, etc.
I was discouraged when we could not take a trip but then we did the same thing as you. We had so much fun and it was great for the boys to spend the days with their big sisters. I think that staycations are better because everyone was not going in three differnt directions. The library has always been one of our favorite spots. We went to the YMCA several times because they had some fun free things to do for the kids also. My husband got a membership there and we use it all the time much like the zoo for you guys. Glad you had fun and got to bond with your kiddo.
Glad you had a good spring break after all. I should look into activities at the YMCA.
Thats my kind of spring break! Ours is this week restarted out by painting a bedroom. Yesterday I worked an odd job to get money for the movies today. (the kids got to help me work!) tomorrowwe are visiting daddy at his new work and going for lunch. Later in the week we will go to a paintyour own plaque place and the library. Fun week!
Sounds like fun (except the painting!)
My girls are true homebodies so they embrace staycations. I love how your boy gets a few Calgon moments in during his Spring break. Aren’t zoo memberships the best – we just renewed this weekend. Sounds like you had a good time – hope he went back to school ready to hit the books. I’m visiting from Works For Me Wednesday.