It is the beginning of Valentine’s week. I am so grateful that we have all week to prepare for it. Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that does not hold a lot of traditions at our house. That means that it is open for any sort of harebrained ideas that I can dream up! We are making sure that we make time in our day for the many crafts and activities that will come with this holiday. Let me confess, getting boys excited for V-day is not such a simple task. For them it is more about hoping for chocolate goodies than it is expressing their affection for anyone, including their own sweet momma. It brings a certain comfort that vanishes once the talk of girlfriends starts filling their minds.

I have found a couple of cute ideas for our crafts this week.  http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Valentines.htm#4
This site has ideas that include art, computer, language arts, math, and even science and social studies. Oh yes! I am excited about the math facts written on one side of a broken heart while the answer is on the other half. I fully expect the construction paper hearts to be completely worn out by the time Friday gets here! There is even a writing assignment involving chocolate kisses! This is my kind of assignment. While it’s not exactly frugal, it does involve chocolate! Of course, there are the classic art projects like weaving a heart shaped basket and making a little man out of different sized hearts.  I really encourage you to take a look at this site. It looks like there are lots of activities that use the simplest of materials, just a little time and effort.

Another project that we will have this week is to address our many Valentine cards to all of our homeschool friends in preparation of our party this week. Perhaps a penmanship lesson could be made out of this! Just in case you didn’t buy your children’s valentines in March of last year for 90% off, you can print out your own. There are some really cute ones that I have found, most of which are free.  http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=0&products_id=33641&it=1 This is a link to a packet of Valentines that are very appropriate for little ones. There are no kissy and mushy cards, plus several for family members. It’s very cute! There are several more listed here: http://www.currclick.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Valentine&manufacturers_id=&author=&pfrom=0&pto=.50&x=41&y=9

We must also decorate our shoebox that will become our mailbox. I can just imagine the masses of crayon, colored paper scraps, glue sticks, foam stickers, and glitter that will be decorating my floor through out the week.