Our regular learning activities haven’t varied all that much from the norm over the last few weeks. We’re reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” and Pete is reading a Tom Swift book. Poppy is working on exponents in math, and Pete has joined a math club that meets once a month. We talked about crystals in science, and all of our experiments failed. (That part wasn’t very exciting.)

We did, however, add a few new things to our repertoire this week.

There are a ton of opportunities for hiking and exploring nature in our area. Because of some anxiety issues on my part — no bathrooms! bears! tickborne diseases! no bathrooms! — I haven’t done a terrific job taking advantage of that. I’m going to make an effort to change that, though, by planning a (maybe) weekly hike into our schedule.

This week the kids and I went for a short hike on some nearby national forest land. I couldn’t find the trail I’d intended for us to hike, and judging by the ruggedness of the path and the number of people on mountain bikes we saw (10) as compared to other people on foot (2), I’m pretty sure the one we ended up on was primarily a mountain-biking trail. But we crossed a small creek via a very small fallen tree, we stumbled upon a lake, and I was pretty much OK save for a small moment of panic.

Midway through our hike, Pete said: “You know, I’m actually enjoying this.” I actually did too, pal.

I'm thinking about adding a weekly hike to our #homeschool curriculum.

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on Apr 20, 2016 at 2:20pm PDT

On Tuesday my friend Robin shared on instagram that she was going to participate in Elle Luna’s 100-day project. Robin is an artist, so it makes sense that she would sign on to create some sort of art every day for 100 days. I am not an artist, but I do have a couple of kids who love to do art projects. And so I decided that the for the next 100 days, the kids and I would do an art project.

Perhaps it wasn’t wise to decide on a whim to do something for 100 days in a row, but so far Poppy, Pete and I have had fun with our projects. Here’s what we’ve done thus far:

Instead of working on the same type of thing everyday for @elleluna's #the100dayproject, I'm going to try to do 100 days of some sort of creative activity with the kids. Our first project was some cat drawings from @gemmacorrell's "Doodling for Cat People." I love the irritated cat face. #100artsydayswiththebutterscotchsundaekids

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on Apr 19, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

We used tissue paper and water to create today's #100artsydayswiththebutterscotchsundaekids works. #the100dayproject

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on Apr 20, 2016 at 8:50am PDT

For Day 3 of #100artsydayswiththebutterscotchsundaekids, we made a collaborative mural. There was a giant kite, a man who'd eaten too many grapes and a cabbage garden, among other things. #the100dayproject

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on Apr 21, 2016 at 7:23am PDT

On day 4 of #100artsydayswiththebutterscotchsundaekids, we made self-portraits a la Picasso, using construction paper and oil pastels. #the100dayproject

A photo posted by Nichole (@nicholebutterscotch) on Apr 22, 2016 at 7:51am PDT

Looking for more homeschooling stories? Check out the weekly wrap-up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!