The Blizzard Bag

Today is the 8th snow day we've had this winter. Cold Day may be a better description considering half of the time schools are closed not even due to road conditions, but because of extreme cold. Having spent the past 15 years in Texas this is fairly new to me. I love a day off school as much as the next guy, but especially right after Christmas break I was a bit disappointed about the kids missing school because they were ready to get back into the swing of things (okay maybe that was just me), and I would rather not have to drag out the school year when they are chomping at the bit to have summer vacation. That's where the blizzard bags come in. Have you heard of this?

Public schools are obligated to have x amount of full school days a year. Some snow days are accounted for, but after a while if you miss too many days from snow then they end up tacking on extra days at the end of the year to make up for it. This is never fun. Not only because the teachers, parents, and of course students have been preparing for that glorious last day of school, but as far practical purposes the students aren't even going to be in the right mindset for learning and it more than likely just becomes a formality that wastes everyones time.

So last week when the kids were off school AGAIN I saw an email from the principal where the subject line was Blizzard Bag, my mind immediately went to Diary Queen. Then I opened up attachment to find that it had nothing to do with ice-cream, but was several worksheets that were to make up for the time lost through the snow day. Our school district allows for 5 "calamity days" and after that they have now approved up to 3 blizzard bag days where the students can do their work from home in order to count as a school day. I love this concept! I had Z do his work right away last time and today I already have it printed off and ready to go, but you do actually have 2 weeks to turn it in. The older students have online programs that they use. For the students that don't have computer access you can do it at the school on another date.

I guess we only have one more blizzard bag day left and then we are on our own, but every little bit helps. Here are a few of the times we've been out in the snow when it wasn't too cold and we weren't too sick.


The Cincinnati Nature center is beautiful and we got a membership for Christmas this year.

 I gave SJ a sled to pull and she insisted I put Ezie in the sled.

 This is at a nearby park that we frequent and the "slopes" are terrifying great! Some people were even snowboarding.

Three kids at the top of the hill

And here they are at the bottom. Ezie wasn't upset, but he never seemed amused. The other two LOVE sledding! 

We'll stay inside today because it's 1 degrees… degree… it's one out? I don't even know how to say it. Anyway, it's just too cold. Whew.