i honestly have no idea what week we’re in. again. i know i said that last time, but since we don’t have to (legally) keep track just yet, i don’t.

we’ve been unschooling this week and it’s been FUN. i don’t think i could unschool all the time, but from the end of november until epiphany, i feel it’s entirely appropriate. and there are just some aspects of it i will keep through the rest of the school year. namely:

math games: our math has games instead of drills, math sheets, and flash cards (of which our curriculum authors highly disapprove). so we will continue to play more math cards games (“addition go fish” and “war,” especially!) on days when a formal lesson just isn’t in the cards.

review in daily activity: driving in the car, eating lunch, making christmas cookies…we’ve done more review (questions and answers in our conversation) while driving in the car and making cookies this week. i know that the boys are retaining their lessons by asking questions about their work. no need for testing their knowledge on american history, advent lessons or reading. reading the recipe card and talking about fractions was yesterday’s math and reading review. i can appreciate this as i was a horrible test-taker in school. i’d get extremely nervous before each test, and on the days of test-grading.  i’m glad i don’t have to put my kids through it right now!

home ec: adam knows exactly how to scoop and scrape excess flour off for a recipe. rowan knows exactly how to run the kitchen aid mixer and vacuum cleaner and sawyer’s got folding socks into little balls down pat. i am not the ONLY ONE doing these jobs anymore!  i love seeing their daily practicing of normal activities become second nature to them.

one thing i realized this week was how independent even adam has become. i don’t have to stand over shoulders and help in every single thing we do anymore. yesterday we made frosting together for our christmas cut-out cookies, and while i handled the food coloring stage, the boys decorated their own cookies without me having to do it for them. and they look GOOD!

MORE playtime: yes, we have plenty of playtime already, but why not MORE? on tuesday of this week, two families came over for a morning of sledding and hot chocolate and lunch. even without snow, we can have more of these playtimes scheduled which helps us get through some rough weeks. and it’s good for moms as well!

here’s some photos from our weekly fun… these are my grammy’s cookie cutters and her rolling pin. we’ve made our christmas cut-outs for the year:

here are some of the finished products:

i’m adding this one because i finally caught (from a distance) one of the chickens hanging out on the donkey’s back. they prefer riding on the sheep (warm and cozy) and it’s cute and funny….but a pain when the chickens decide to defecate on my precious wool (click the picture for a closer look):