Skip to main content

The Weekly Wrap-up: The Week Where We Can't Focus On Anything But Christmas




Did I already say we're having trouble focusing on school around here? Yep, it happens every year about this time.

Each year I tell myself we're going to do school until the week before Christmas and then December hits and it's just c.r.a.z.y. There's all of the decorations and the music and the holiday movies and nobody wants to think about schoolwork. Not even me:) And for some reason we've all just been so tired and moving slowly in the mornings this week, it's like our bodies are trying to go into hibernation or something.

So I very wisely didn't try to fight it. We sort of *unschooled* this week instead. I was kind of subversive about their learning..heehee

Some of the things we did were:


1. have a *Toss & Tally* tournament


2. do some math drill sheet using our cool new dry erase crayons (they love any excuse to use these!). My daughter actually proclaimed one day "I just love school, especially math!" WHAAA??? Where was my voice recorder when I needed it?!? I would so love to play that back to her day after day:)


3. begin our Jesse tree devotionals--those are just SO good! I tear up nearly every day reading them.


4. tend to our herbs in our light box for our botany study. They are really coming along! Although I want to know if you can tell what is wrong with this picture--leave me a comment if you can!


5. practice kitchen math by making our first batch of Christmas cookies. Yum-O!


6. reading, lots of reading! We are, of course, enjoying our nightly readings in The Advent Book. That is one of our favorite traditions around here. We're also currently reading through The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

7. did a little science experiment using Mr. B's Ultimate Crystal Growing Kit. The results are still in the process, I'll keep you posted:)

8. hung out with our homeschool group for a holiday movie, cookies and cocoa.


So you can see it was a very laid-back week around here. You know how hectic this time of the year gets, so I was glad to have a little extra time to get caught up around the house.

More unschooling is planned for next week!


Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...
Read more

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...
Read more

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year.  This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning.   But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom.  Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming.  It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility.  And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year.  So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important.   How do I do this?   Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom.  Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...
Read more