Weekly Wrap-Up - Friday, Nov. 21

This was a very interesting week around our house. There was definitely nothing normal about it! Next week is going to be exactly the same way too. But that's okay with me! I believe that one of the best things we can do for ourselves as moms and for our children is to sometimes throw the schedule completely out the window and just be. So that is what we did this week - a lot of just being and enjoying life and each other.

I started the week not too sure if we'd do any formal schooling because of all the plans we had. I didn't write out lesson plans like I usually do on Sunday evenings. So on Monday morning, I set Isabelle up with a few projects that corresponded with what she has been learning and let her have fun.

Monday afternoon was our monthly craft club with our homeschooling group. The children are divided into 2 groups: preschoolers through age 5 and 6-9 year olds. This works out perfectly for us as all 3 of the oldest kids get to be involved at the same time while Gracie gets to stay home with Eric for some special daddy time.

The kids made really cool place mats using scrapbook paper, leaves (real, artificial and paper), paper pilgrim hats, and contact paper. They all did a great job. I felt a little bad for Alex and Olivia though because as it turns out, this mama is not very good with contact paper! Isabelle did a better job on her own then I did. But everyone had fun, so I guess that's all that matters. Alex and Olivia also got to make their first ever turkey hand prints!

On Tuesday we were out of the house pretty early. We had a field trip with our homeschool group planned for two o'clock and we wanted to take advantage of the location where we would be to finish our Christmas shopping for my family. We managed to get 95% of our shopping done too.

The field trip was at Great Harvest Bread and it was fantastic. The kids got to see how the gigantic mixer and oven worked. They heard a little talk on why whole-grain brown breads are better for you than traditional white breads. They got to participate in a reading of The Little Red Hen. They even got to knead some bread dough at the baker's table and have a thick wedge of bread to sample. We got home just in time for me to start warming dinner and for Eric to head off to work. It was a long but fun day.

On Wednesday I had a lot of catching up to do around the house. Everyone helped me with doing chores. After that, we spent some time discussing Thanksgiving and working on a few of our own Thanksgiving crafts. Fortunately for my un-crafty self, Isabelle loves all things crafty and even does a great job with it all. So I often let her take the lead with some of our projects.

Thursday and Friday we began making cookie dough. So far we have 6 varieties and 8 batches of dough made. We'll finish up the 6 remaining varieties of dough over the weekend and start baking on Monday. The plan is to have cookies to give my family for early Christmas gifts while we are visiting for Thanksgiving. I am also making lots of extras at my sister's request so that she can have plenty on hand for entertaining.The kids love to help me in the kitchen and it is a great time for mini math lessons, life lessons, and just talking. I consider our time in the kitchen one of the most important elements of our homeschooling days. So on days when we spend more time in there than usual, that's even better in my book.

With the reduced workload this week, Isabelle tasked herself with lots of writing assignments and spent a lot of time on her blog creating some wonderful stories. I love seeing her voice and creativity blossom through her blogging.

That about sums up our week. How was your week?

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You can read more weekly wrap-ups here.