Unschooling on the Go

One of my favorite things about unschooling is the ease of traveling. In the past I've brought workbooks, worksheets and lesson plans when we've headed away from home for a bit. It was a hassle planning, no one wanted to to do what I brought and I'd just bring the supplies back home untouched. Instead of pre-planned lessons we ended up exploring (and learning about) whatever we came across in our travels.

This week we are visiting my mom. I've brought along the girls' pencil boxes, lined paper and construction paper. So far (we've only been here about 16 hours) the girls have been writing lists, taking care of "sick" stuffed animals and planning what they will be planting in the garden.

On the drive down we came up with a couple of hypotheses about horses that we'll check out when we we walk to a nearby stable and the girls asked to go bird watching so we'll do that. So much more fun than workbooks!

Baking with My Girl

One of the things a lot of people have a hard time understanding is that multiples are not copies of each other. Each of the girls has a very distinct personality, interests, skills and abilities. Friday was another example of this.

As I prepare for Shabbat, the girls usually wander in and out of the kitchen looking for food, conversation and wondering what I am doing. Occassionally they will ask to help. Slowly Thing 3 has become more interested in what I'm making and how I'm doing it. Last Friday she took the step.

"I want to help."

So we made Hamin. She chose what type of beans we used (white), how many potatoes (more), if we chopped the onion or left it whole (yuck!), how we cut the sweet potato (big) and how much of each spice we put it. Then she wrapped it up and turned on the crock pot.

I had already made most of the meal so there were just a few decisions left. Rice or couscous? Couscous. Meatballs or sausages? Sausage. Egg salad or deviled eggs? "Debilled." Then came the big question. What to make for dessert and breakfast?

We finally decided on banana bread with soft butter for breakfast (recipe coming soon) and cobblers for dessert. We couldn't decide which fruit from the freezer stash to use so we made one with Queen Anne cherries and one with mixed berries. We made the biscuit dough and assembled the berry cobbler together and then her sisters wandered in to see what we were doing so Thing 3 got to instruct them on proper cobbler biscuit shaping and assembly.

That evening she helped put salads into serving dishes, set the table and chose which cobbler to serve. She shared her new skills with Aba who asked, "What did you make, Thing 2?" "Nothing. I watched She-Ra instead."