This HomeSchooled Life

Homeschooling Education with Adventure and Fun!

krisha

Soap Bottle Dolls

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted in this space. When I first started this blog years ago, it was primarily a space for me to connect with others. I still think it is that, but over the course of time and more babies it became my primary means of documenting our story. I know watching a video or a quick blurb on instagram seems to be more in line with the times and honestly, it’s just easier than reading a blog post. But, my kids love to get on here and read through our past doings, so here I am at it again for them. And because they love pictures as much as I do, my posts are pretty picture heavy.

I have been wanting to put this post up since last year when we first did this project with the Peter Rabbit bottle doll. But, life and things. Here I am now a year later, so let’s get on with it.

For this project you’ll need:

Soap bottle or shampoo bottle with the top/pump
Masking tape
Packaging material
Sand or small rocks for weighting the bottle
Newspaper or magazine
Paper mâché paste (I use equal parts flour and water)
Mod Podge
Scissors
Glue (We used a glue stick and a low temp glue gun)
Old clothing or fabric
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes

The first thing you’ll need to do is choose a character. Here we have Coyote Peterson (Savannah), Toad from Wind in the Willows (Annie), A bunny named Gekka (Wyatt). Next, thoroughly clean out the bottle and leave it to dry. Once dry, fill with just enough sand or rocks to weight it down. The paper mâché head get’s a little top heavy and this will prevent it from falling over.

With your packaging material form a head around the pump or bottle top. I suggest looking at a picture while forming the head to get the basic shape. This is something I tell my kids on repeat when it comes to art. Look for the shapes and what it reminds you of. For example, Savannah was struggling with her Coyote Peterson head. I had her look at a picture and I asked her what the shape of his head reminded her of. She decided on a balloon shape. It’s wider at the top of the head and smaller towards the chin. With that image in her mind’s eye, she easily formed his head. Now, secure the packaging material with masking tape and then secure head to bottle. At this point, you can build out some features with more packaging material secured with tape. Use cereal box type cardboard to make things like ears and tongues.

After you have the head complete and attached to the bottle, you can begin paper mâché. Make sure to cover all parts of the tape, but you do not need to cover the whole bottle. We only did one layer, but you can do more. You don’t need a lot of paste, just enough to adhere the paper to the form. The more you use, the longer it will take to dry. If you use more than one layer let it dry completely between layers.

Once dry you can paint the head and then put on a coat of mod lodge to give it a nice seal. At this point you can dress your bottle doll. We used old clothing cut up and glued to the bottle. Mostly we used a glue stick, but on some heavier pieces we used the low temp glue gun.

And that’s it. A pretty simple process and everything was something I had on hand. After doing one with my guidance, Savannah and Annie have done a few more on their own. This was the first Mom inspired project I’ve done with Wyatt and it went really well. He wasn’t super okay with having his hands consistently messy with the paste, but overall he was totally into making his bunny and quite proud with his end result.

I hope this is the start of me making more of a regular appearance on my blog. See you next time!




A Book Tablecloth

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At the start of 2018, I had the idea to do a book quilt. But after life started to get insanely busy with my toddler underfoot, I thought this isn’t the season for a quilt. I still really wanted to do something to commemorate my time spent reading aloud with my children, but it needed to be less involved than a quilt. Then I remembered that we were already working on another tablecloth project (which I’ll discuss in a separate post), so why not a book tablecloth, too? Yes, a book tablecloth!

I am a sentimental person. I don’t keep all the things, but I do keep those special items that invoke wonderful memories and I’ve never regretted keeping them. This book tablecloth came from a deep desire to comfort my future self. These days are fleeting, I know this. Right now, we spend countless hours gathered around our school table, cuddled on the couch or snuggled in bed with me reading aloud to my babies. One day, sooner than I’d rather it be, they’ll be gone living their lives. This is my tangible record of those moments when I’m missing those days hard. Yes, this is for them, it’s for all of us, but truly it is for my momma heart.

When we first began, they needed my help a lot. I was sure they would never master threading the needle and knotting the thread. So much so, I started questioning if this was the best idea I’ve had. Gratefully, God is always teaching me patience through my kids, even when I don’t feel like being patient. With time, they did get the threading and knotting down. These days there aren’t as many threads getting all a tangled mess.

The only thing I ask of them is to fill it up. I want to see their artwork in every last space. They have complete and total cart blanche with the creative aspect. They decide the what, where and the size of their embroidery. Some times they stitch the cover of the book and then some times it’s an illustration from the book. Other times, they stitch whatever stood out to them the most and do their own composition. Again, I leave that up to them.

Before they begin embroidering, they draw out their design with a sewing marker. I don’t recommend using the disappearing ink markers, because the drawing will likely will disappear faster than they work. A lot of their work is done over days, even weeks, so it’s important to use something that will remain until they are done stitching.

I mentioned earlier in this post that this tablecloth is for them. I could have just had them draw and I do the stitching, but I wanted to use this as an opportunity to build on their embroidery skills. For a while, I just had them use a basic running stitch and did not bother with teaching them more than that. When I felt they had a grasp on basic embroidery, I started introducing new stitches. Embroidery: A Step-by-Step Guide to More Than 200 Stiches At first it was one new stitch a month, now we are up to a new stitch every week or every couple of weeks, depending on difficulty and time available. I typically will demonstrate it for them in their practice hoops and then they will do stitching while I read aloud. Once they feel comfortable, they start to incorporate the new stitches into their designs. The tablecloth has become a progressive showcase of their handiwork.

If you’d like to do this project with your children, you’ll need a tablecloth (this is the one I used), a sewing marker, embroidery floss, embroidery hoops and embroidery needles. Just remember, you do not have to be a master embroiderer to do this. I assure you I am not. I truly want to encourage other Moms, regardless of skill level, to take time out to do these things now and know that when you do, you are preserving all those special memories for your future self.

Book Party: Where the Red Fern Grows (Spoilers)

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Here we are at our long awaited first book party. And when I say, “party,” please know that it was in no way extravagant. My days of going all out for parties, has long been a thing of the past. The meal was simple and inspired from scenes in the book: cornbread, homemade butter and blackberries. If you’ve never made butter, you must try it at least once. Don’t be intimidated, because it is easier than you may think.  The kids made some decorations and we called it a party! We spent the next hour recalling scenes of what my kids have claimed as their favorite book. 

I first read this book in elementary school. I couldn’t remember all the details, but I most definitely remembered the ending. I cried then and as much as I tried not to this time, I cried reading it aloud to my kids. Crying is probably an understatement. I bawled uncontrollably in reading the final two chapters. I had to pause many times, just to gain some composure. I expected to cry, but I did not to expect to be overcome with emotion. My kids cried. Jacks put his head down, his heart was broken. I could hear Savannah sobbing, but barely over my own weeping. Savannah told me later that, “It was so sad that she could cry for 30 years, without ever stopping.” She wanted to know how Wilson Rawls could write a story that made us feel so much? I told her it was because he gave us characters we could root for. We loved them. 

The books that I spend reading aloud to my kids are so precious. The life lessons they hold in their pages are being sown into their very being and I strive to cultivate them daily. One day when they need them, they will be there for the harvesting.

Another something we have been doing to commence our time with our read alouds, is the kids stitch them on to a tablecloth. Savannah had the book tablecloth honors for Where the Red Fern Grows and I adore her scene of Old Dan and Little Ann trying to tree a coon! You might be wondering what a book tablecloth is or not. But,  I’m working on a post that will go more into detail about this, as I’ve had lots of questions. So look for that soon!

An Artful Approach to Mapmaking

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I recently posted a picture of our map work on my instagram feed and there were quite a few questions in regards to how we do cartography in our homeschool. This blog has been patiently waiting for its first post and because of the interest on my instagram picture, I was inspired to write up a quick post and hopefully inspire some of you to try mapmaking with your children.

When we first started cartography, I would print out a map and they would trace it onto another piece of paper. When that method seemed to have run its course, we started drawing one state at a time, eventually being able to draw a complete map of the United States. Now, there is nothing wrong with either of these ways, but it just wasn’t working for us. They were bored and becoming increasingly uninterested in maps and mapmaking. About this time, I started looking for books about maps, hoping to turn this around. In my search, I came across, Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years by David Sobel.  If you are wanting to implement cartography into your children’s studies, I can’t recommend this book enough. It challenged me to turn our rote memorization of maps into an art process.A few people asked at what age do you start? My children in these photos are 10, 9 and 6, but I could have and wished I would have started this sooner. Maps don’t have to be overly complicated. For the map featured in this post, I read a passage to my children from, A Land Remembered. It talked in great detail about the route Tobias and Zach MacIvey took on their cattle drive to the Great Cypress Swamp in The Everglades. Next, we located some key points on a map of Florida and then the map was theirs for the making. As you can see, they each interpreted the passage differently. Accuracy was not the goal here, though I’m sure that will come with time.
I’ve included a list of the books we have read or are currently reading in our mapping studies. Some of these are out of print, but well worth hunting them down!

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh
They Put Out To Sea by Roger Duvoisin
Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years by David Sobel
Map Art Lab by Jill K. Berry and Linden McNeilly
What’s in a Map? by Sally Cartwright
The Magic Map by Mary Graham Bonner
As the Crow Flies: A First Book of Maps by Gail Hartman
All About Maps and Mapmaking by Susan Marsh
Henry’s Map by David Elliot
The Once Upon a Time Map Book: Take a Tour of Six Enchanted Lands by B.G. Hennessey

Egg Crate Foam Puppet Box…

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DSC_6380DSC_6303 DSC_6314 DSC_6348 DSC_6365 DSC_6298DSC_6378 DSC_6421DSC_6427DSC_6386When my husband brought home some egg crate foam, I knew I wanted to use it for a project. After thinking about it for a while, I came up with these puppet boxes that use the egg crate as the base. We did an ocean puppet box, where the egg crate became the waves. We also made a meadow puppet box and the egg crate was the grass. And finally, a garden puppet box where we painted the egg crate foam brown, to make dirt. These were just a few ideas, but you could do many more!

For this project you’ll need the following supplies:

Egg crate foam
Empty cereal boxes
Brown paper or any recycled packing material
Masking tape
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Bamboo skewers
Glue gun and glue

After you decide what type of puppet box you want to make, begin forming the puppets. To do this, shape your packing material and secure the form with masking tape. You can view another project where we used this technique here. Once your puppets are formed and completely covered in tape, you can begin painting. Set aside to dry and when done, insert a bamboo skewer in the bottom side of the puppet and secure with glue.

To make the puppet box, cut off the bottom of an empty cereal box. Cut a slit, lengthwise, in the middle of the box, being careful not to cut all the way to the edges. Next cut a piece of the egg crate foam, slightly bigger than the cereal box. Place it in the cereal box and trace the opening you cut in the previous step, onto the foam. Remove foam and cut on your mark. Next, paint foam and allow to dry. Once dry secure foam inside cereal box with glue, making sure not to glue the opening. Finally, insert puppets from the top, through the opening and control their movement from the bottom.

All that’s left to do is create a story and bring your puppets to life!

Rookery Bird Swamp…

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DSC_6051DSC_6006DSC_6009 DSC_6022 DSC_6023 DSC_5999DSC_6076DSC_6027 DSC_6033-2 DSC_6062 DSC_6064 DSC_6075 DSC_6077DSC_6078Well…that was a long break! I haven’t posted since Valentine’s Day. I hadn’t intended on staying away for so long, but the longer I was away, the more I wanted to extend my blogging vacation. I’m feeling renewed, so I will be catching up on some posts. If you are subscribed to my blog, you might be getting more updates than wanted.  I always seem to get people wanting to unsubscribe whenever I make a post. It doesn’t bother me. I get it. I unsubscribe to blogs all the time. However, people usually email me direct to unsubscribe and I’m happy to do it, but I get a ton of spam, so I’m unlikely to see your request if sent by email. You can however unsubscribe by simply hitting the unsubscribe button. Anyway….

If you are ever in South Florida, the Bird Rookery Swamp is a must. Oh my gosh. Words just can’t describe the beauty of the swamp. This one in particular is amazing! It is a long hike, about 12 miles I think. We didn’t walk the entire trail, maybe about 4 miles. If you go, I suggest bringing bikes. We plan to do so on our next trip down.

There is so much to see. Birds galore, gators up close and personal, wild flowers, insects, snakes, turtles, bears, panthers and more.  With so much land development in my area, I love finding these hidden gems where I can be immersed in nature. I never wanted to leave and can’t wait to return!

Confetti Moon Valentines…

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DSC_5704DSC_5587 DSC_5596 DSC_5600 DSC_5609 DSC_5617 DSC_5647 DSC_5657 DSC_5668 DSC_5670 DSC_5681 DSC_5736DSC_5729DSC_5728 I had forgotten just how much goes into a tutorial blog post, but was quickly reminded when I started this one. I love looking back on all our projects. It’s like an online scrapbook. I don’t so much like all the prep and the work involved. I know it must look like I just pull out my camera and start shooting, but not so. There is a lot of prep work before I even get to that part of the process. Then there is set up, taking lots of pictures, stopping between pictures for more set up, taking more pictures…this time with paint all over my hands, up and down on a ladder, move ladder out of shot, making sure I captured all stages of the project, clean up project, download and edit photos, and finally, write a blog post. Of course, all of this had to be done while my 20 month old is napping or down for the night. Which coincidentally, doesn’t happen until about 10:30 at night. But, I really do love looking back and remembering how much fun we had, minus all the work of course.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know I’m big on handmade valentines. I just love them! I feel like they add such a personal, crafted touch. Also, you might know that we love confetti! We have been making handmade confetti for a few years now and it’s still one of our favorite crafts to do. These confetti moon valentines are the perfect combination of both!

For this project you’ll need:

Apple packing boards (I’m not sure of the official name, but they use them when packing apples for shipment. Ask someone in the produce department of your local grocery store. They will know what you are talking about!)
Acrylic paints (white and gray)
Sponges (for painting) 
Glue stick
Scissors
Tissue paper
Confetti 
Paper (for writing messages)
Black cardstock
White ink pen
Envelopes

First, cut out your individual moon shapes from the apple packing boards. Trim them up as best you can, to maintain circular shape. They might be a little bit wonky, but it still works! Next, using the moon as a guide, take a small square of tissue paper and cut around the moon, leaving a 1/4 inch edge all the way around.  Write out your messages (we wrote, “To the moon and back”.) and stuff inside moon with a little confetti. Don’t overstuff or it will become difficult to seal up. Grab tissue paper you just cut and cover the confetti. While holding the paper in place, flip moon over and apply glue along the perimeter. Then, fold up edge of tissue paper on top of moon, making sure all is glued down.

Once your moon is assembled, you can begin painting. Sponge on white all over the moon, then sponge on a little gray. Try not to overdo the paint…or the colors just blend. Set aside to dry. Next prepare your cards however you like. We added a little “lift off” tab, so our recipients would know to pull moon off of card. If you want to do this, just add glue to the tab and secure to the back of the moon. Then add glue only to the back of the tab and secure it to your card. You’ll need to hold it in place for about 10 secs to get it to adhere. It won’t be a strong attachment, but enough to keep it in place. Finally, stuff your valentines inside envelopes. 

Jacks wasn’t much into this, sigh, he’s too cool now. Well, he told me he would help make them, but he wasn’t handing them out. But, Savannah and Annie were completely on board and are super excited to hand them out to their friends! Happy Valentine’s 2017!

A Hike in the Woods…

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dsc_4885-2 dsc_4894-2 dsc_4900Yesterday, before Savannah’s riding lesson, we stopped for an impromptu hike in the woods. It was absolutely refreshing. We didn’t have much time, but it was enough to recharge us all, especially me. I used to complain A LOT about the lack of nature where we live in south Florida. My biggest complaint were the lack of trees. It can be depressing seeing land developed all the time. But these little patches of untouched nature are there, you just have to seek them out. 

This last year, we kind of got into a rut. Things got harder with a growing toddler and it was just easier to stay close, unless my husband was with us. I started to lock myself into being stuck at home, because Wyatt needed to nap. Mind you, I never did this with any of my other kids. They adapted to our lifestyle and napped wherever they could. But, we hit a rough patch with Wyatt sleeping through the night. By rough patch, I mean he doesn’t sleep through the night, STILL. He never has. Oh my gosh, will he ever? He’ll be 2 in June and he wakes anywhere from 2-4 times night. Because of this, mornings would drag on slowly. I am the type of person that does not like to slept in. I can’t stand to see daylight wasted. I also like to have early, quiet mornings all to myself. But with all his sleep issues, I just couldn’t make it out of bed at my normal time. Mornings would drag on slowly and we weren’t really starting our day until about noon. That just didn’t sit well with me and really affected my mood. It was clear he was not going to sleep through the night just yet, so I just had to adapt. And I did. For now, my body has learned to survive on about 6 hours of interrupted sleep. 

With the new year approaching, I feel the need for some changes. These past few months, I’ve been working to clear our home and life of clutter. This is easier said than done, because my husband is not a fan of my purging lifestyle. Neither are my kids. But, I’m a happier person when I’m organized and can see the big picture. And trust me, for a person who is living on very little sleep, you want to keep her as happy as possible. Also, I’m implementing big changes into our homeschool. That’s another part of our life I wasn’t happy with, but I’ll save that for another post!

Enchanted Tree Stumps…

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dsc_4102dsc_3529 dsc_3542 dsc_3565dsc_3601 dsc_3687 dsc_3697 dsc_3710 dsc_3814dsc_3794 dsc_3877-2 dsc_3960dsc_4149dsc_4132Finally, I’m sitting down to write up this post. Life has just been on the go lately. All of the kid’s extracurricular activities and sports have started back up. It seems we have somewhere to be everyday. Add in to that homeschooling, cooking, a very active 17 month old and, well there isn’t a whole lot of time left at the end of the day. What time I do find, I usually waste it doing things that don’t require much use of my brain. Needless to say, I’m a lot excited to be able to share this tutorial with you!

If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know I like to make use of things we have on hand. We have some resident ducks that we feed oats to from time to time and I’ve been saving the oat containers, as I’ve had this idea in my head for a few months. Normally, I will have the whole project planned out in my head. Depending on the complexity of it, I might even do an example, just to put my ideas to the test. Not this time. I decided just to wing it. It took a bit longer, because we ran into a couple of hiccups along the way. That’s okay, it worked out for the better, as my original idea was something more along the lines of a haunted tree stump for Halloween. 

For this project you’ll need the following:

Tree stumps
Oat containers – I used the small size, but large would be fun!
Brown packing paper – I save the packing material from all my Amazon packages.
Glue – we used both sticks, liquid and a low temp glue gun.
Scissors
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Mod Podge
Cardboard
Thin cardboard – like cereal box cardboard

Creatures
Plastic grocery bags
Masking tape
Thin cardboard
Pipe cleaners
Newspaper
Paper mache paste – I always use equal parts flour and water.
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Mod Podge

First thing you’ll do is cut your oat container in half and keep the half with the bottom. That will be the top of your tree stump. Mark where you want a door and cut 3/4 the way around, leaving   1/4 intact for a hinge. A window would be a fun addition, however I didn’t think to add one until we were too far into the project. Trace around the bottom of the tree stump on a piece of cardboard. Cut out and attach with the glue gun.

Next you are going to start covering the container with the brown packing paper. There really is no right or wrong way to do this. The only thing I would suggest is not using to big of a piece. It will add too much bulk and makes it hard to glue down. At this point, you are just covering around the stump, the top and the door. After that has set, you can make the roots by taking a length of packing paper and folding it over onto itself. Then twist it a little until you have a shape that resembles a root. Attach with glue.

After all the glue has dried, paint the tree stump. We added mushrooms made from twisted packing paper and circles cut from the cereal box cardboard. These are easily attached using a low temp glue gun. Now you can make the face for the door out of the same packing paper and paint. We did brows, eyes, a nose and a mouth, then attached with the glue gun. Once the entire stump is as you like it, give it a couple of coats of Mod Podge and leave to dry.

Now you are ready to make the creatures that will inhabit your enchanted tree stump. It was a lot of fun watching them come to life. They worked really hard and Momma helped out on a few. I had them look at pictures and use their Schleich animals as guides and inspiration. This really helps to get the basic shape of the animal. And by basic, I mean basic. I tell them to just look at the shapes of the animals and try to copy that. All details can be added later. There was a little bit of frustration from Annie, as there always is, but in the end she powered through with a tiny bit of help from me. We ended up with an Owl, a skunk, a flying squirrel and a snail from Jacks. Savannah made a jack-o-lantern, a snake, a bunny and a ruby-throated hummingbird. I helped Annie create her Monitor lizard (lol), Bear and mouse.

To start making the creatures, shape the pipe cleaners to the basic shape of your animal. To give the shape form, slowly add crumbled plastic grocery bags and attach those with masking tape. We used a similar method with these faux taxidermy animals we did last year. The cereal cardboard makes for nice ears and wings. Feet were easily made with rolled up masking tape. After you have the basic form completely taped up, you are ready to paper mache. We did two coats of paper mache, baking in the oven between coats. You can begin painting once they are completely dry. After, add a coat or two of Mod Podge.

We added some battery operated flickering tea lights for a enchanting glow within. Annie loves to make up shows and stories with all of them. I love when art is interactive!! These took some time, but were a lot of fun to make and I very much enjoyed watching them bring my idea to life! 

Chocolate Covered Clementine Pumpkins…

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dsc_3202 dsc_3088 dsc_3082dsc_3104 dsc_3133dsc_3114 dsc_3167dsc_3150 dsc_3192-2 dsc_3227-2Pumpkin season is upon us! Everything suddenly morphs into pumpkin flavor. Personally, I’m not a fan of pumpkin or pumpkin flavored anything. These little chocolate covered clementine pumpkins, are a different story. I’m fairly new to the whole chocolate and orange pairing. I never thought it would have tasted good. Not true at all! In fact, this has become my favorite fruit and chocolate combo! 

So we actually first made these last year, but I was knee deep in caring for a new baby, that a blog post was just not going to happen. This year, that new baby is 15 months old and takes nice long naps! That’s when we have our fun. I recruited just Annie to help me this year, because more than one child with a bowl of melted chocolate, while I’m trying to take pictures, is begging for catastrophe. 

For the chocolate covered clementine pumpkins, you’ll need:

Clementines
Melting chocolate
Coconut oil (for thinning the chocolate)
Celery sticks 
A fork

To start, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Next, cut a celery stick in half, lengthwise, then into 1 inch pieces. After that’s done, peel your clementines and set aside. Next, melt your chocolate in a double boiler, stirring constantly. I use two pots as a make shift double boiler and it works perfect every time. Add 1 tsp of coconut oil at a time, until chocolate has a slight liquid consistency, similar to buttermilk. Once melted, remove chocolate from heat. At this point, you can pour chocolate into a small cup or leave in pot. I poured ours into a teacup and it was the perfect size for the clementines.

Carefully insert fork into the top of a clementine and dunk into the chocolate. Make sure to leave a small portion at the top uncovered. Transfer to a cookie sheet. Once you have a full sheet, transfer to freezer to set the chocolate. This usually takes about 10 minutes. Finally, remove from freezer and insert the cut celery sticks. These are best enjoyed right away!