Sunday, March 31, 2013

Quilt I Made for My New Grandbaby...


These puppies were "painted" using fabric paints.  This was done many years ago by my MIL or SIL and stored away.  My SIL found them a couple of years ago and gave them to me.  Over the last few days I pieced them all together into this fabulous "hand-tied" quilt for my new grandson.

 



My new grandson:

Future Homeschooler

Big Brother Loves His New Baby!
 

Big Sissy Loves Her New Baby, Too!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

2013 Spring Bulletin Board Idea...


This bulletin board idea for Spring can be used as a visual aid in Preschool and Kindergarten for:

Social Studies - The Family Unit / My Family / Farm Life
(My new grandbaby's name will be added next week, after his birth.)

Science - Birds/Chickens
(Info about birds/chickens maybe found on the internet.)

Arts / Crafts 
(Similar images of chickens, eggs, and flowers may be copied from the internet. The grass is made from green construction paper.  The nest is made from brown and tan construction paper, cut into thin strips and "fan" folded to make crinkled paper strips. The strips are then glued together into a nest shape.)

Math - Introduction to Addition

Health & Nutrition - Chicken & Eggs as Food - Protein

Home Economics - Cooking
(Your child can help gather and measure ingredients for your favorite chicken recipe.)
Cooking is also a great way for teaching your child about fractions.




Thursday, March 7, 2013

"V v" is for "Volcano"...

This week we have been learning the letter "V" sound, and some words that begin with that letter.  This is what we have done with the word "volcano":

We read a book about volcanoes and then drew a picture of a volcano.  
We practiced writing the letter "V".



The book we read was by National Geographic.  Great pictures, but it did mention ...millions of years.  If you don't believe in evolution and the earth being millions of years old, you can just skip tht part of the reading.  We did!

This is the volcano eruption kit that we obtained from Amazon .com.
If you prefer to make your own volcano, you can find instructions online. 
 

 Of course, we had to supply the ingredients for the chemical reaction to make our volcano erupt and look realistic.
 

My grandson adding the final ingredients...


Watching intently...


Looking into the cup and trying to figure out how that stuff worked...


Of course, the stuff must be touched!


 After looking at those amazing photos in the book about volcanoes, my grandson was rather disappointed in how his own volcano erupted.  "Where's the smoke?"  he asked.  "Where's the fire?"
LOL !!!


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

"T t" is for Turtle (paper plate craft project)...

This turtle has a Bible verse displayed on its back which speaks of one of the traits of the typical land turtle:  SLOW.  The turtle can remind us that there is one area of our lives in which we must be SLOW:  "...be slow to speak, (be) slow to wrath."  James 1: 19.


 On the underside of our turtle, we put the letter "T t" and added a few facts about turtles to bring in a science lesson.


STEPS FOR MAKING A PAPER PLATE TURTLE:

 1. Color the bottom of two paper plates.


 2a.  On the inside of the paper plate, glue/tape the turtle's head, tail, and legs.
When flipped back over, it should look like this:

2b.


 3.  Flip upside down and put a wadded-up plastic grocery bag or gift wrap tissue in the center.


 4.  Place the other paper plate on top.


 5.  Secure edges of paper plates with paper clips.


6.  Staple around the edges of the paper plates, securing the top plate to the bottom plate.
Remove paper clips.


This idea was obtained from the book Christian Crafts from Paper Plates by Mary Currier.  Published by Shining Star Publications.  

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Easter Crafts for Children...

 
Handprint Chick and Egg
(construction paper and wiggle eyes)
- a good way to introduce the 'oval' shape -
 
 
 
The Empty Tomb - Matthew 28:6
"He is not here; for he is risen."
(construction paper and brass fastener)

 
 
Jesus Christ - Lamb of God
(Copy onto cardstock an image of a lamb.  You can find one to be copied free from the internet. Glue on cotton balls.  Add a construction paper heart with these words:
 
Jesus Christ - Lamb of God
Perfect Sacrifice For My Sins





Thursday, February 28, 2013

I guess you have noticed...

...that I am gradually taking our last year's holiday photos off of my main page, and putting them on my main blog as posts. I am dong this to eventually reduce the length of my main page.  It IS getting rather out of hand!  lol!

Also, my daughter is soon expecting her third child, and is having some complications (prayers, please!).  I am having to do 24 hour babysitting of my grandson and my 2 year old granddaughter, so I am not able to spend as much time planning new holiday projects or bulletin boards.

I must post something periodically to keep my blog active.   If I don't, it will automatically cease to exist.  I learned this the hard way with another blog I had.  I hadn't posted in a while, and when I finally went back to it, it was no where to be found! 

So, please bear with me.  Thanks so much! 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

2012 St. Patrick's Day Jewelry / craft projects...

 My grandson wearing his claddagh (pronounced "clod-uh") bracelet.  The claddah is the Irish symbol for love, friendship, and loyalty.  The image was obtained from the internet, copied onto cardstock, and colored.  "With these hands I give you my heart, and I crown it with my love."
   

"Pinch - Free" Badge
 
(image obtained from the internet, copied onto cardstock, and laminated; two holes were punched to accommodate the safety pin latch; not recommended for children under 6 unless well-supervised by an adult.) 

(my grandson wearing his "Pinch - Free" Badge)

 
(an Irish "wise saying")

This craft was obtained from Easy Paper Crafts - Book 2 published by Christian Light Publications.
 

The Cartel - Corruption in Public Schools...

http://www.TheCartelMovie.com

Thursday, February 21, 2013

2012 St. Patrick's Day Activities & Decorations...

 We learned some geographical facts about Ireland and located it on a globe.  We made an Irish flag and displayed it in our classroom alongside our Christian flag.

As you can see, our little mini-Dachshund, Sassy, must be part of everything we do.  If she is excluded, she is not happy at all! 

 Our St. Patrick's Day Bulletin Board and Holiday Tree. 

We learned the history of St. Patrick, the Christian symbolism of the shamrock, and a few Irish superstitions - the Blarney Stone , Leprechauns, and the Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow.


St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the concept of the Trinity.
 

Monday, February 18, 2013

2012 St.Patrick's Day project (the Blarney Stone)...

We painted a large gravel (from our driveway) black, allowed it to dry, then painted on a green shamrock and outlined the shamrock with glitter glue.


We talked about the Irish folk tale of the blarney stone - that the person who kisses the blarney stone will receive the gift of "gab". 


Friday, February 15, 2013

2012 Presidents' Day Decorations / Bulletin Board / Crafts..

Images of Presidents Lincoln and Washington, as well as images of our currency having their likenesses were copied from internet sources.

 

Our Presidents' Day holiday tree.
 

George Washington's Powdered Wig.
(Glue cotton balls and a ribbon onto a baseball cap.  Wear cap backward.)


Abraham Lincoln's Top Hat
(Color the rim of both sides of a paper plate - black.  Cut away the center, leaving a ring.  Glue or tape two or more sheets of black construction paper together, end to end.  Make a tube and fit it into the ring.  Tape to secure.  Cut out a black circle and tape it to the top of the hat.)  

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The kids aren't the only ones who are learning...


Such a true statement!   I graduated from a public high school on the Honors List.  I was one of a small group of students that had graduated with a G.P.A of  "A" (having an average grade score for the 4 year period as anywhere between 95 and 100%).

I felt like I had accomplished quite a feat.  I had no idea of  just how little academic knowledge I had actually acquired - until I began homeschooling my children.  I quickly realized that there was so much I had not learned while attending public school, and so, I took this opportunity to learn right alongside my kids.

Homeschooling has given ME (the parent/teacher) the opportunity to learn many new things.  My kids are all grown now, but my own education will continue as I help my daughter homeschool her children.

Monday, February 11, 2013

2013 Valentine's Day Bulletin Board & Craft Ideas...

This project teaches and/or reinforces number, color, and shape recognition; teaches the concept of an emotion: love; and enables the child to practice his small motor coordination as he/she helps to cut out the heart shapes.  You can fold each piece of colored paper in half and draw half of a heart shape on the fold.  When the child opens the folded shape that he has just cut away from the larger piece of paper, he/she sees both sides of the heart together making the complete heart.  This project also teaches symmetry (things that are the same on both sides, mirror images, similarity, matching) 

Below is a little book that we made teaching the concept of  sin and salvation through Jesus Christ.  We are now studying the letter "S".  





A great lesson/story for teaching love and compassion for people is the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan.   Below is something we did last year.  You can find free pictures to color on the internet.