Glittery Snowflake Window "Clings"

We enjoyed our snowflake "clings" so much, last year, that we decided to make up another batch, this weekend. You can click here, for a step by step, on making, hanging, and taking them down.

We made them in the same way as last year...

...but, this year, we sprinkled them with glitter, before they dried, to add a touch of pizazz.

The glitter makes a fun (if risky) addition, because now the older girls can design the snowflakes, and their younger sisters can sprinkle on the glitter, being involved, too. And, they are quite pretty, sparkling in the windows.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Snowman Egghead Planters

Our first order of business today, after taking down all the turkey decorations, was to redress the egghead planters.

I pre-cut all the paper pieces...

...and made hats, just as for the scarecrows...

...for the girls to use, to decorate new toilet paper tubes.

As they transferred the eggs, from the Thanksgiving, to the snowman outfits, I helped them trim back, and water the grass, before pulling it through the black hats.

Now, we're all set for another season.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Simple Snowman, Picture Frame, Chirstmas Ornaments

After the children went to bed tonight, I started working on this year's special Christmas ornaments. It's time to hit the ground running, after all.

I really like our fun foam, gingerbread men, from two years ago...


...and so decided to return to fun foam this year, but with a snowman theme.


To make them, I cut four circles out of white foam - 2 small circles, about 1 and 3/4'' in diameter, one medium circle, about 2 and 1/4'' in diameter, and a large circle, 2 and 3/4'' in diameter. I cut the center out one of the small circles, to make a ring, and cut two, brown, fun foam arms, and three, black, pieces of coal.


I printed an 8x10 picture from today's Thanksgiving dinner, and cut out the children's faces from that...


...gluing them onto the small circles...


...and then topping them with the ring frames, before gluing the rest of the snowmen together.


Once they're dry, I'll be able to use a needle to poke a hole near the top for a hook, and they'll be ready this year's tree, even if I'm not quite.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked to the Toddler's Magic Christmas - Idea Bank, at Best Toys for Toddlers.

Snowflake Turkeys

Neither snow... ...nor sleet...

...nor early Santas...

...at the mall...

...are going to...

...distract us...

...from Thanksgiving...

...this fall.

But I have to admit, it's looking more like Christmas outside our windows, right now!

I'll be stepping away from the blog for the next few days, to prepare Thanksgiving, and to take a few extra minutes for shoveling the walk...I mean enjoying the snow, with the children.

So, from a very white, and windy corner of Montana - Happy Thanksgiving!

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cardboard Gingerbread Man Puppet

The snow continued to fall through the night, and the kids woke up anxious to play outside, this morning.

The younger girls had to wait for their hair to dry, before they could go out. So, I distracted them with a few of our favorite Gingerbread Man stories.

(Carol Jones includes a recipe for gingerbread men, at the back of the book, too)

Then, I gave them a couple of gingerbread men puppets, to decorate. I made them, by cutting the gingerbread men shapes, with elongated legs, out of an empty cereal box.

We stapled small loops of paper, to the back of each leg, just big enough for the girls to stick their fingers through.

Then, we creased the legs, to make them bend better.

And, their gingerbread men were ready to run, run...

...as fast as they could...

...until one came to the river, where helpful fox, offered him a ride across.

Find out what other families are reading, at this week's What My Child is Reading blog hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cranberry Tinted Play Dough

We had a few cranberries left over, after our last batch of bread, and I decided to put them to a less fattening, holiday use, by making up a batch of dye for play dough.

I poured three cups of boiling water over about 1/4 cup of berries, and let them steep, until the the water cooled.

Then, just for good measure, I popped them in the microwave for five minutes, and let them sit on the counter until cool, and in the refrigerator, overnight.

This morning, I strained off the berries, and used 2 cups of the tinted water to make up a batch of very pretty, cranberry pink, play dough, following our usual, stove top, recipe.

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 4 tablespoons of cream of tarter
• 2 cups of water
• a few drops of food coloring (which we omitted this time).

Cook, stirring constantly, in a medium pan, over low heat, until thick, and rubbery. Remove from the pan, and knead, as the dough cools, until smooth. Store in an airtight container. Usually this recipe keeps for several months. I'm not sure how the natural dye will effect that, though I'm pretty confident it will last through Thanksgiving.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Getting to Know The Pilgrims - Putting Names to Faces

The younger children made some hand print, and thumbprint pilgrims, today. While they were at it, I thought it might be a good chance to give them a better visual concept of the number of colonists, who survived the first winter.

So, I helped them make 22 hand print men - by painting their palms cream, and four fingers black. We painted on hat brims, and added marker, and pencil details once the paint was dry.

They also made 4 women, by using cream fingers, and palms...

...14 thumbprint pilgrim teens...

...and 13 fingerprint children.

Then, the older children took turns, adding names (from a list on the Pilgrim Hall Museum site), to the faces.

It's amazing the amount of depth, seeing the actual number of faces, and knowing their names, has added to our study of the first Thanksgiving.

Now, to make 90 hand print Natives...I think we're goint to need more paper.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Popsicle Stick Bows and Arrows

When I found instructions for making these miniature bows and arrows, at The Brooding Hen, I thought they'd be a fun object lesson to go along with some of the books we're reading about the Wampanoag, this week.

I figured the kids could decorate them in their own Native inspired designs, as we read about Massasoit sending out the 5 men to hunt for deer, to add to the harvest feast.

But, it turns out, they're such great toys, I think they might derail our studies for tomorrow, as we set up some buckets, or targets, for a competitive shooting event.

The Brooding Hen, offers an excellent step-by-step tutorial, for making them, so I won't repeat the steps here. But, if you want to make a few yourself, you'll need a sharp knife, or heavy duty pair of scissors, craft sticks, dental floss, and cotton swabs. They're pretty quick to make, once you've let the craft sticks soak, in water, for an hour, or so.

It takes some practice, to get the hang of shooting such tiny bows, but once you master it, the arrows really fly far, and fast.

We'll definitely be enforcing the no-shooting-at-people-or-pets rule, suggested with the tutorial. Though, I think we might set up some stuffed animals to play the part of the Thanksgiving deer, so we can reenact the historical hunt, ourselves.

For more fun with history, or geography, check out this week's Geography and History link-up, at Children Grow, Children Learn, Children Explore.

It's great to be a homeschooler.