Almost Unschoolers

Friday, June 4, 2010

Finger Knit Jump Rope

I saw this no-sew, finger knit, jump rope, project on Family Fun, that looked about perfect for keeping little fingers busy, on rainy days, like the ones we've been having, lately.

We tried finger knitting, about a year ago, to make teddy bear boas with eyelash yarn. That project was a lot of fun, and quick to finish, but just a tad too fussy for my youngest two to do on their own.

Family Fun, suggested using pot holder loops, or making loops by cutting up old tights. All of our tights are boring white, and in good shape, so we opted for using up some of the odd colored loops we had left from our last bout of pot holder making. It turns out that finger knitting with loops, is much easier, than with yarn.

You just twist a loop back, and forth around your fingers.

Repeat, with a second loop.

Then, lift the first loop, over the second, and off your fingers.

Continue, twisting on new loops, and lifting the bottom loop over the top, until you have the length desired, remembering to allow extra length for making handles.

This project kept my 5 year old busy, on and off, for almost a week, making her jump rope.

When she wanted to take a break, we slid the loops off her fingers, and onto a pencil. There is a right, and a wrong side though, so you have to be careful to remember the direction to put it back on, when your ready to start again. Other than that, she was able to do this project pretty much on her own.

When her jump rope was long enough, we slipped it off her fingers, and ran one last loop through, to cut open, and tie off.

Then, we folded the ends over, and secured them by wrapping them on with two more loops, to make our handles.

Now when the sunshine returns, we'll be ready to run outside, and give it a real try. And, yes I know in the picture below it looks like sunshine, but trust me it's rain, rain, rain.

We're really going quite loopy.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cactus Butter Dulces with Count On Culebra

I checked Ann Whitford Paul's Count on Culebra, Go from 1 to 10 in Spanish, out from the library, with a number of other math related books. But, once I got it home I realized I've seen some of Whitford Paul's other books, being reviewed for their bilingual elements.

It's a fun book, with cute characters (Ethan Long even manages to make the snake look sweet), and a smattering of Spanish. As you might guess from the title it teaches the numbers from 1 to 10, as well as half a dozen, or so, other words. There is a pronunciation guide at the back, for the linguistically challenged parent, and a recipe for "Iguana's Cactus Butter Dulces".

The sweet dulces (or candies) consist of 3/4 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs...

...1/4 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup peanut butter (or cactus butter, if you're a fictional iguana), and a little more than a cup of powdered sugar mixed together...

... and formed by hand into small balls - preferably with a friend, or little sister, to help.

Then, it's uno for the help, and uno (or dos) for yourself.

And, todo el resto (or something like that) for the hungry throng.

You might want to have some milk on hand, too. These little candies are sweet to the extreme. Yummy, but I'm not sure I'd want to eat more than one.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Paper Bag Princess Story Stretcher Craft

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch is the story of Elizabeth, a princess who seems to have it all. She's beautiful, well dressed, lives in a castle, and is about to marry handsome Prince Ronald. But that's when a dragon swoops in, and changes everything - everything except for Elizabeth, and Ronald, that is.

The dragon burns up the castle and all of Elizabeth's clothing, and takes Ronald away as a captive. Elizabeth rushes to Ronald's rescue wearing a paper bag, the only thing she can find to wear that hasn't been burned up. She out-smarts the dragon and saves the day only to find that Ronald cares more about how she looks than what she has done.

I Googled Robert Munsch, and found that he is an American born, Canadian author. So you can decide for yourself what exactly Elizabeth means when she says to Ronald, "Your clothes are really pretty, and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum." Whichever meaning of bum you choose, needless to say, the engagement is off.

My older girls were disappointed with the stories ending. And, while I like the message, I'm not sure I approve of the language. But, the little ones were quite taken with the paper bag dress, and decided to make their own.

I cut square neck holes in the bottom of the bags for them, and round holes in the sides. Then, because our bags proved a little short, they glued on some paper strips, cut from another bag, as a fringe around the bottom before they colored them with markers.

And, just so there would be no confusion on the part of dragon, or prince, we added a couple of paper bag crowns (not that we're all about appearances, or anything).

For more story stretching arts, and crafts check out this week's stART (story + ART) link-up, at A Mommy's Adventures.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Needled to Death - A Knitting Mystery Review

Since I'm all caught up with Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries, I picked up the second of Maggie Sefton's Knitting Mysteries (there are currently 8 books in the series), for my 7th entry in the Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge at Book Chick City.

It's an enjoyable book, not a real page turner, but still a pleasant enough read. Sefton puts a lot into character development this time around, somewhat at the expense of the mystery, but I do now feel quite a bit more invested in the characters.

There was one major editing gaffe. In the early chapters, one of the murder suspects visits the heroine, Kelly, at her home, to appeal for help. Later, near the end of the book, when Kelly recounts the event to another character, the place and time of the conversation are changed, as if the earlier chapter was rewritten, but the later chapter was forgotten. Not being integral to the plot, it's a minor point, but it does give the story a slapped together feel.

And, I'm not sure the cavalier attitude of the characters towards a brutal murderer being on the loose, seems quite true to life, either. Or, the fact, that everyone has time, in the middle of the day, to meet, chat, and knit at the local yarn shop, when they all are supposedly holding down full time jobs. It is a very nice yarn shop, though. And, the characters are enjoyable enough to entice me to visit it again.

There are a couple of interesting knitting patterns at the back of the book, as well as a delicious looking recipe for blueberry pie. But, while I was following Kelly in making a practice piece of knitting, I realized something I've suspected for a while - I have not been purling correctly! So, before I move on to any new patterns, I'll be spending some time with another library find.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

D is For Dinosaur (Cookies)

I thought the girls' "D" dinosaurs turned out so well, I decided we should make a cookie version, using green colored, sugar cookie dough, too.

They weren't difficult to make, but they were a little more labor intensive than the paper versions, mainly because cookie dough is harder to cut than paper. We used a "D" shaped cookie cutter, but you could just as easily free-form cut "D" shapes.

The middle of the D's became heads, and we cut a few extra, to slice into pie piece triangles, for spikes. Then, we cut thin rectangles for legs, necks, and tails out of the scraps of rolled out dough.

We pieced them together on the cookie sheet, and finished each one off with a chocolate chip eye.

It took longer to piece them together than I liked, but they baked up so cute, I thought they were worth the extra effort.

My oldest was sweet enough to point out, that they were kind of a strange hodgepodge of parts, and didn't really look like any particular dinosaur. Which, I thought, was the perfect lead into our snack-time story.

We found Kathleen V. Kudlinski's entertaining look at the changing beliefs, and teachings about dinosaurs over time, from a recommendation from Monkey See, Monkey Do. It's a very informative, and entertaining book, and a great one to read before heading off to the museum. It is written from a secular perspective, so it still contains the usual, millions, and millions of years, and theories of species killing asteroids, and such. But, it's refreshing to read a children's science/picture book about dinosaurs, that admits all the facts are not yet in.

It's great to be a homeschooler.