And Another Thing...

Crafting...

We've been trying to stay busy, but low key as I work my way through a nasty cold.  As much as I wanted to just languish on the couch with the DVD player in perpetual motion (although there was plenty of languishing and DVD action), I also knew that wouldn't really fly with my kids.  They only tolerate being sedentary for so long and then they start planning mutiny.  So, we did some crafting and reading and game playing.  This garland is the big project that we tackled and we're all very happy with the result.  The great thing about this is that the kids could be involved from start to finish.  I traced the tree and star shapes, they cut them out, punched the holes and decorated.  Easy-peasy and tons of fun!

Maker Faire Fun :: The Purl Street Scarf Project

We were so excited when we happened on to the Purl St. Scarf Project booth!  I had not heard of this porject before, but once we knew what was going on, we just had to participate.  Olivia, Anna and I all knit a little bit for the scarf.  The ladies manning the booth were so happy to have the girls help out, they thought it was really neat that they just grabbed some yarn and needles and got to work.  Anna picked a scarf peice that had rather long rows, but she was determined to finishe the row, and she did!  She sat there for a good 20 minutes repeating her little knitting poem over and over again until she had finished her row.  Of course, Olivia snatched up the first pink fuzzy yarn she laid eyes on and got through about 3 rows.  I am so happy that the girls got to take part in this project.  Soon, we'll be able to go visit it and they will be able to see that they helped create something that made the world a little more beautiful and fun.

A busy morning

Olivia has recently discovered a passion for embroidery.  Until this morning, she had been doing lots of free-hand stitching, but she expressed an interest in "doing a picture".  I asked her what she wanted to stitch and she told me that she thought a tiger hunting in the jungle sounded manageable.  I suggested that she start a tiny bit simpler (like with something either of us could actually draw!), perhaps a house?  This was acceptable, so I drew the house on the fabric and off she went!  She's almost done at this point and we'll be sure to feature it when it's done.

Anna has been diligently working on learning the alphabet and can frequently be seen drawing in her purple Alphabet Adventure book.  For whatever letter we are on (I think it's currently "L") we read the corresponding chapter in The Wise Enchanter and then look at the letter and drawings in the Waldorf Alphabet Book and then I draw the letter in her purple book and she draws pictures of things that start with that letter.  We only do this when she initiates it and since we started last fall and we're only on "L", you can see that we're not moving at a rapid pace.

Saragh found some chalk and a stick and was happy for almost an hour.  Her chalk and her stick both had names, distinct personalities and malicious agendas for taking over the world.  For those of you who know Saragh well, this should not surprise you.

We came inside a little while later and I was almost ready to cave in to a movie (it was quite humid and sticky) when I happened to see Hip Mountain Mama tweet about this blog post.  I flew into action and captivated the girls by keeping the end result a secret.  When we got out to the front porch, clad in bare feet and paint smocks, I gave them the paint and brushes and then didn't hear a thing from them for over an hour!

Now, that's what I call a busy, happy and successful morning!  Today, we're headed out to pick a mega-load of blueberries!  What are your plans?
 

Kid Crafting

A few months ago, we formed a kid crafting group with two other homeschooling families in order to expose our kids to different kinds of crafting in a way that is not overwhelming to any one parent.  I love the things that my kids have done!  Quite frequently, our bi-weekly craft days get my girls creative juices flowing for days.  This week we all convened at my friend Kerry's house and made monster finger puppets. 

 



The older kids did some of the hand-sewing themselves, which was great practice!  The younger kids got helps from the moms.  The monster pictured above is Blinky and Saragh lovingly chose all of his facial features, hair and decorations.  She has now declared that he is her best friend.

Unschooling :: Anatomy and Physiology

(Olivia took the top three photos herself)

Olivia spent a morning recently tracing her hands and feet and then decorating and labeling them.  She initially decorated the wrong side of one of the hands which led to a lengthy discussion about the differences between each hand and how we can tell our left from our right.  She basically has that part down, but does have to think about it from time to time.  At first she didn't understand why I thought she had decorated the wrong side of one hand, but after we talked about it she understood that the thumbs needed to be pointing in.  The boys even joined in and gave suggestions and information, it was a really great discussion about something that I think we all take for granted. 

One of the things that I love about unschooling is the inordinate way I see my children discovering things.  I firmly believe that the knowledge Olivia gained that morning is something that will stay with her, vividly, for the rest of her life because it meant something to her.  She wasn't labeling worksheets, she was making her own creation, giving it style and glamor and in the meantime we helped her give it meaning.  It's a beautiful thing.

The Trees of the Dancing Goats

I saw this activity on The Crafty Crow and thought that it looked like fun.  I happened to have the book from the library already, so I gathered the supplies.

And we got to work...





 

I really liked this craft because it was something that all five kids could do together.  The boys enjoyed it as much as the girls and it was simple enough that Saragh could fully do her own project.  The kids are talking about keeping their ornaments forever and ever, but since they are made of construction and tissue paper I think it's more likely that we'll just make them again next year.

"B" is for Banana

Anna is learning all about the letter "B" this week.  Today we read My B Sound Box and My Blue Boat.  She made a Banana B for her letter book and chocolate covered bananas for a snack.  Everyone got to benefit from that! 

Tomorrow we will be reading The Berry Book and Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book.  We will be making a soft and fluffy bunny craft and baking a Buttermilk Blueberry Cake.

Not-Back-to School Blog Hop - School Room Week (late)

I just found out about this blog roll, so I am a little late with the school room week pictures.

This is our dining/craft room where we spend a big portion of the day.  Please excuse the photos, it's a cloudy day, so they're very dark.

This is the craft cabinet that my fabulous hubby put together for us.  It's an old cabinet from our kitchen that we removed when we put a pantry in.  He repainted it and put a nice new counter top on it and wha-la! We have a great storage space for our oodles on craft supplies!

This is our library/family room.  We just switched our house around so that the books would be in the bigger, brighter room.  We're loving all the space we have to spread out and read and play games.  This room is really warm in the winter when we have a fire going.  We almost never leave it. 

Since we're mostly unschoolers, we don't really "do" school.  When we do work on something, we just find the place that is the most comfortable and well suited to our project and set up shop.  Sometimes that's at the kitchen table, sometimes it's snuggling on the couch and sometimes it's sprawled out on the floor.  I think it really suits us to be flexible and respect the different work needs of each member of the family.

A new crafter is born...

Anna has, very suddenly, developed a passion for crafting.  She has been clamoring for new and better craft projects nearly everyday.  It's like she needs to craft.  I guess I can understand that :o)  Luckily, I have happened on to several new preschool craft blogs lately and they have provided a wealth of crafting ideas to satisfy Anna.  The snail above is from No Time For Flashcards, and Anna had such a great time making this one.  She was so excited when I found HUGE googly eyes.  She was also thrilled about having total control over the glue bottle.   Sorry for the really poor picture quality, the sun is non-existent right now in Michigan.

Worm Painting

The other day, I ran across a blog post about Worm Painting and decided that it was something that Anna might like to try.

I was right!  She had so much fun doing this and has since asked to do it a few more times.  I found some glitter paint in out paint stash (how lucky was that!) and cooked up a little spaghetti (though I really over estimated how much you need, you only need a teeny, tiny bit) and got the paper and paint set up.  It was super easy and kept Anna busy for a good 45 minutes which allowed me to clean up from her other endeavors that day!