Homeschooling Crafts: Weeks 6-7

It's been a while since I've posted homeschooling craft ideas.  Between the craziness at work and Colton's birthday, it's just been too hectic.  But we have been working on some fun themes.  Week six was all about giants - dinosaurs, whales, skyscrapers...everything huge!  The kids absolutely loved it.  We did dinosaur puzzle and read dinosaur books.  The Bible stories of the week were, of course, David and Goliath and Jonah and the Whale.  Both were big hits with the kiddos.

As for crafts, we did these fun foam bird mobiles.  It's just foam pieces cut into the shapes of the bird body and wings.  The wings are glued into a slit in the body and then held in by yarn threaded through hole punches - one in the center of the wings and one on either side of the slit.  The kids decorated them with foam stickers and markers, and then we glued on some fun feathers we picked up at Michaels.  This was definitely a fun hands-on craft for the kids, and one they are enjoying in their rooms.

 

Then we broke out the paint...always a treat for the kids!  I cut out butterflies on painting paper and had them paint one side using Qtips as brushes.  Then we folded them with the paint on the inside so the design would transfer symmetrically.  It worked out a little better with Kaitlyn's (bottom)...by the time we got Colton's folded, the paint had dried some.  But, like I said, anything with paint keeps them both happy :).

 

The other painting craft we did was supposed to be a starry night scene.  Part of this weeks lesson is about moon stages and nocturnal animals, so this fit right in.  Believe it or not, Kaitlyn's is the one that actually turned out really well.  I was pretty surprised since Colton is usually the neater little artist!

We also did a lesson on coins, so of course we had to do some coin rubbings.  The kids had some trouble keeping the coins still under the paper, so I made them an example sheet to learn the names, sizes, and values.  But they had a lot of fun with this one anyway!

And I"m going to end with a couple more flower pictures!  There is so much beauty in every season, but I absolutely love the flowers...God showing off :)!  Our day lilies came out like crazy this week, so I had to give them some picture love.  Kaitlyn was so amazed by their beauty!  Hope you're all having a blessed week!

Catching Up

For anyone who has gotten the flu this year, you know it's a bad one.  It knocked us out for a week, and we're just now getting back to normal.  Between that and work being extremely busy, I just haven't had much of a chance to keep up with the blog.  So this is going to be one big post of updates.  I also am going to switch to a weekly devotional, which I'm hoping to catch up with tomorrow.  I am finally up to Revelation in my Bible in a "year" readings!  So I'm really excited about that.

It's weird because I have been praying over this past year that God would let me know when the time is right to leave my current job, and I always had this feeling that I needed to read through the whole Bible first.  Well, now that I am about to finish reading through the Bible, my job is on the chopping block with sequestration.  Maybe God is giving me that nudge...  But please be in prayer for everyone who is facing furloughs, lay-offs, etc.  This is going to impact so many families.  I know that people like to villainize federal employees, but the truth is, most of us are just like everybody else, working hard just to put food on the table.

But all that aside, here are all of the updates....

Art Projects

Kaitlyn and I often go to Michaels Arts and Crafts store on days when I'm home.  It's Kaitlyn's favorite store!  When we turn into the shopping center, she always says, "Here we come Michaels!"  So this past week, we landed some awesome bargains.  Little wood picture frames with tiny markers that the kids could decorate with for a dollar each.  Colton colored his doghouse, and we added a cute picture of Barstow as a baby.  Then we found two packs of cute little animals and cars with a brush and set of paints.  Those may have cost more than a dollar, but less than two!  The kids had a blast painting, of course.  Kaitlyn really concentrated on getting the nooks and crannies of the cat.

My Spoils



Rarely do I splurge on myself, but I have been eying the Ashland collection at Michaels for a while now and it finally went 40% off!  I could have bought the whole collection if it weren't for the money issue and the fact that I just don't have room for it all.  But I did get a mosaic "Hope" stand, a vase, and some fake flowers.  It's brought a smile to my face this past week :)!

Potty Progress



Well, my attempt to bribe the kids by promising them that if they were potty trained by the time we reached the end of the current box of diapers they could pick something out at Toys 'R Us has officially failed.  We were off to a good start, but interest in the whole project languished mid-week.  The potty sticker chart is filling up nicely, though!  They haven't stuck to their own sides of the chart, but Colton is getting some stickers on there.  Yay for progress!!

Fun Time

     

Kaitlyn built the great wall of blocks in our living room last night...it was adorable!  Colton counted the blocks up to 20!  And then there's Kaitlyn reading a 3D Monsters Inc. book with her dada...love those moments!

Colton's 100th Day of School



So Colton's class celebrated the 100th day of school, and for a home project, each kid had to collect 100 of something.  For Colton's project, he put 100 puppy Valentine stickers on a piece of construction paper, writing a number by each one with hand over hand help.  It was a long process, but he enjoyed the numbers and the stickers...so well worth it!

Scholastic Book Club

   

I have become a Scholastic Book Club addict.  Every month, Colton's teacher sends home those little brochures of amazingly inexpensive books, and I just have to order some.  Colton brought this month's order home from school today!  I think I may actually get even more excited than the kids.  Fifteen books and a bear adding game for less than $30...you have to admit that's an awesome deal!  I'm loving the bears...the kids are already showing an interest in adding because of them.

So that's it for now.  Colton and Brandon are supposed to do a gum drops and toothpicks construction project after dinner, so that should be some fun pictures.  Guess I should get to starting dinner now :).