School Room & Garden Update

This is just a photo update on the garden and one side of the school area.

 Two of our cork boards. We hang flashcards in bags so we can grab them when leaving the house.

The artwork above the right corkboard is by a friend of mine, Melody. Here is her site: http://www.shwagart.com/ & FB page:  Karm Lotus Photography My kids like to look at nature photos during the winter months when everything is gloomy outside. Her photo is a refocusing tool for us.

 Our central file cabinet. We hang out daily chore schedules, family calendar,

family daily schedule, and a few other important papers on the front of the cabinet with magnets. All papers are in a clear pocket protector. 

 Top Drawer: Extra Supplies 

Third Drawer: School Supplies from the School.

 Mainly Math, Science, and Music.

 Fourth Drawer: I placed two milk crates in the drawer to divide the books and binders by child.

I hole punch all workbook pages and place them in binders. I will show you why in a post about how we organize our school day.

 

 Pledge of Allegiance sign that we made about 7 years ago. :-)

 The Planets fit nicely over the door way.

 Pumpkin!!

 The kids are VERY excited that our corn is growing. There are four starts on them!

Another Pumpkin!

Peppers are starting to grow!

I forgot to take photos of our radishes, cucumbers, and carrots.

The next group of photos are just of the garden as it grows.

Summer Fun Day 15

I saw this neat idea on the show called, The Chew. Here is a video clip of the hosts completing the project. The Video Clip You will need to prep for this project over night by filling a tin can with water & freezing it. DO NOT fill the tin can all the way to the top. You will need to hammer the bottom of the can straight again because it will bulge out a little. Next you put dots in a pattern on the can with a permanent marker. Take a hammer and a nail to poke out the holes. You do need to do this sort of quickly because once the ice starts to melt you will have a hard time poking the holes without denting the can. Put a small candle in the can once all the holes have been completed and the ice removed. Pretty simple and simply pretty.

Summer Fun Day 15: Poking Holes

 The Bulge

 Hammering

It is getting there!!

The 'E'

 The 'E' with a candle.

Summer Fun Day 25

I know I am posting out of order. I have been busying getting our school room back in shape for the new school year that I forgot to post in awhile. 

The kids wanted to tie dye shirts white shirt with red and blue for the Fourth of July. It sounded like I was getting away with a fun and easy craft for the day. HAHAHAHAHA...... Pinterest gave me all this confidence but it was fake. :-) The kids put the rubber band around the shirts and start to put dye on them. The dye would bubble up. Odd. We thought we had bad dye and tried a different color. It bubbled up again. It only did it on the two new shirts and not on the used baby shirt. We tried rubbing the dye in. NO LUCK. Then it hit me and the shirt label confirmed my suspicions. The shirts were wicking shirts!!! They keep moisture away from the body. The kids refused to wear their shirts because they turned out pink. We will have to try this again, sometime in the way future. I might not be super mum but at least I try. ;-)

Day 25 Tie Dye 

The shirts look white from the sun but they are complete bright pink.

Summer Fun Days 13 & 14

We decided to try making popsicle stick bows and arrows. They turned out nicely. You will need to soak the popsicle sticks for about two hours so they will bend correctly.

Day 13~ Mini Bows

Day 14:  Contact Paper Nature Collage 

Only one of my kids wanted to do this. She was a little upset that she couldn't finish it because it started to rain. I had her run to find each item to add a little exercise into the day.

Summer Fun Days 12

Day 12: Rock Art

Crayons + Heat Gun= Pretty Rock

Summer Fun Day 26

July 4th was almost a wash out!! It was pouring all day and t-storms were forecasted right when the fireworks were suppose to go off. Lucky the rain stopped about 30 mins before the fireworks started. We walked about a block from our house to a local school's parking lot to watch the City's firework show. It was AWESOME!!! They even had the fireworks spell out OHIO! Here is a video of it from the Kettering Recreation Complex's FB page.   

We decided to let the kids do sparklers in the rain. I poked holes in the bottom of red solo cups for the sparklers to stick out of while the kids put their hands in the cups to hold them. Here are two photos to help explain it better. This was a safer way of holding sparklers and helped me not freak out about the kids playing with them.

My daughter was a little bummed because she couldn't use the 4th of July blanket that I crocheted for her but was happier when she was able to sit with her friends while wearing glow bracelets. It was not a good idea to let the kids take all the glowing objects to bed with them. Our hallway looked like a lame rave because the kids were swinging the bracelets and sticks around. :-)

We skipped summer fun today because of the rain and the holiday. I figured the fireworks would make up for it. :-)

Here is a video of the finale from the Kettering Recreation Complex's FB page.

Summer Fun Day 10 & 11

We saw this really neat idea on Pinterest. You bend wires to make a 3D drawing. The lady said to use 24 gauge craft wire. I thought floral wire would work the same because wire is wire. HA! The floral wire was easier to bend but didn't hold the shape of the object well. Here is the link for the lady's blog post on how to CORRECTLY do this project. Draw with Wire!

Day 10 ~ Wire Fun

Our stars did stand up! 

My kids saw an artist throw paint against different backdrops and across walls. They wanted to try it. I all could think about was the mess it would create. PERMANENT MESS!! I decided to let them fill balloons with paint then throw them at paper in a box. I am the master of controlled mess. We laughed so much during this project because the darn balloons would not pop. The baby that stays with us during the day was giggling so hard that we had to stop so she could breathe. :-) The balloons bounced out of the box many times. More giggles. I thought the kids were not throwing them hard enough so I tried with no luck. We moved the box from the grass to the driveway. Even more giggles from all of us. I put a rough rock in the box for the kids to hit their balloons against. Nothing. We put the balloons in the box and threw the rock at them. The first time the silly rock bounced back out. My kids and the baby exploded with loud laughter unlike the balloons The rock finally poked a tiny hole in each balloon. The kids squeezed the paint out and were able to throw a little paint. This took over an hour because the kids would not give up. I was a little worn out from all the throwing. Their paintings are now proudly hanging in their rooms. 

Day 11: Balloon Painting, sort of.

 Ella's art.

 Alex's art.