Felt Pancake Pattern

As I was going through my files, converting documents to pdf files, I found this pattern I made for felt food pancakes.

Felt Pancakes

1. Print out the pattern.
2. Cut the number of pieces out of felt that the pattern calls for.
3. Sew the pat of butter onto the syrup piece.
4. Sew the syrup piece onto the top pancake piece.
5. Put right sides of the pancake together, sew along the edge, leaving a gap for stuffing and turning.
6. Turn right side out.
7. Poke out all the edges and stuff with polyfill.
8. Handstitch the opening closed.
9. Enjoy and repeat.

You can handstitch the pieces or do a tightly spaced zig zag stitch. I did a zig zag stitch when I sewed the butter and the syrup on. Have fun making breakfast!

Felt Food Pancake

Mini Ring Books-Ready for Downloading!

I am a new woman now that I figured out how to convert my Microsoft Home Publishing Documents into a pdf file! Here are three of my favorites and when I find more time I'll convert some more for anyone to easily download and use themselves. Have fun making your own mini ring books.
Days of the Week
Color Mini Ring Book

Months of the Year Ring Book

Note to Self: The 2yo and 4yo need more supervision

No, it wasn't permanent marker.

Yes it came off, after 2 days of scrubbing.

Of course it was the week we had our pictures taken and while John was out of town. :)

I can only hope and pray that these girls both get married, become fruitful and multiply and create many little ones for them to pull their hair out from.

New Blog Look

If you read this blog through a feed reader, click over and see my newest obsession. Owls! I didn't design these pages, Shabbyblogs did, but I got so excited when I found all the free designs.
Does anyone know how to use digital elements and create a blog design? I can see the individual elements but don't know a thing about designing a web page. Anyway, I love the new look and the "Christine" look it has. :)
PS Does anyone know how to add a signature logo to the bottom of every entry? I can make one on Photoshop Elements, I just need to what dimensions to create it with and how to add it to blogger. Thanks

Take it to your seat- Phonics

This is the product that I mentioned here, as something fun to add to our 1st graders workbox drawers. Well, Amazon delivered it to my door earlier this week and I began by taking the book apart by the perforated edges. Then I sent all the pages, except the fill in the blank worksheets, through my laminator. Each folder game took anywhere from 4-6 laminating pages. I trimmed as much as I could with my paper trimmer and then gave each of the 3 big kids some scissors to help me trim the odd shaped pieces. I used double sided tape to adhere the cover page and the direction page to the envelope and placed the small pieces in a smaller envelope. We have 6 ready to go now! Katie is so excited. :) The best part of this, other than how they will fit into her workbox drawers, is that they are now durable enough to be used by Katie's 3 younger sibilings and any friends I lend them to. It's also cost effective, at a little more than a dollar an activity, assuming you already have envelopes and laminating pages at home.

Pre-K and Up Addition Worksheet

I created this simple fill in the square addition activity for a fun review for our 1st grader. With her help I made "number sticks", using large Popsicle sticks and sticky backed foam numbers. You can find the foam numbers in a large tub at the major big box stores very inexpensively. The activity is simple enough, she draws out two sticks per problem, records the numbers in the box, solves, then puts them back into the envelope. If I were to do this activity with a younger child I might put dots on the stick as well as the number. As a bonus, this activity fits great in her workbox drawer. ;)

Addition Fill in the Square Worksheet-

Preschool Math Activity

Here's a fun and simple Pre-K and under math activity involving multilinking color cubes and laminated strips. Print this document onto cardstock, laminate, then cut out the strips and trim accordingly. Give your preschooler one strip at a time and either the whole bucket of cubes or the exact number and color needed for the activity. For our 2yo, I gave her the exact number and color, but for our 4yo we gave her the whole bucket of color cubes. This activity teaches premath skills, including patterns, counting, a one to one ratio, and if you teach your child to start on the left and continue all the way to the right, it's prereading skills too. :) Our 4 and half year old had no trouble doing this and our rascal of a 2 year old did great with some coaching.
Multilinking Color Cube Pattern Strips

How we use Workboxes in our homeschooling day

Ok, let me begin by saying that we have not used this system very long at all. I have spent many hours reading all about it from other people and looking through blogs for ideas. I knew I needed something to keep me accountable to teaching the kids in a well rounded fashion. The kids also needed a way to "see" what they had to do each day, a method to "tell" them what to do next, and a few "surprises" in their homeschool day. I can attest to the fact that this way of organizing takes some setup time and work to keep it going. I see homeschooling as my job and as with any job it will take some work. I want to be good at what I do and I want my kids to reach their potential.
To help them "see" what is required each day, I fill each drawer with all the supplies needed and itty bitty notes with my instructions. They wake up each morning and eagerly look through their workboxes. John calls it like a mini Christmas every morning. :)
As a mom to many little ones and some medium sized ones, I feel like a drill sergeant most days, telling everyone what to do. Using this system, in my own tweaked fashion, the grid "tells" the big kids what to do when. They know to look at the grid to see what Activity cards are on there already. For instance, if the first Activity card says, Morning Chore, but it is on the 2nd space, then they know that they do workbox #1, then the Activity on the 2nd space. The grid does the talking and reminding for me. The grid gives the kids a rythym and purpose to their day.
The "surprises" aspect is the best part of homeschooling in my opinion. I was getting bogged down doing all the basics that I didn't make time for anything else, meaning games, puzzles, poetry, arts and crafts etc. I don't feel guilty for our past 6 months of schoolwork, I accept the fact that that was a simple season while we adjusted to a new baby.

Half done grids.

I already own lots of fun resources that I will combine with printable activities on the internet. Looking ahead, I used a fabulous coupon, 15% off plus free shipping, for Oriental Trading.com. I went to the ebates.com website and saved another 6% because of Cyber Monday. I picked up several colorful sticker scenes, a sensory matching game and some Christmas crafts. On Amazon, I found several books called Take it to Your Seat. They are file folder games that are already colored and easy to assemble. I know they have books that have file folder games ready to color and print out and cut out, but these take away those steps. They are the equivalent of using a paper towel on a mess than I would usually use a cloth towel for. :) I bought two books, Science and Phonics, for Katie.

It takes a bit of time to set up everyone's workbox drawers and set up the grid, but I see it as time well spent. On Day 1, both of my boys browsed through some Norman Rockwell art print books, making lists of their favorite paintings and then read through a poetry book by Robert Frost. In the past, we did those types of activites very sporadically and not as often as I would have liked. I hope to add some more artist studies like I did with Picasso.

Austin looking over a painting by Norman Rockwell, Tattoo Artist.

Next entry will be the specifics on what I put in the kids' boxes and what I expect of the them based on their age and developmental levels.

Workbox Setup and Activity Labels

The new set up, with 5 organizers from Big Lots, $20 each.

The whole room perspective, including the completely disorganized book shelves, which stay that way, because we actually read our books. :)

Up close view of 2 of the workbox stations. The wire letter trays were from Target and were about $4 each.

So, I've been bitten by the workbox bug! I admit it, I have fallen in love and couldn't postpone the plan until January. :) I first decided to only do the adapted system with the 4yo and 6 yo girls, but the more I planned and the more I set it up, I realized how much each child could benefit. Each of my children are unique and learn in their own way, but they all crave structure and rythym to their day. So, to enhance their learning, I set up 5 tall Sterilite, 7 drawer organizers in our sun room near the kitchen table. I bought metal letter trays to rest on top of each organizer to catch all the completed papers and grids. I attached velcro dots, anywhere from 7 to 10 depending on age, onto the front of each drawer. I printed and laminated 5 grids, with 16 empty spots. Then I created these Activity cards to fill in the gaps on the grid. I really need this to help me get up off my rear and start using some of my really fun curriculum. :)
I'll put up another post on how I am using the system for each of the kids, considering ages and grades. I wanted to share some links I used when I designed our system and some documents I am using that I created.


A HUGE Workbox Blogroll




Fun Activities to put in the boxes




Homeschool Creations, a gem of ideas




More Blog Ideas


Workbox Activity Labels



Girls' Workbox Activity Chart_edited-1

New Inspiration

My preschoolers and my 1st grader haven't had the school year I want them to have yet. I know it's because I just began sleeping again, I am up to 3 weeks of sleep, since this summer. I estimate that by January I will be caught up on my sleep and ready to begin with my little ones.
One of the ideas I like so far is the workbox system that is running rampant through the homeschool circles. I dismissed the idea at first because we have so many kids. I didn't think I could do it for all of them, considering the time and the space element. The boys are doing great with their homeschool charts I created on excel, but the girls could benefit from an organizational system like this one. I have so many neat projects, like lapbooks and file folder games, they could work on and so many crafts and activities bought already. just sitting on a shelf. This system does take some planning, but nothing that scares me once I feel rested again.
I found this blog, Confession of a Homeschooler, and loved her pre-K ideas. I plan to pick up a few extra matierials, like mini pom poms, mini magnets, do a dot markers, and some mini clothes pins, and give them to Lily for Christmas. Then, in January I'll set her up in one of her workbox drawers with he appropriate activity.
Here are a few more links I liked.
I haven't decided if I want to use the original idea of plastic shoe boxes or a drawer type unit. I know that whatever I get needs to be able to be repurposed somewhere else in my home if I change my mind. :) So far, I'm sure Lily and Katie will have their own workbox system, not sure about Rachel though. She is just 2 but really capable of all learning all that Lily learns. I don't think she would take kindly to being left out of the learning. :)
I'll keep you updated on what we decide.

Pear Sauce

Joshua will be the envy of all babies when he gets his first taste of these sweet pears. I ran to Aldi's tonight for some eggs, $.49/dz, and milk, $2.39/gal, and found that they had pears at $.56/pound. The next best deal I had found was for $.98/lb so this was a great deal. I cooked the first half and will leave the other half for the family to eat whole. I cooked the peeled, sliced pears down until soft and then I removed them from the heat and went at them with my immersion hand mixer. I loaded up all the mini muffin and muffin silicone pans and froze them solid. I find it is easier to fathom making his baby food if I tackle the foods one at a time.

I imagine he will be ready to eat these new foods in the next month or so. He is 4 and half months old now and loving his rice cereal. He doesn't eat it every day yet, but does enjoy it when he gets it. I usually hold out on solid foods longer but he seemed to need something more to hold him out all night long.

A Family Favorite Snack.... Dill Tidbits

One of my family's favorite savory snacks is Dill Tidbits. I buy my oyster crackers at Aldi's for $.99/large bag and use the spices out of my pantry. Here's the recipe:

Dill Tidbits

• 1 package oyster crackers



• 3/4 salad oil



• 1 TBS powdered ranch dressing mix



• 1/2 tsp dill weed



• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper



• 1/2 tsp oregano
  

Mix all the spices and the oil in a bowl, then pour over the crackers in your storage container. Stir well, snack on a few as you make them and then let the rest set up overnight. the oil gets absorbed into the crackers and taste delicious! I usually make enough to fill a large ice cream bucket and it will last us a few days. They're yummy by themselves or toss them into a soup or salad.

Apple Puree, otherwise known as baby food

Out of my bounty of apples, I made a huge batch of smooth textured applesauce for Joshua. The peeled and cored apples spent the afternoon in my crock pot before I whizzed them with the immersion hand mixer, a clever little gadget that I use quite frequently. A few weeks ago, I bought 2 new ice cube trays for about a dollar each intending to use them exclusively for bulk baby food making. It didn't occur to me until I went under the cabinet to pull them out, that my red silicone mini muffin and regular muffin "pans" would work just as well if not better. I was right, I filled the mini muffin sections full and the regular muffin spaces about a 1/3 of the way full and after they were frozen they popped right out. The ice cube trays were easy but the silicone ones held more frozen food and popped out much easier.

My goal with baby feeding is to make as much as I can homemade, without making it my god. So, I make the foods that are simple, like pumpkin and squash puree, or apple and pear sauce, and buy some foods in jars for my convenience. I found a great deal at Bi-Lo last week on baby food, I combined coupons with the sales and then the store issued their own rebate of sorts. I ended up buying 20 jars and 4 boxes of baby cereal.

Next up on my list of baby puree is to buy some pears and make pear sauce and then tackle some pumpkins and squash. What else do you think is easy to make for a baby's consumption and wholesome, because I'm not pureeing chicken nuggets? :)

(I have enough space available in the deep freeze to use this rubbermaid tub, but it would be just as fine in a freezer ziploc bag.)

United States Unit Study

I was thinking the other day that it would probably be wise to teach my kids about their country, the USA, and make sure they could recognize it on a globe and find their home state. I sat down and mapped out what topics I wanted to go over with them and then organized those topics in groups. The only way this week is going to work, is if I write everything down, because I have no short term memory, and get my supplies set up before I need them.

• We began day 1 with an overview of the Genesis account of creation, specifically day 4. I pulled up a scaled model of the Solar System, by NASA, and we read the names of all the planets God made. Using software on my computer I printed out clip art of all 8 planets, their names and the sun. We trimmed aluminum foil into arcs and then glued the planets on each arc. I put out the letters to create the title, "Solar System", and had the kids unscramble and stick the foam letters to the bottom.




• Next up was simple experiment to show how the sun casts light onto only one side of the world at a time. It helps that we have family on the other side of the world making this concept easily grasped. We went into a dark closet with the globe and a bendable desk lamp. I aimed the light on one side and explained how that was day and the other side was experiencing night. That led to conversations about the equator and how any areas near the equator are warmer than those areas farther from the equator. We talked about how it is really an imaginary line, not a physical landmark.



• Once they could identify the planet Earth, we moved in a little closer and studied the names and locations of the oceans and continents. They completed a cut and paste style worksheet and then the big boys filled in a worksheet with the same information. We constantly referred to the globe and many library books to get the information we needed.





• After looking over the whole globe we narrowed our studies to the United States of America. We discussed how there are 50 states but 2 states are not part of the mainland. I found a resource that broke the US into 7 geographic regions. They created a color coded map of the US and the 7 regions. The boys created a key for their map too. We finished that activity by hot gluing a star to the capital of the USA, Washington D. C..







• Since everyone still had energy and excitement, we crafted our own US flag. The three big kids used strips of red card stock and adhered them to a large white piece of card stock. They had to really study the flag to see where the stripes lined up and how the stars were aligned. We used hot glue to adhere the foil style stars to the blue section. They had to really focus on details and they learned how to lay out a row before they glued it down. :) Lily, the 4 yo, colored in a flag activity in a color by number style. Then she sorted the stars by color and worked a US state puzzle.







• The next day they played several US states online games. They began using the Tutorial level and moved up to the Intermediate level. I should have polled them before we began this study to see how many states they could name, but if I guessed I would say they knew 10-15 states. Now they are able to name 2/3rds at least. Sam was able to correctly place the states on a map with 100% accuracy by the end of the the day.


• I had planned on doing a paper mache project with the big kids, but I just don't have the energy and they haven't shown the right amount of maturity this week. I can just tell when that kind of project will be a miserable experience for all of us. Maybe next time.


• Next up is a study about the major weather patterns in the US. We are going to do a tornado simulation using 2 2 liter bottles and some duct tape. Then we have several books on hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards for them peruse.


• What unit study is complete without a food section? :) I bought whipping cream for us to make butter with and I found a recipe for "fry bread", a Native American recipe and I have a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner. This will follow our short talk about the pioneers in the 1800s, the ones who helped settle the Western United States.



• We will also learn about native wildlife and their habitats. I checked several books out for us to read on this subject area. I want them to think pelican or manatee and automatically think, Florida, etc. Along those same lines I am going to introduce the major physical features of the US, like the Rockies and the Mississippi River. We'll probably label a map and color code it, but if I had the time, energy and fewer preschoolers, we'd make a salt relief map.
• Our finale of the week will be a sugar cookie globe activity. We'll make round sugar cookies, made from a mix I bought on sale and with a coupon :), and then add food coloring to vanilla frosting. Everyone is looking forward to this craft. :)
  

I'm back!!!!

We finally came to the conclusion that my health was being sacrificed for some late night nursing snacks by Joshua and put his crib in a room where I can't hear him. Yes, he did the "cry it out" all by himself. Interestingly enough, he survived and I slept like a baby should. :)
I am up to 3 nights of 8 hours on continuous sleep. I now wake up tired, like I should, and not in that heightened state of alertness I was in. It was so frustrating to be so tired I couldn't sleep. It was as though my body was choosing to not sleep deeply because Joshua was going to be awake soon anyway.
It has been a rough 4 months. My health has truly suffered, both physically and emotionally from the sleep deprivation. All I can say is that I am grateful that my first 5 kids slept great because if Joshua was first, he might also have been the last! ;)
After my first night's rest, I felt creative enough to plan a week's worth of studies on the United States. This is our "off" week where we drop the basics and play and learn in a different manner. It might be a little unschooling, a little unit studies, or some field trips. I chose this week to be a fabulous unit study. I planned out as many details as I could think of, picked up over 60 books, sorted through our craft supplies, and bought a few extra puzzles and fun items.