Blast From the Past: Pinatas

I really had to repost this!!! Mainly because at VBS this year, more to come on that, I learned that instead of glue I should have used flour. At least now I know why it was so hard to bust open. LOL


So when we first moved I decided that I wanted to make pinatas with the boys out of the moving paper, cause you always have so much!!!! Well I didn't get to it and then as I was doing research for our World Geography we came across a book that said pinata's may have orginated in China. So this whole week we have worked on these pinatas. And although they didn't break like I thought they would, I'll explain in the directions below, the boys had a great time as you can see for yourself.



To create some pinata fun of your own you will need:
balloons
white glue  please use flour and water instead, unless you want to play a trick on someone!!!
newspaper or moving paper

-Mix 1 part glue to 2 parts water. I dumped the whole bottle of glue and then filled the bottle up two times and mixed it up in a deep bowl.
-dip newspaper in glue mixture and cover balloon with one layer of paper. Wait for 45 minutes and then cover again with another thin layer.
***Do not put more than 2 layers on, even though it looks thin that extra layer makes it hard to break as you can tell, lol. I'm certain that if you use flour instead of glue you can add a couple more layers.
-I let our pinatas dry for 2 days.
-you can decorate pinata in any form you wish, we chose markers but you can use stickers or cover with crepe paper by putting a thin layer of glue on dried pinata and then sticking crepe paper to pinata and wait for it to dry.
(Oh yes, this is what I will do different the next time we try this. I will cover the whole pinata except for a small area at the bottom of the balloon, no more than 1/2 inch wide. This is so you can pop the balloon. I will cut a whole at the top of the balloon to put the candy in and make the holes to hang the pinata. This will make the string holes stronger and your pinata will be less likely to break because of the string. )
Break outside and enjoy the fun. I would love to post pictures of your pinata creations! Send me a link so I can see what you created! I never did it again but if I do, I'll use the same hole I pop the balloon in to put candy in. 


** Originally post as Recipe for Fun on L2L

Blast From the Past: School Choices 08-09

I'm slowly working on getting old homeschool posts onto this blog. Working on it as I have time, maybe one or two a week or month or however long it takes :) At any rate this is the next post that needed to be placed on here. To keep it real I'll strike through what we didn't do and comment on other parts as well. All editing will be done in italic for better identification. Hope you enjoy!!!!

This year we will be doing 6 week (quarters) with a 2 week break in between with the exception of a 3 week break for Christmas and taking the whole month of August off.

Our mission statement this year is : "Direct your child ONTO the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it." Proverbs 22:6 NLT

I will be using alot of resources this year to help aid me in planning. Because I have a creative side sticking to a set curriculum is very hard for me and I want to be hands on in planning each lesson. So I have broken our year up into 3 planning blocks. 1st two quarters we will do World Geography. The second two quarters we will do Anatomy of the Body. And for the remainder of the year I have left open, for now, as a cushion to finish off the year or to let the children pick the topics they would like to do lapbooks on.

This just ended up being way to much for me to do.

Here is what our 1st semester is looking like:
Bible
Bible Study Guide for All Ages: Beginner Student Pages Still using these to date, I love them!!!
AWANA: Sparks book 2 Crazy but now LJ will be in his 3rd TNT book, time goes by so fast!!
Sunday School handouts  again was too much

Math:
Lapbook Math Office
Math Mammoth: multiplication I just ended up doing real life math

History:
Summer Olympics Beijing China (lapbook) was so much fun!!

Geography:
introducing 7 Continents and various countries
FIAR

Reading/Phonics:
Happy Phonics
Various level readers
Circle Time: mom will pick books to read out-loud
FIAR

Handwriting:
Spark verses utilizing StartWrite to create writing worksheets

Art/Music:
FIAR
Piano lessons at Sunset Music School

For us homeschooling is more than just educating the mind but also teaching the heart. Homeschooling , like the military, is a way of life. And this year we will introduce Mettle Monday and Fitness Friday and start back with Thankful Thursdays.

Mettle Mondays will be used to help Levi put into practice habits that will help him grow in his relationship with Christ, starting with a prayer journal. Our focus with Joel is to help him see the world beyond himself and to start including Christ into his daily life by working on him putting others first. And well for Cera I think everyday will be a Mettle Monday for her over the next several years as we teach her obedience and show her the love of God with how we are as a family.

Fitness Fridays are going to be used to go explore the island,getting outside to enjoy God's creation, and a day to schedule loads of fun field trips.

Thankful Thursdays are going to be days that we focus on things we are thankful for and developing a heart of service by doing things for other people.

I will also be working on setting up a spot on my blog to keep track of my favorite or useful websites that I come across so if you have a favorite website or blog please leave a comment with a link so I can go check it out. Happy Blogging and Homeschooling!!!!


Wow this was such a busy and fun time for us!!!! I think it's good to look over those early year goals as it really helps you to refocus on why you began to homeschool in the first place!!!! I hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past, stay tuned there are more to come!!!!!

The Early Years

Originally posted as Character Building on L2L

This week we have been talking about lying and speaking words that are pleasing to God. So in our Bible Reference yesterday we talked about Joesph and his coat of many colors. As I was going over the story, I was sure that Joel wasn't listening to me but continued as I was hoping at least I am setting the standard of doing character building. To my suprise this morning, Joel picked up our coat of many colors and asked to put it on, so I said sure thinking I would take the chance to review the story with him. As soon as he got the coat on he tells me, Okay mom now its time to throw me like yesterday. I was a bit confused and asked him to explain what he meant, well in the story yesterday they threw him down the well and now its my turn. So of course we had loads of fun throwing him into the well. Here are pics of the kids as they tried on the coat of many colors.